Insane

Willie's hat summed it up tonight!!!

Yea..... There will be no training today. Looks like some hours on the
rollers.

Need to mount tires on the 5.0's, new grips on mtb, and wrap road bars.

Gonna be a nice relaxing day in the Holtman house.

Time suck

So I'm going to try and get this thing going again ...

2.0 hr mtb ride on the Tosa trails today. After an initial hiccup, the
new tubeless setup was sweet. Add in the new 1.75 tires and I was
really putting the Hirt on. Actually, not really.

It's snaining out right now, my creative attempt at snow and rain.

I'm sitting here reading the entire Internet wearing my sweet ass
Supra shoes and hoping Pitt pulls this off bc I can't care less about
bball.

Will I be skiing tomorrow?

Holtman

Who wouldve thought that 23 helmets and 70 tires would fill an entire
car!

Chequamegon

About 500 bikes in front, soon to be another 1500 behind!

Don't You F'ing Forget

 

 

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Don't You F'ing Forget

via Danger Room by Noah Shachtman on 9/11/08

 

 

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I confess, it's me!

Man says he's eaten 23,000 Big Macs since 1972

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) -- A 54-year-old man says his obsessive-compulsive disorder drove him to eat 23,000 Big Macs in 36 years.

Fifty-four-year-old Don Gorske says he hit the milestone last month, continuing a pleasurable obsession that began May 17, 1972 when he got his first car.

Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald's track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

The only day he skipped a Big Mac was the day his mother died, to respect her request.

The correctional-institution employee says he doesn't care when people call his Big Mac obsession crazy. He says he's in love with the burgers, which are the highlights of his days

That mtb stuff is tough some days. 3.5 hours at the kettles made for a
long am, but sweet ass training.

Went over the bars once, not to hard but my bike landed on me hard. I
lived to ride again.

Velo Trocadero CX Race

Get ready ... it's coming!

Sent from my iPhone

Weekend Update

I need to ride this weekend big time.

Finished my mtb lights last night, mostly. They are bright as hell, I will post some pics soon.

Will road ride tonight for a bit, possibly mtb tomorrow if trails dry out, and hope to hit the southern kettles on sunday.

Chequamegon is one week from tomorrow. I'm going to be rockin some Bontrager XDX tires I got on ebay this week. I'll need to test them out a few times first to see how they hold.

Other than that, business as usually. Except it's friday, so I had pancaked. Awesome.

--
Luke Holtan
luke. holtan(a)gmail. com

http://www.howtoavoidthebummerlife.com/weblog/archives/2008/09/friday_puts_the_ass_in_fantast.html

--
Luke Holtan
luke. holtan(a)gmail. com

SP, meet TR

 

 

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SP, meet TR

via Weekly Standard Blog by Matthew Continetti on 9/3/08

The Wall Street Journal's letters page today contains a fascinating nugget: "Under 45, lover of the outdoors, a Republican reformer who has taken on the Republican Party establishment, has many children, and a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor's office - you describe Teddy Roosevelt in 1900 and Sarah Palin in 2008."

 

 

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Just one sip of saphire and tonic makes my night.

Justin works while I supervise. I think it's a good working arrangement.

What to do today

Why do I do my best thinking in the tub?

Going to give this blog thing another try for the 4th time.

Mtb'd yesterday and sat for a total of 6 hours. Legs are toast, but I
did make spaghetti out of 'noodles' yesterday. Need to get that there
cx bike up and running today. Chequamegon in 2 weeks. Would like to
see a sub 2:35 time. We'll see.

Will be down in so mo most of today at the step kid and the lizard
providing managerial support to his painting efforts.

Tub just got cold, gotta refill.

2008 Cycling Science Symposium Presentations

2008 Cycling Science Symposium Presentations: "2008 Cycling Science Symposium Presentations"


Wow ... check this link out. A link to about 20 cycling related presentations given at the Serotta Cycling Institute. Don't know what that is, but I read through a few of the presentations and they are very VERY interesting. I'm going to have to look at my own bike fit after reading through some of these.

