Iron Prayer

Ironman must be close. Last night I had the dream where I wake up an hour late for the swim start! Luckily my Timex watch alarm went off and I was on time for my easy swim at the YMCA. Most of the stress for me leading up to a race involves forgetting something. I have a checklist and I’ve been lucky so far with only one slip that occurred at the Rock and Roll half Ironman distance triathlon in Georgia.

I had my normal swim and made a quick exit with the bike onto the roads of Macon, GA. Within the first mile I looked down at my long shadow from the rising sun and low and behold I forgot my seat bag with tube, CO2 and tools! Worse yet is knowing I left it on the ground in transition! Knowing I had 55 miles to go I started the “Race Prayer.”

Dear Lord…I know I’m not one to ask for favors from you but I do need a little help here. It seems in my haste I forgot my seat bag (in transition no less!!!) and need 55 miles of debris free roads so I can keep the air in my tires. Yes, yes, yes I know I yelled at the guy who gave away my hotel room last night but it was late and I did fly 1300 miles to get to the race. Sure I could have been a little more patient with the age grouper floating on his back in the middle of the lake but I was in a hurry and a little push never hurt anyone…right? I’m really a good guy Lord…I don’t cut corners at races and don’t littler gel packets when I train. When I pass people on training rides I always wave and when someone has a flat tire I always ask if they are OK…sure I might not stop when I am racing but it is a race after all.

OK…how about a trade? You can have my shoelaces come untied during the run if I can just get back to transition without a flat. C’mon big guy…I’m already half way through the 56 mile bike…why waste a good thing? Is that glass in the road?! Are you toying with me? I know you have a sense of humor; you allowed recumbent bikes to be created.

OK we are only 5 miles from the finish. Just a little more sunshine sent my way please. How embarrassing would it be for me to flat 5-miles from my AWOL seat bag? It just wouldn’t be right…you know?

All right! We are in the home stretch! We did it! I mean…you did it! Thanks, thanks for letting me get away with one today. I appreciate the love. Is it too much to ask for flat-free racing for the rest of the year? What is that noise? Is that thunder?

Respect

Team Tommaso’s march to Ironman started in December of 2008. I informed some of my potential sponsors that I could pull a top 10 overall bike split at Ironman Louisville. A big boast that I would not have made if I did not believe I could back it up. I try not to write checks with my mouth that my legs can’t cash. To pull of this feat I would have to turn a 4:50 and change on the bike. I would have to average about 23mph.

The set up for me was perfect. I live and train with my coach. I have a cycling background, an amazing Tommaso prototype bike to ride and the grit to get the job done. So I signed up for the race and hired (yes, hired my roommate) my coach (Like the Joker said in The Dark Knight: “If you’re good at something never do it for free.”). I was surprised she agreed to the challenge. She is a pro triathlete and what I was asking was a little insulting to the sport. I wanted to float through the 2.4-mile swim, kill the 112-mile bike and take a nice 26.2-mile walk. She knew right away that I would be too destroyed to think about running. I was still surprised she agreed.

Starting on January 3^rd I was training to be an Ironman. I’ve run marathons and raced enough tri to know my way out of a transition area. I spent 10 years racing road bikes and the occasional mountain bike event. My first day found me in the pool. Soon I was swimming, biking and/or running almost every day. Most days I had two workouts so my personal life died quickly. Work was of course the most important boat not to rock. I love my job and refuse to let work suffer due to my athletic ventures. I don’t get paid to ride bikes…I get paid to make great bikes. You don’t screw up a gig like that.

Before I knew it I was in Atlanta running a half Marathon and visiting friends. I had my best run ever! Then I was back in Colorado racing an early season tri event and had the second fastest bike split and another solid run! The training was changing my body and there was newfound power. During this time I gained 8 pounds but was going faster. I let my coach steer and I provide the engine.

My favorite days were on the bike. I just wanted to kill everyone I saw up the road. As most of you know it is how I came up with the name for the Tommaso tri bike. I finished a race and told my girlfriend: “When I ride the Tommaso and look up the road all I see are dead people. I should call this bike the sixth sense!” A little humor from the movie The Sixth Sense.

