Today was "one of those days" packed with too much to do, too little time to do it and no chance to breathe... some people call it "Monday". (I hate that day.)
Since I have the punkin, aka Masidaughter 1.0, this week I didn't get to go on a lunch ride- because I leave early to pick her up from school. However, with the day I had, I really, really needed a ride. So, as I have done for many years, once punkin was in bed and asleep I headed outside with the rollers and the fixed gear. Thankfully, my wife really encourages me to do so... probably because she lives with me and knows what a mess I become when I'm too stressed out and don't ride.
After a solid hour of burying myself into the pedals and that smallish 46x16 gear, I now feel a little more human and a lot more sane... not to mention a few pounds lighter after sweating like an ox (I'm fairly sure my long sleeve wool jersey now weighs about 8 lbs). My legs weren't really into the whole thing for the first 10 minutes, but as they warmed up they began to feel great and eventually felt incredible. I ran out of water with about 15min to go and then ran out of music with about 10 to go... which was far more bothersome since I rely so heavily on my music to stay focused on my workout when I'm on the rollers. I held on though and pedaled through the distractions to reach that place where the pain in the legs went mostly away and the frustrations in the mind became a lot softer.
And now for the numbers... 1:00:32, 20.8av/40.3mx MPH, 21.08mi, 92av/181mx RPM, 147av/163mx HR. That max speed of 40.3 is my favorite number because I don't think I've hit that number before on the rollers on the 46x16 gearing. I've hit nearly 50 with my geared road bike on the rollers, but don't think I've hit the 40+ mark with such a small gear before tonight... which again gives me hope. (Unfortunately, my form was really terrible at that speed and I rolled off the rollers and grazed the fence... but we won't bring that up...)
Now it's time for bed so that I can hit the ground running for another truly crazy day tomorrow. But for tonight at least, I'll sleep the sleep of the truly tired... thankfully.
Tim
Showing posts with label Losing my mind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Losing my mind. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Where has the time gone?
Has it really been 12 days since I've written a blog post? Really? Holy crap...
I wish I could say there was any other reason than just the generic "I've been busy". I haven't been riding at all- between the back injury and being sick, I haven't touched a bike in weeks. Hopefully this week will break that cycle... I hope. The reality is that I've just been so slammed with work that by the time I am home from work, I have barely got the mental power to do the Twittering that I do. I have to admit that Twitter has been killing my blogging- the simple 140 character pseudo haiku has proven to be very effective at eating my motivation to blog. Frankly though, that bothers me and I want to regain my blogging power... promise I'm working on it.
Things have been super busy with the development of the 2011 bike line. Yeah- I know, it isn't even 2010 yet. I know... that's part of why I'm so dizzy! Our spec and design cycle gets increasingly shorter year after year. It's a freaking miracle I know what year it is now... 2020, right? We've already got all of our bike colors, names and models selected and are in the process of wrapping up key design elements, as well as spec. Spec is always the big issue and we'll be finishing the loose bits while in Taiwan in a little more than a week. Which brings up...
... I leave for Taiwan and Japan the first week of December. I'll be in Taiwan for Taichung Bike Week, which is the mini un-tradeshow for OEM market. It's the last big chance to see the newest of new products or finalize spec selections, etc before putting the product range to bed. We'll be there sniffing out the best stuff available, as well as getting preliminary views of the latest goodies coming from the big players in the component world. It's pretty exciting for a professional spoke sniffer like myself. The best part of the Taiwan trip for me is getting to sleep in my own bed, in my wife's condo she owns... which just happens to be a block away from where all the show meetings take place! AND... she'll be in Taiwan at the same time! She'll be there primarily to visit family, but at least I'll see here there when I am there. That's a very cool thing.
