Bike Ride: Monday, July 21, 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile round trip. Did stomps, 7 sets. Very good ride, although I feel like I didn't push hard enough.

Song in head: 'Crocodile Rock' by Elton John

Bike Ride: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Rode the beach loop. Kind of wiped out from Saturday's work marathon, so cut the ride short. Not a good ride, but I got 21 miles in.

No song in head that I remember.

Bike Rides: Wednesday and Thursday, 7/16/08 and 7/17/08

Wednesday, July 16 2008: Couldn't ride until the evening, so did the quick beach loop before the rain hit. I only got in 14 miles and did speedplay. Good workout, but I don't think I pushed myself hard enough, as I felt pretty fresh by the end. Did get my heart rate up pretty high, so maybe it was a good workout.

Song in head: 'Reason To Believe' by Rod Stewart

Thursday, July 17 2008: Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile round trip. Did cadence ride, spun circles at about 90 rpm. Good workout, heart rate in 85% range.

Song in head: 'Ghetto Child' by Shemekia Copeland

Bike ride: Wednesday, July 15th 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. Did big gear workout today, legs felt fine, heart rate was elevated, good workout. I really need to either upgrade the Moser, or get a new one. The Moser just isn't performing well, and it probably needs an overhaul.

Song in head: 'Games People Play' by The Spinners.

Bike ride: Monday, 7/14/08

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. My legs were a bit tired and sore today, must have been all the tennis over the weekend, along with the long ride on Saturday. Did stomps today, 8 sets of them. Feeling a bit tired, but good.

Song in head: 'Venus' by Shocking Blue

Netflix: 'Mr and Mrs Smith'

If you like the stars in this movie, you'll like this. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are interesting, attractive, clever, and adversaries, even though (or perhaps due to) they are married to each other. This is entirely predictable, but it's a decent ride.

I didn't love this, but there are a lot of blow-em-up scenes.

3 stars out of 5

Netflix: 'Hell On Wheels'

I liked this a lot better than I expected to. This documentary was filmed during the 2003 Tour de France, where the eventual winner was Lance Armstrong. But the primary focus of the filming was on the lesser riders and how they have to sacrifice themselves for their team leaders, but yet they still have some chances at glory.

This is something I had been wondering about for many years. Sure, it's easy to admire the winning riders, but there are so many domestique type riders where they are simply part of the team, but just as important to the overall team focus.

The reason I didn't think I would like it is because I've seen other cycling movies and they are just not well edited or well documented. 'Stars and Watercarriers' comes to mind, which I liked, but there were so many dead spots. In this flick, one really got the sense of how difficult the ordinary rider's job is, and the filmmakers made us care about the riders.

4 stars out of 5.

Bike Rides: Saturday, 7/12/08

In the morning, rode 65 miles or so on the Longboat Key course. Stayed in a relative easy gear and turned tempo circles, total long steady distance (LSD) ride. Nice ride, nice scenery, and rode for a while with nice older woman who was easily in her 70s. Chatted for a while with her, then picked up the pace a bit. Good workout.

Song in head: 'Old Time Religion', how annoying.

Bike ride: Thursday, July 10th 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. Did short intervals today, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, with a 4 1/2 minute recovery. Heart rate was at 90 percent plus in the 'on' sessions. 7 sets of these. Hard workout, legs actually felt a little bit tired afterwards.

Song in head: 'You Wear It Well' by Rod Stewart

Cycling: Tour de France stuff

I've really been turned off to bike racing due to all the doping, but I'm trying to get my enthusiasm back. And this little TDF widget gives you a quick way to get a recap.

Bike Ride: Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Worked at home today, so did the short beach loop. 15 mile roundtrip, did a tempo ride in 53 x 18. Just tried to focus on spinning fast circles. Song in head: 'Me and Bobby McGee' by Kris Kristofferson.

Bike ride: Tuesday, July 8th 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. Did stomps today, 8 sets of them. Good workout, pushed hard during the 'stomp' then recovered slowly like I should.