As the training and the racing progressed I started to learn a lot about the sport and myself. You have to respect all the disciplines. I started to wonder if my coach knew what I would find as I progressed down the path to Ironman. The more I trained the more I wanted to improve all the aspects of my game. While I didn’t get much faster as a swimmer, I could easily swim 4000 yards straight and go out on the bike for hours. My biking continued to improve in that I was cruising along playfully whistling with a heart rate of 130bpm while tearing down the road. It was going so fast, so easily, it was frightening at times. My run was the biggest surprise. I was doing long runs and wanted to keep running. Before I knew it every Saturday or Sunday I was running at least a half marathon on top of all the other training! It just seemed normal.

So now I am 13 days away from the big show. The Ironman awaits and I still have a decision to make. I’ve worked so hard and come so far for this day. I realize that anything can happen between now and the finish line. I could twist an ankle, get sick or even crash the bike. Just this past weekend my coach crashed and broke a rib and my girlfriend looks to have broken a bone in her foot running. So today I sit and wonder…what side of me will show up on race day?

When all this started the goal was to torch the bike and show the world that the new Tommaso carbon tri bike is a killer! I would like nothing better than to post a super fast time so the people would see that this bike means business. No pro-athlete and no over-hyped wind tunnel data. Just one man on a machine he believes in. Or will the triathlete that I have become dive into the water to swim, crank out a descent bike so I can let my legs finish off an amazing day? Will this be enough to show the world what I know: The Tommaso Sixth Sense tri bike is a KILLER!

The bike is amazing. It is light and fast and fits perfectly. It accelerates really well and descends with all the confidence you could ask for in a bike. Bikes are really only as fast as the pilot pushing the pedals. If you’re going to buy a bike buy it because you know it will perform as a bike and he price is right. Don’t buy a bike because some amazing athlete won a race on it. He could have won the race on any bike out there. It’s the warrior more than the weapon. Tommaso does a great job in getting people on “weapons” at low prices. We (and by “we” I mean “you” through higher prices) don’t pay athletes to pimp our product).

Yeah, I make silly videos on race day and while training. I want everyone to feel like they are training and riding with me. That is how much I love this bike. Could I tear it up and post a crazy-fast bike split? Yes. I could bury myself and put up a good number for the sake of promoting the bike. The rest of the day would be walking to a slow finish. Could I race to the best of my ability and place well and finish like a true Ironman? I believe so. That’s the big question with less than two weeks to go. What is going to happen when I get on the bike? Please tune in to see what happens on August 30^th in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the coming out party for the Tommaso Sixth Sense.

Evolution

Visit this link before you read this post:Strong Survive

"Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting. The Theory of Evolution claims only the strong shall survive. Maybe so…maybe so. But the theory of competition says just because they’re the strong doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked..."

For some reason every time I watch this commercial it stirs up something inside of me. I don’t know if it is the wise old man’s voice, the dramatic music or the amazing images. It is probably all three. As an athlete who has trained for an Ironman almost 500 hours since January 1st I get what the voice is saying. I’m not a natural athlete so I consider myself an underdog. It’s been about 15 years since I was considered a favorite at a race. On August 30th of this year I will wake up done with all the training and only the test will remain.

"What every long shot, come from behind, underdog will tell you is this: The other guy may in fact be the favorite; the odds may be stacked against you, fair enough. But what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test. This is a completely different kind of test, one where passion has a funny way of trumping logic."

Ironman doesn’t care about you. The 2.4 mile swim, the 112 mile bike and the 26.2 mile run is almost mocking you. The 140.6 miles is just short enough to capture the imagination of those who have some fire in them and yet grueling enough to leave grown men in tears on the side of the road broken and empty. The top 5% race an Ironman, the rest of us fight an Ironman. I told my brother it isn’t a race for me…this is a street fight. I told my whole family that I will need them there because one cheer can make a difference. One familiar face can help you forget the pain and when there is love anything can be conquered.