Health Journal - WSJ.com

Health Journal - WSJ.com: "Night owls are more creative, more flexible and more caffeinated, studies have found. Morning people are healthier, more conscientious and more emotionally stable. They're not as much fun at parties, but morning people run the world, and at least part of me aspires to be a morning person. So, in time for daylight-saving time this weekend, and with the help of several experts, I've been working to reset my circadian clock. My goal: to bound out of bed early, full of energy and good cheer."


I think this describes me perfectly .... especially the "no fun at parties" line. One of my goals this year was to start getting up earlier. I used to rise for work at 6:15, and then be out the door at 6:55 to work. Each week this year, I've set my alarm 5 minutes earlier and allow myself 1 snooze. I also put the alarm in my bathroom so I had to get out of bed to snooze and to turn it off. This week, I'm getting out of bed to shower at 5:35 ... and happy to do so. I'm getting to work about 20 minutes earlier than I used to, and as summer comes i'm going to try and fit in an extra 2-3 workouts a week with the morning time.

New Year (+2 weeks)

So its been awhile since I've updated, 2 months to be honest.

I'm still somewhat on the mend with my collar bone. I overdid it a little in nov and dec and have managed to "disrupt" the metal bar and screws that are holding my collar bones together. It currently looks like an alien is trying to claw its way out of my shoulder. Overall, I feel good though and am looking forward to getting this hardware out so I can get back to my routine.

I have started to get back into shape. I've been spinning and riding the rollers at home some and implementing so core and abs workouts via the CycloCore dvd's I have. I can't do all the exercises because I can't support any upper body weight, but doing the leg portions of bodyweight circuits #1-3 will put the hurt down regardless. In addition, I've been riding the computrainers at a local bike shop. For $150, I can get unlimited sessions for 4 months. At a minimum of twice a week for 16 weeks, thats only $4.69 a sessions. I bet I get it below that! I find the computrainers much easier to ride over a long period. I'm going to be riding with a HR below 140 for a long time to build back some base fitness.

In addition, I've tried to set some new year "guidelines" for myself. Not resolutions, just things I'd like to do better this year. First is my diet. I think I have a great diet actually, but I'd like to race about 5lbs lighter this year than last. Some easy fixes to this are no sugar drinks, more vegetables, and a better job of post workout eating (ie, not overeating!) Second, I need to maintain better strength throughout the season. This mean instituting some leg and core workouts every week and stretching. I found that by the end of last season my back was stiff. I think this can be avoided with regularly stretching, something I haven't done consistently in the past.

Finally, I am looking forward to a spring training trip to Memphis, TN in mid March for a week. Assuming I can have my second surgery to get the hardware out, I should be in good shape and look forward to a week of training to start the race season.

Here is a pic of my on xmas vacation in Kauai. My family did a 6 mile hike. Gorgeous. My only regret was not being able to ride up Waimea Canyon!

Polar +1

Polar gets +1 in my book today. The battery on my s720i died a few weeks ago. I was a little ticked because it can only be replaced (legitimately at least) by sending it into polar. I went ahead and did this and got the watch back 5 days later ... i thought that was a fantastic turn around. i was worried it was going to be a month before i saw it again. When they checked the battery and transmitter, they also replaced the entire face of the watch because the original crystal face was cracked. $70 was a little more than i had expected to spend (the battery was only $15) but I now have a brand new watch. triple sweet.

My Collar Bone

This is the xray from my fall a few weeks ago that I had mentioned. I've had surgery on it now and there is a plate that lines up the broken bones and are held tight with screws. I'm hoping to have the plate and screws out in mid December. Overall I have excellent movement. I have zero pain, but the muscles are pretty sore from the impact of the fall.

Marco Pantani

I've had a pretty wicked head cold the last few days and burned a couple of sick days as a result. While home, i ran to B&N and was suprised that they had so many cycling books available ... other than the typical ones written by either LA or CTS. Anyway, there were two books about Marco Pantani on the shelf. I picked the shorter of the two becasue it was a paperback and was published by Velo Press.

So I read about 3/4 of it yesterday and it was really good. I highly recommend. It was a unique view of European cycling and overall a pretty sad story about the guy.

Marco Pantani: The Legend of a Tragic Champion

I also picked up High Tech Cycling by Ed Burke and am looking forward to reading it. I especially am interested in the portion of the book that covers bike fit. I'd like to re-fit (?) my bike before I Start working out on the trainer for the winter.