Song in head: 'The One Who Got Away From Me' by me, written for a friend of mine. Which of course made me think about my friend.

Bike Rides: Saturday and Monday, 7/5/08 and 7/7/08

Saturday, 7/5/08: Did the Longboat Key ride. First down to the DeSoto Memorial, then around the Barn Loop, then up to the tip of Anna Maria Island, and on down Longboat Key to St. Armands and back. About a 60 mile round trip, just a guess as I don't have a computer on my LeMond. I know it's more than 55 miles, and less than 65, so 60 sounds good. Felt good during ride, beautiful day, not too hot in the AM. Did see a huge ray in the water while crossing the bridge back into Bradenton Beach.

Sunday, 7/6/08: Tennis in AM with wife and youngest daughter. Fun stuff.

Monday, 7/7/08: Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. Did the big gear ride, got heart rate up but legs did not hurt during ride. Song in head: 'Let It Be' by The Beatles. Felt strong during ride.

Vote For Longo!

Baseball fans, I'm a Rays fan and old Phillies fan. Vote for Evan Longoria and Pat Burrell. Both are deserving, and as an extra bonus you get to use this cool widget thingie.

Bike ride: Tuesday, July 1st 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. I did stomps today, where I start in my biggest gear from a standing start, and stomp the pedals as hard as I can, trying to spin out in 30 seconds. These are done as an all out effort. This is followed by a 4 1/2 minute recovery. I did 8 sets of these. Good workout, feeling pretty good now.

Song in head: Shake by Otis Redding.

Bike ride: Monday, June 30th 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 roundtrip. Easy day today, just spun at an easy pace. Song in head: 'Dancing In The Moonlight' by Thin Lizzy.

Didn't ride much on the weekend, too busy. Only got in 5 miles taking movies back to the rental store.

Bike ride: Wednesday and Thursday, June 25 and 26, 2008

Wednesday, June 25th: Rode at Flatwoods at lunch, 13 mile roundtrip. Did short intervals, 30 secs on, 30 secs off, 3 repeats of these; then a 4 minute recovery. Did 5 sets of these. Felt awful at first, legs were dead from lack of sleep. Then I perked up and felt better. Good ride.

Thursday, June 26th: Rode at Flatwoods at lunch, 13 mile roundtrip. Did easy cadence ride. Song in head: I Think I Love You by the Partridge Family (ugh).

Quick word about the songs in my head during the ride. I don't pick them, they pick me. It's odd I know, but that's the best way I can describe it.

Blues: Lizz Fields - 'Pleasureville'

Lizz Fields is not precisely a blues singer, but she puts her heart and soul into everything she sings, so that's blues for me.

Her latest release 'Pleasureville' is first rate stuff. Her style is more jazz-inflected pop, although this release by her is more urban sounding. Her first release, 'By Day By Night', was definitely in an old school soul style.

All the tracks on 'Pleasureville' a worth a listen, but the standout tracks are the title track, 'Brooklyn Flowers', 'I'm Waiting', and 'Sugah'. 'Sugah' is pop radio fare and while I didn't like it too much at first, it's infectious and I'm loving it now. On 'I'm Waiting' she successfully conveys a foot-tapping mood, all with the nuance of her voice.

Check her out, she's great. Her myspace page has samples, give 'em a listen: myspace.com/misslizzfields .

Bike ride: Tuesday, June 24th 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch, 13 mile roundtrip, big gear workout. Got heart rate into 85% level, but with no leg pain. Tried to spin a 60 rpm cadence. Felt really strong, I'm thinking it's time to start ramping up my workouts.

Song in head: 'Shake' by Otis Redding.

Maybe I'll change Monday into big gear day; Tuesday into a 'stomps' day; then Wednesday will be interval day; Thursday will be easy ride day. Weekends will be one day 3 hours long steady distance and one will be 1 1/2 to 2 hours race speed.

Bike ride: Monday, June 23rd 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch, 13 mile roundtrip, easy ride as per usual on Monday. Saw a few people today, also a couple of turtles. Song in head: 'Mr. Blue' by some 50s singer. Good ride.