"So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows and the clock starts ticking…"

I don’t know if my moment will come out there on the roads of Ironman Louisville. I do know that there will be a moment when I realize how far I have come and all the countless hours of staring at the tiles along the bottom of the pool will matter. I don’t know if there will be an emotional moment when the long miles tucked on top of my bike staring through my eyelids and hours running with bloody toenails stinging in my shoes will make a difference? Will I wake up one day and realize that I did something special or will it not really matter?

"Out here the results don’t always add up. No matter what the stats may say, and the experts may think and the commentators may have predicted. When the race is on all bets are off! Don’t be surprised if somebody decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling uncle."

The answer is coming. Soon I will find myself stepping into the water with a full day ahead of me. A day I have trained for dreamed of and lost sleep over. There is no guarantee that I will get to the finish. This is a mean game. I’ve learned that just because you’ve spent the money, have the ambition and did the training doesn’t mean you get a pass to the finish. You have to go out and earn it. You have to make demands of yourself that don’t seem logical. You have to ignore the screaming inside that begs to stop and the muscles that no longer want to function. You have to go to a dark place that few get to visit and fewer understand. You have to go deep into your soul and have the courage to see what you are really made of inside.

On August 30th I will go to go to that place and discover what I have inside.

Hanging Out At The Bar

Picking out handlebars and saddles for Tommaso's bikes is like buying clothes…for someone else. It’s a personal fit area that requires a lot of attention. There are a couple points of contact from human to bike that are critical for the product guys to get right. The seat and the handlebars are the ones I concern myself with most. Most customers have an idea of what pedals they want to use so I don’t lose too much sleep over that area. For me the focus is the hands and saddle area. For today we are going to look at road handlebars.

Most road handlebars come in 3 common widths: 400mm, 420mm and 440mm measured center to center at the ends of the bar where the tape plugs are inserted. Of course some manufacturers measure “center to center” and some “outside to outside”. Yes, there are wider and narrower bars but these three are the most common. The old rule of thumb being bars that match the width of your shoulders are the right bars for you. Generally we divide the bars up along the frame sizes that best suit the size of the rider. Smaller bikes get smaller bars. Big bikes get the bigger bars. Easy enough.

Then there’s the little issue of clamp diameter. There are two popular sizes on the market, 26.0 and 31.8 (a.k.a oversized). The theory being that the larger diameter of the tube will allow for less material and yet still be safe and light. Kind of like the slender tube diameters of a steel road bike in relation to the fat tubes found on an aluminum bike. Some have added that the extra material allows for better clamping as well.

Oh wait, now there’s the bars bend to consider. Ergo, anatomical, classic, traditional, compact, and a couple other buzz words to descried the shape of the bar and mainly the drops (the area your hands visit when you are sprinting or really getting low and producing power. The three common hand positions are tops, hoods and drops. The tops area is to the left or right of the stem. Tops are a good place to be when you are climbing. The hoods are the rubber-coated area on the shift/brake levers. This is the most used area as your hands are able to shift and brake as needed. The drops are the lower part of the bar. I prefer an “anatomical” or “ergo” bend as it fits my hand better. I like to grip the bar like a weapon. Lance Armstrong prefers a traditional bend (or so it has been reported). It seems to work pretty well for him.

Not done yet, now there is the “drop.” This is the distance from the bottom of the drop (as it return to horizontal position) to the top of the bar. Like the bend, the drop is an area of careful consideration for many riders. A shallow drop makes for a less dramatic change from hoods to drops. A deep drop makes a bigger change in position and also takes more material so the bars are usually heavier. I prefer a shallow drop as I leave my stem pretty low and a deep drop is too much.

Did I mention reach? Well reach is how far out the bar reached before curving downward. This is an often over looked measurement but can be just as important as stem length. A centimeter here and there adds up. If your shifters seem to be just out of reach a shorter stem or smaller reach can help make for a better fit and feel.
Steel, aluminum or carbon? Most people jump right to carbon and that is OK. Carbon is light, tough but unfortunately pricey. A lot of pros prefer to use aluminum bars. The rigors of the road dictate they need the strength of aluminum. With the higher occurrence of crashes in the pro peloton an aluminum bar will come out fighting. A stress riser from a crash on a carbon bar is a glaring question mark that will keep you wondering. Steel bars are rare as they are far too heavy and are usually found on bikes that are sold in places you can buy 10-pound barrels of pretzels and detergent.