Brad Huff Tour of Missouri Crash Remix 1.0

Dang Gina ... that looks like it hurt.

Holtman

'08 Trek XO1 Review

My new bike review ... better late then never.


So as soon as I'd heard that Trek we issuing new cx bikes this season, I knew that I wanted the XO1. It looked like it was going to fit my needs nicely.

The first problem with this bike was availability. My first race was 9/29 so I started asking around about this bike in early Sept. My buddy is a trek employee and told me that there was little chance of getting once in time. Every shop I went to told me that they were unavailable for order, even another buddy at another shop couldn't get get me a bro-deal even to order one. Whats up with this, don't you think Trek would have new products available for their season? I think it's a negative for people looking at this bike ... who is going to wait until half the season is order to buy a bike?

One a whim one night I stopped in at Wheel & Sprocket to warm up on a cold night. I asked the guy if they had any in stock and he looked at his computer and said the warehouse had 1. So I ordered that baby up real quick and had it the following day. I guess it pays to shop at Trek's larges retailer.

So now the bike. Its real sharp. It has a flat paint job, silvery with a touch of copper in it. Carbon fork and seat post. Its not light, at least not compared to my Madone, but it is light enough. It is extraordinarily comfortable to ride ... I chalk that up to tires that are much larger and lower psi than I am used to. On the dirt and single track it's chittery (?) I think a lot of that is due to the aluminum frame and obviously the rough riding surface. Since I'm injured and won't be riding for awhile, I think I may take it back in and have then add a second layer of bar tape to it. The biggest problem I had was bar vibration at higher speeds.

I don't know which seat it has off the top of my head, but its real comfortable. The carbon seat post is nice, but I worry that its going to snap when remounting at times. The bike comes standard with bontrager race wheels and bontrager tires.

I had the brakes cabled euro style ... right brake is rear wheel, left brake is front. It makes sense from a dismount point. Since I don't remember much of my crash, I won't consider that I panicked and hit the front brake accidentally sending me over the bars. I honestly don't think this was an issue.

I have two complaints. First, I hit the back wheel on a barrier one of my first times out and it knocked the rear wheel out of true by about half an inch. I did hit the barrier ... but not that hard, and was disappointed to see it lose its shape so easily. Second, the front brake squeals like a banshee. I have toed in the brakes, sanded the brakes, cleaned the rim surface and it still wails. Not too happy about that, hopefully over time it will wear in a do well.

One last concern has to due with the geometry of the bike. The toe of my shoes and the front will conflict with each other during sharp turns. I don't think its a major problem, but on real tight turns at slow speeds I do get a little concerned about hitting. I am riding a bike a size smaller than usual ... a 52 instead of a 54 ... so this may be part of the problem.

Overall, VERY happy with the bike. It seems rugged and has held up relatively well. After I crashed out with broken boned the bike was unscathed. I look forward to using it as a commuter bike some this winter and giving cx another whirl next fall.

Broken Bones

I broke my collar bone badly and had to have surgery on it. Fun.

I was racing at the Lapham Peak CX race on 9/29. It was a gorgeous day, and a unique ride. The race was two parts; a hill climb in the morning followed by a cx TT in the afternoon. I did well on the hill climb, think I cleared second in my category. In the afternoon the TT was going fantastic, I was really moving when I suddenly went over my bars to the left and hit the ground. Hard. Read hard. I got up right away and though about getting back on, but I was clutching my left clavicle and new I was out for the count. Riders kept going by and most asked if I was ok, I said no and they all kept riding to let someone know. I really appreciated it. Got back to the starting lot and went to the ER. Had an xray taken and it looked something like this .... dang, can't upload it. Will do later.

This all happened on a Sat, on Monday morning I had surgery. They installed a plate and 8 screw to put the bone back together. I'm like a brand new man now.

I gotta be honest, I'm a little disappointed. First it was my first cx race and its not the best showing. Second, it really puts me out of commission for awhile. Third, I had bought a new bike specifically for cx, and now it is just sitting in my apt. On the bright side, its fall and I really want to focus on the road season next spring, so its not that big of a deal.