For the last 34 years the Cascade Bicycle Club runs a road ride around Bainbridge Island called the Chilly Hilly, and Project 529 gravity dude John Barr rallied a group of about 10 people to participate in this year's event.

I was really excited to go because it would be a great opportunity to see some cool folks and get in a great workout. The only bad part was needing to be on a ferry at 7:45a, which meant getting up at 6:00a. I'm not well-known for being an early riser. I really like sleeping... when I can sleep, that is. Though I crashed around 10:30p Saturday night, I was so wound up I didn't really fall asleep until around 1:00a.

Sort of like the night before a race, but this was just a road ride... heh.

PB & J for breakfast, and I made it downtown by 7:15a to met up with John Barr (aka Urban Sherpa) and Nate Marsh (aka Nate Marsh) on Alaskan Way. The forecast was pretty sweet...

Sure, if you live in southern California or Texas that's not so great, but it's a nice change for the PCNW. We got our gear together and rode down to the ferry terminal to meet up with Raman, JP, and what looked like a thousand other cyclists who'd had the same idea. I'd heard that nobody was allowed to wear cleats on the ferry's main deck, so in addition to my bike I had these cheesy Croc-ripoffs that I was going to wear if necessary, and leave as a "gift" for someone otherwise.

Nobody had "deck shoes", so once we'd loaded onto the ferry I left them side-by-side on a chair. Congratulations to whomever ended up with the toxic-waste green Croc-ripoffs, you earned them!

We were all nice and toasty in ferry, so the ride seemed to be over too soon when the arrival horn sounded and we docked in Bainbridge. Everyone returned to their bikes and we got ready to start the ride; I hadn't brought a rain jacket so I was just hoping there hadn't been a change in the weather.

We got off the ferry without incident, but strangely enough one of the riders in our crew seemed to endo from a standstill while we waited for traffic at a stop sign just outside the terminal. So far as I know that was the only crash we had during the whole race, err... ride.

The ride around the island had great views and was for the most part pretty tame. While it wasn't exactly chilly, it also wasn't the blistering heat wave some people thought it would be. One poor bastard was in a tank top and shorts, not super-appropriate given the time of year.

Some quick stats from the bike computer: total ride time of 2:21:10; distance of 32.3mi; 2241ft of climbing; average hr 150bpm; 5 climbs with the nastiest being #4 @ 20.4mi which was a 7% grade for .7mi.

I was using this ride to see how hard I could push it after a fairly tame set of rides during the cold & rainy months. I felt pretty strong for most of the ride, really until around mile 24 when my right calf started having seizures. I was happy to pedal one-legged but JP thought it better to pull over and wait for it to stop freaking out. After about a minute it settled down and we started off.

This was pretty upsetting - last year was the first year I really pushed hard on the bike and only had a single cramp near the end of October, which I chalked up to (a) 3hr ride, and (b) no electrolyte supplement. So today I ran two bottles of Hammer's HEED+Endurolytes. I had figured on about 2 hours so putting down a bottle an hour seemed appropriate. I kept to the plan for the first hour, and by the time the cramp happened I realized I hadn't had anything out of the second bottle for the better part of an hour.

So if that's the cause of the cramp, I just need to make sure I'm drinking regularly but I just I can't imagine burning through all my electrolyte stores in 90min of strenuous activity on a cold day (e.g. no sweating). I need to find out if electrolytes are metabolized or somehow rendered inert, even if you're not sweating them out. I think this is probably more of a fitness/endurance problem than anything else and will focus on solving the problem that way. I don't want my XC season plagued with poor finishes due to cramps. Finishing out of the Top 5 because the other riders are way faster is acceptable, but cramps? No way.

Enough bellyaching - it was a good ride with great company. I'll definitely do it again next year...

...when I'll finish it in under two hours with no stops, no cramps, and no standing on the climbs. ;)

Got my second swim workout in today and spent an hour on freestyle trying to focus on form. I felt much better in the pool than earlier in the week and was happy to be doing any kind of exercise since I'd had a few days of congestion and total lethargy.

It's unsettling to feel like I'm doing something wrong when I take a day or two off because I'm "feeling poorly". Need to schedule some more time with the shrink, I guess.

Net result today is that I have a much better feel for pacing - the speed at which I can swim for longer periods of time without my form falling apart. My next swim workout will be spent entirely at that pace, and I'll probably incoroporate a suggestion from JP (not-so-much-older, but definitely wiser XTERRA racer) to count the strokes it takes me to do each interval. In theory as my form improves, effective power goes up and less strokes are required to cover the same distance.

In theory. We'll see how it goes in practice.

Oh yeah... while showering up afterwards I hear a child, while showering, say to his father "Daddy I'm poopy."

Note to self, shower in sandals from now on.

Got the first swim workout in this afternoon. Having not been in a pool for ~15 years, I felt (and probably looked) like a total n00b and I'm bushed.

Workout was an hour swimming 50yd lengths. Breathing and stroke were both all over the place. I got my nerves under control (don't know where they came from) and spent about 10 lengths simply going slow and being very deliberate about everything. Breathing and stroke improved to the point where I could speed up a little bit, but not much.

I held my times to an average of 1:10s, but had to take a minute's rest every few lengths. Got out of the pool and noticed my left shoulder (the one I separated) was a little sore. This is probably due to the range of motion required for freestyle (or overarm, whatever) and very poor form. That will improve. My left knee was also sore, probably because I'm not relaxing the leg enough - again, that will improve with time.

All in all, a good time and a nice change from the bike, stairmaster, treadmill... meh. I smell like chlorine... SWEET! :D

Everyone cleans their bike after a ride, right? You check that your cables are secure, things that should move are moving, things that shouldn't move... don't? How about making sure your bolts are snug?

Not only is the Blur XC the best handling cross-country bike I've ever owned, it's one of the most well built. I mean that, it's so well built that something like this can happen and the ride remains flawless - if not a touch more noisy than it otherwise would be.

There you have it, yet another reason to love the superb engineering over at Santa Cruz Bicycles. I'm proud of their sponsorship of the Project, and even more so to ride their bikes.

p.s. Kids, don't do this at home, I'm pretty sure it voids the frame's warranty, and I won't be riding the bike until I replace the missing bolts.

Good grief, just when I'd settled on no power-based training this year, Saris ships a PowerTap for MTB. I accept donations - pmidge@paypal.com, the goal is USD$1600. Get cracking! ;)

The start of my 2008 XC race season is coming up pretty quickly, the first Indie Series race is on April 6th. Offseason training is going pretty well, and injury-free so far. I have the goal of getting two multisport events in this year, so I've added swimming and running to my weekly routine.,, well, running is underway but swimming has barely started.

The goal this week is to get in the water at least twice, completing a 15x50yd workout each time. Target time for 50yds is 1'45" or better. I'm hoping a side-effect of adding some variety is a faster drop in weight. I've already shed the 7 holiday pounds and am hovering at 160. By the time XTERRA Vashon Island rolls around, I should be at a target weight of 145-150lbs. Ugh. I like food too much for that to even seem possible, keep your fingers crossed.

I'd like to get more time on the bike, I've been a huge weenie about riding in the bad weather. Next weekend is the Chilly Hilly, a 33mi "ride" around Bainbridge Island. I seriously doubt this is going to remain friendly, since a wise man once said all you need for a bike race is more than one cyclist. We'll see who pukes, I'm sure post-ride camaraderie will ensue and someone will end up getting tossed off the ferry back to Seattle.

Got some gear in from our new sponsor Ritchie/Syncros, stay tuned for a review on that stuff plus a post-Chilly Hilly update...