As with most things cycling specific the information could go on for another couple pages. I hope this brief overview gives you a better understanding about road handlebars and the thought that Tommaso Bicycles puts into getting every part right.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the ride!

Tough

It's Sunday night and I am doing the usual basket of nasty cycling and running laundry. For those making a schedule, Sunday is laundry, Tuesday and Friday are leg shaving days and Thursday night is groceries. Anyway, the water is filling up the washing machine and as thrown in a handful of shorts I see a spider come running out of one of the pockets. I like spiders so I am trying to save the little guy. Mr Spider is running around the clothes looking for a way out. I grab a Velo News magazine from the bathroom and tear out the subscription card to use as a way out for the spider. I know if I try to pick this sucker up with my fingers I’ll probably do more damage than good. As I reach in for the spider he disappears down a pant leg and then the water covers the exit…he’s a goner. I finish dumping in the rest of the clothes and go make pasta (Angel Hair in his honor).

As I am apt to do with a busy work/training schedule I forget the laundry for a day and Monday night it dawns on me that I am missing a lot of workout clothes. I’m in a lazy mood and want to go to bed so I throw 99% of the clothes in the dryer. A cardinal sin for fine workout garments, I know. As I am about to close the door to the dryer the spider pops out and drops to the floor and starts walking away! I swear he was looking at me like "Is that all you got?" Now that is one tough spider! I get out of its way and open the door so he can go outside.

That is what I love about tough people, animals and now spiders. The real tough ones never have to tell you they are tough. They just are, and you notice. They say if you have to tell everyone how fast you are you probably aren’t very fast. In other words, let your riding (running or swimming) do the talking. “Less lip and more rip!”

Now trash talking falls into a whole different category. Trash talking amongst friends is a time-honored tradition. I’ll be the first to admit that if I could race as well as I trash talk I would be a Champion. I learned it from the long road trips in cramped cars with teammates. Just be careful that your mouth doesn’t write a check your legs can’t cash. I once told a guy I was going to “Tear off his legs and put them in my jersey pocket to send them home to his mama.” I even told him the climb I was going to do it on. Well I did pull it off that day and crushed him. A month later on a different climb the same dude dropped me so hard I would have had to dial a “1+ area code” to reach him on the phone. He was in another state by the time I caught my breath. It reminded me of another line I used during a group ride before work: “I’m going to check out on you like Motel 6, I’ll leave a light on for you.” Go ahead and use it sometime. No need to footnote me.

Yeah, I know…shallow like a kid’s pool. Rumor has it us “roadies” are like that. Last time I was at the doctors the technician wiring me up for an EKG (to check out my slow ticker) was chatting about cycling. He went on to say “You’re not one of those roadies are you? You know…the tight clothes with matching helmet and the Oakleys? I can’t stand those guys. They are so smug with their shaved legs and expensive bikes. What is it that you do again?”

I replied “I make Tommaso road bikes and to make matters far worse, I’m a triathlete.”

Grip of Death

Racing can be fun, spiritual and sometimes downright nasty. I have had my share of all aspects of racing.  Great days when the course seemed made for my strengths, to days when I have rolled back to the parking lot with a blown-out tube hanging from my jersey pocket deflated (me and the tube). I have been pushed (and pushed back), punched, yelled at, wrecked, ganged up on, trashed talked and almost thrown-up on! Out of all of these aspects of racing the one I enjoy is the Grip of Death…also know as G.O.D.

The Grip of Death is not exclusive to me, nor can I always pull it off. It takes a great deal of strength and confidence to get it right. Failure to do so can lead to embarrassment and frustration. Bjarne Riis used the G.O.D. in the 1996 Tour, on stage 16 in the mountains. Here is how the grip works:

If you are in a break away, or mano-a mano with a competitor (best used here) the G.O.D. can be a handy tool. I taught myself to use “The Grip” during 5K and 10K races. It also has worked well on the bike. If you can’t seem to lose a fellow competitor, especially one with the same age group written on their calf as you, I would try this trick. While running side by side start with a little surge of maybe 5% over current speed. I like to use this in the corners as it seems to catch people off guard. Then idle back and let them catch back up. You don’t want to upset them…you want to destroy them.