After Taiwan, I will be returning to Tokyo for the Cycle Mode consumer show for the 3rd year. I love Tokyo and the Cycle Mode show. Japan is simply amazing and our distributor there- Kozaki- is a fantastic host and I am always stupendously happy there. The show is great, the Japanese consumers are great to talk to... and I eat my way through Tokyo like Godzilla on a rampage! I swear... Tokyo may be my favorite place on the planet for food... I love it! I hope this year to finally make it over the uber hip, keirin themed bar- Kinfolk- while I am in the city too. I've never been able to get there in the past, but I'm going to try to get there this year and finally meet up with the very cool folks behind the place. I have no idea if there is any keirin racing going on the time of year in Tokyo, but if there is, I am going to make an effort to get to it. I'm also on a quest to get my hands on anything keirin related... so I'll be hunting!
As of Friday of last week, I might be also adding a little "detour" on the front of this trip; may be headed to Seoul, South Korea for a couple days to see the Seoul Bike Show- which is the Korean equivalent of the Japanese Cycle Mode shows. Our new distributor there will be debuting Masi (and Brev M), so I may be there to assist them in the public launch of the brand there. In the end it means a 3rd country in my 2 week trip, but I am excited by the possibility of seeing Korea and having the chance to help our new distributor there- Kisong International.
As always, as much as I can while I am traveling, I will be doing my best to post to the blog. However, in light of the fact I am often super busy while on the road, I don't get much time for blogging so it's a good idea to keep your eyes on my Twitter and Facebook for short notes and frequent images.
Here's to a great Thanksgiving week- I'll be back in less than 12 days this time, I promise.
Tim
I wish I could say there was any other reason than just the generic "I've been busy". I haven't been riding at all- between the back injury and being sick, I haven't touched a bike in weeks. Hopefully this week will break that cycle... I hope. The reality is that I've just been so slammed with work that by the time I am home from work, I have barely got the mental power to do the Twittering that I do. I have to admit that Twitter has been killing my blogging- the simple 140 character pseudo haiku has proven to be very effective at eating my motivation to blog. Frankly though, that bothers me and I want to regain my blogging power... promise I'm working on it.
Things have been super busy with the development of the 2011 bike line. Yeah- I know, it isn't even 2010 yet. I know... that's part of why I'm so dizzy! Our spec and design cycle gets increasingly shorter year after year. It's a freaking miracle I know what year it is now... 2020, right? We've already got all of our bike colors, names and models selected and are in the process of wrapping up key design elements, as well as spec. Spec is always the big issue and we'll be finishing the loose bits while in Taiwan in a little more than a week. Which brings up...
... I leave for Taiwan and Japan the first week of December. I'll be in Taiwan for Taichung Bike Week, which is the mini un-tradeshow for OEM market. It's the last big chance to see the newest of new products or finalize spec selections, etc before putting the product range to bed. We'll be there sniffing out the best stuff available, as well as getting preliminary views of the latest goodies coming from the big players in the component world. It's pretty exciting for a professional spoke sniffer like myself. The best part of the Taiwan trip for me is getting to sleep in my own bed, in my wife's condo she owns... which just happens to be a block away from where all the show meetings take place! AND... she'll be in Taiwan at the same time! She'll be there primarily to visit family, but at least I'll see here there when I am there. That's a very cool thing.
After Taiwan, I will be returning to Tokyo for the Cycle Mode consumer show for the 3rd year. I love Tokyo and the Cycle Mode show. Japan is simply amazing and our distributor there- Kozaki- is a fantastic host and I am always stupendously happy there. The show is great, the Japanese consumers are great to talk to... and I eat my way through Tokyo like Godzilla on a rampage! I swear... Tokyo may be my favorite place on the planet for food... I love it! I hope this year to finally make it over the uber hip, keirin themed bar- Kinfolk- while I am in the city too. I've never been able to get there in the past, but I'm going to try to get there this year and finally meet up with the very cool folks behind the place. I have no idea if there is any keirin racing going on the time of year in Tokyo, but if there is, I am going to make an effort to get to it. I'm also on a quest to get my hands on anything keirin related... so I'll be hunting!
As of Friday of last week, I might be also adding a little "detour" on the front of this trip; may be headed to Seoul, South Korea for a couple days to see the Seoul Bike Show- which is the Korean equivalent of the Japanese Cycle Mode shows. Our new distributor there will be debuting Masi (and Brev M), so I may be there to assist them in the public launch of the brand there. In the end it means a 3rd country in my 2 week trip, but I am excited by the possibility of seeing Korea and having the chance to help our new distributor there- Kisong International.