After about another minute or two, try another little surge. Upping the tempo on a little hill works well. The goal is to not make the surges look like attacks. The goal is to get the competition to think they are fading. This is the “Grip”. If you can put doubt in a competitor’s mind the battle is almost won. If you piss them off…the battle has just begun. I know this from telling a Clydesdale I was impressed with his use of his weight and gravity on a downhill during the bike leg of a tri in Georgia. It pissed him off and for 45 seconds he kicked up into the red zone to chase me down for a mile or so and then did an “M-80.” Oh yeah…he blew up!

So, now that you have a little doubt seeping into the mind of the competitor it is time to bring the “Death” part of the equation. When you have fully recovered from the two surges, drop back a few inches from the field of vision of the competitor. Let him forget you are there…he may think you are the one that is fading. Now s-l-o-w-l-y pull up next to him (a look of ease on your face helps) and lengthen your stride and hold on for a good minute. You don’t have to go into the red but you will be working. DO NOT LOOK BACK! Just keep going. In four minutes or so sneak a peek as you round a corner. If done correctly, the G.O.D. should have been too much for the competitor and he/she will be gone. If at this point your competitor is still in your zip code you have a fight on your hands. Start cooking the corners and making slight gaps. It will annoy the crap out of them. Remember: gaps=doubt. If you still have company it will probably go to the finishing sprint. Don’t start the sprint from front. Stay at the competitor’s side and wait until they start the sprint. At this point give it all you have no matter how much it hurts. The pain will be gone 45 seconds after the finish. The disappointment will last for hours…or until you get to the nearest Wendy’s for a vanilla Frosty.

By the way…if you try to “Grip of Death” me I have another little “something” I guarantee you will not like.

Happy training!

Keeping Calm

Yeah...that's room service. A burger with an egg on it and a beer. Shanghai is killing me! My training has gone straight down the Ironman porta-jon. I am trying not to go ballistic as my body is getting soft. Traveling is hard enough. Traveling around the world and trying to stay fit is almost impossible. The time change, the odd food and less than tolerable workout facilities are daunting challenges to any athlete. Keeping clam is key and pre-planning is paramount.

Squeaky wheel rule applies when tying to train on a trip, especially a business trip. Emailing hotels and investigating the facilities online is a must. Keep in mind that photographers are paid to make the tiny pool look like an Olympic size swimmer’s dream. On this current trip to Taiwan I even went as far as using Google Earth satellite maps to see the actual outside pool.

When I crossed over to Shanghai for the remainder of my trip I ran into a glitch. The hotel I booked has a 25 meter pool but it isn’t conducive to proper training. It is located upstairs from a KTV (Chinese disco-karaoke). This means if I want to swim I have to walk through a night club (afternoon and evening) with…um…”ladies of the evening” asking me to obtain their services. Not a scene you want to enter into wearing a Speedo. The pool’s water quality is questionable at best. The chance to get sick is very high. My last trip to Asia gave me a stomach parasite that worked me over for a month.

With swimming out I decide to try the gym to run on the treadmill. Same issue with the disco, but a new glitch is found upon arriving to the workout room. The weights, bike and single treadmill is next to the pool and the air is like a sauna. Now the interesting mix: The room is also a hang-out for those wishing for “men of the evening.” Not a scene you want to enter into wearing super short Brooks running shorts. As I arrived to the sub-par treadmill there are four shirtless males wearing only swimming suites very excited to see me. The only workout I got that night was jogging back to my room. For the record, this is a 5-star hotel and the nicest in the area. Shanghai Surprise!

The food is a disaster when traveling. At least it is for me. Half my suitcase is my own training food. Energy bars, bagels, pretzels (none in China), Fig Newtons, G2 powder mix and Power Gels are a must in the land of rice and…um…is that beef? Some handle the fried octopus at the Pizza Hut better than others. I stick to steamed white rice and corn soup as much as possible. Until I recover from this trip...happy training and thanks for reading.