As always, as much as I can while I am traveling, I will be doing my best to post to the blog. However, in light of the fact I am often super busy while on the road, I don't get much time for blogging so it's a good idea to keep your eyes on my Twitter and Facebook for short notes and frequent images.
Here's to a great Thanksgiving week- I'll be back in less than 12 days this time, I promise.
Tim
Monday, June 29, 2009
Good to relax
This weekend should've been more productive, after such a crazy week last week. I was bound and determined to get a bunch of work done that I wasn't able to finish during the week. We're in the midst of several major projects with overlapping deadlines, so there is no shortage of things that can lead you to have a minor aneurysm all day, every day. I left the office just shy of 9:00PM on Friday and still had plenty of work to do over the weekend- like finishing writing the catalog copy for the new catalogs that are due to be completed any second. It wasn't like I wanted to spend the weekend working, but it was clearly becoming a necessity as I left the office on Friday night.
I woke up Saturday and my lovely bride made sure that I got myself together and out on the road for a ride and she headed off to the YMCA to go for a swim (her thing is swimming). I had a great ride with one of the local groups I irregularly train with. I won't spin a yarn of epic pitched battles and sprint won by bike lengths... but I did have a great time. My legs were "OK", but not stellar. I screwed up my positioning and timing on the main sprint of the ride, so I missed out on the bragging rights (until next weekend any way). BUT... I had fun and realized my fitness is not too terrible, though not anything spectacular.
After the ride and some lunch, Ann and I headed off to a local cafe I recently turned her on to- one that I used to spend nearly every waking hour of my life in nearly 20 years ago. With coffee in my veins and free wifi, I was convinced I'd bang out the last of the catalog copy in short order... but as is frequently the case, I was distracted by my surroundings and the fantastic weather. So, rather than get any meaningful work done, we drove t othe beach and enjoyed the rest of the sunlight and then watched a very nice sunset.
Sunday was a day to sleep in a little and then we hopped on our SoulVille bikes and headed off to ride around the neighborhood and then to the Farmer's Market to get our week's worth of fruits and vegetables. Before we knew it, it was late night and I was sitting here at the dining room table finishing the catalog copy after 11:00PM... but it got done!
In the end, contrary to my intentions to get work done in an orderly fashion, it got put aside for the weekend so I could spend time with my wife and enjoy the weekend... and THEN I scrambled my brains to get the work done! It's not the right technique for everybody... but it worked this time for me.
Tim
I woke up Saturday and my lovely bride made sure that I got myself together and out on the road for a ride and she headed off to the YMCA to go for a swim (her thing is swimming). I had a great ride with one of the local groups I irregularly train with. I won't spin a yarn of epic pitched battles and sprint won by bike lengths... but I did have a great time. My legs were "OK", but not stellar. I screwed up my positioning and timing on the main sprint of the ride, so I missed out on the bragging rights (until next weekend any way). BUT... I had fun and realized my fitness is not too terrible, though not anything spectacular.
After the ride and some lunch, Ann and I headed off to a local cafe I recently turned her on to- one that I used to spend nearly every waking hour of my life in nearly 20 years ago. With coffee in my veins and free wifi, I was convinced I'd bang out the last of the catalog copy in short order... but as is frequently the case, I was distracted by my surroundings and the fantastic weather. So, rather than get any meaningful work done, we drove t othe beach and enjoyed the rest of the sunlight and then watched a very nice sunset.
Sunday was a day to sleep in a little and then we hopped on our SoulVille bikes and headed off to ride around the neighborhood and then to the Farmer's Market to get our week's worth of fruits and vegetables. Before we knew it, it was late night and I was sitting here at the dining room table finishing the catalog copy after 11:00PM... but it got done!
In the end, contrary to my intentions to get work done in an orderly fashion, it got put aside for the weekend so I could spend time with my wife and enjoy the weekend... and THEN I scrambled my brains to get the work done! It's not the right technique for everybody... but it worked this time for me.
Tim
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