The Impact of Lance on the Average Amateur (i.e. me)

So today Lance gave up his fight against the USADA. I can imagine him throwing his hands up in the air shouting, "Fine! Whatever! I'm done!"

He's not gaining a lot of sympathy, being called a liar and a cheat, but the impact of this controversy may actually hit your's truly. Why, you may ask? Because, empowered by the publicity of this campaign, the USADA is greatly expanding their testing of amateur athletes.

I am torn on this issue. My position on professional athletics is that they should all be tested. How they do the testing and the process for appealing and monitoring for corruption is another debate that I will not attempt to address herein. What about amateurs?

Is it OK for someone who competes on an amateur level to abuse testosterone, EPO, HGH, etc.? (Hint: quite a fewactually do) No, they should not but should they be subject to the same rules, guidelines, and procedures as the pros?

Like I said, I'm torn.

Sorry, rant time… 

Outside Magazine today published an article that got me thinking more about this...

This quote from the article represents my main problem with amateur testing:

“Millions of amateurs who compete under USADA guidelines as members of organizations like USA Triathlon and USA Track and Field have no idea which medications—even over-the-counter ones—could bring a suspension. Forcing people to follow the same rules as the pros could turn them away simply because of the hassle.”

There are a lot of hobbyists (like me) and weekend-warriors who have no clue about the USADA/WADA guidelines for banned substances (and have no interest in learning). I have frequent sinus and allergy issues and my favorite remedy (pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in Mucinex-D, Sudaphed, Claritin-D, Zyrtec-D, and a host of other drugs) is a banned substance. What other supplements, drinks, or medications do I take that are also banned? I really don’t care. 

I have made it clear that the reason I'm racing has nothing to do with the other competitors on the course. I don’t race in an attempt to beat someone else: I race against myself. If you think that statement is ludicrous I point you to my last race result where it is clear that I had no chance at a podium finish in my age group, let alone the entire race, and probably never will. My personal schedule and commitments do not allow for the level of training necessary for me to be even an AG competitor and certainly not on the overall category. Maybe after my kids are out of the house (8-10 years in the future)?

So here’s the punch line: no one need fear me beating them at a race. If they ask me to be tested I will politely decline and then avoid sanctioned races while I wait out my inevitable suspension in protest. I’m not going to change my diet/nutrition to appease the USADA and their doping policies just so I can compete in a sanctioned race. I don’t need the hassle.

An interesting side note: Why is doping so prevalant? Because it works.

Another update: BEST POSITIVE DOPING TEST EXCUSE EVER!! 

Cycle Oregon - Past and Future?

Just a quick update...

You may have wondered what I have been doing over the last month? I know I have! 

Well, it all started with a snow storm...

Our house after the big dump, just before we got out the snow shovels. That's about 9" of snow in the grass.When it was all said and done we ended up with about 10" of snow, a little more than average. That was followed-up by an ice storm. The one-two punch of snow and ice literally shut down the area for a week starting on January 16th. Luckily our power outage only lasted for a single day but the end result was that my kids didn't go to school for a week. 

I took some time and started writing up my ride reports from Cycle Oregon 2011. Eventually I'll add reports from Cycle Oregon 2009 when I have the time.

In the mean time Cycle Oregon announced their route for 2012: Bly, Silver Lake, Ft. Klamath, Crater Lake, Prospect, Ashland, Mt. Ashland, and back to Bly. 

Cycle Oregon 2012 RouteThe route covers nearly 500 miles and 40,000 feet of climbing. They did indeed climb add the highest paved road in Oregon (Crater Lake) but they also added the second highest paved road, the Mt. Ashland Ski area access road. So on the 5th day of the ride they essentially do the Mt. Ashland Hill Climb.

I expected the route to sell out quickly but many people were not prepared for it to sell out in *gasp* 40 minutes! I predicted 20 hours but that wasn't even close. My plan from the beginning was to wait for the sellout and be the first to sign up for the wait list. This gives me more time to butter-up the wife and convince her that I need to go. If that doesn't work I have other plans.

So I have some work to do to prepare for whatever this summer ends up being. More to come...

}B^)

 

Reflections on 2011

"So long 2011, don't let the door hit ya in the rear on the way out..." - My Sister, as posted to FB.

I'll get this out of the way quickly: as far as triathlon is concerned, 2011 sucked. Even though I crashed in 2010 it was still better than 2011. This year I only finished 1 race. Ugg. What made up for that? CYCLE OREGON 2011. Read on if you dare...

Biking info

Number of rides: 125

Miles biked: 1690.30 (nearly 500 was on Cycle Oregon)

Elevation gained: 108,485'

Total Saddle Time: 138:08:35 (hh:mm:ss)

Run info

Number of runs: 24

Miles: 91.91

Elevation gained: 8,274'

Total Run Time: 17:31:48  (hh:mm:ss)

 

Starting weight: 284.4

Ending weight: 288.4 (net change: +4.0 pounds)

 

Races/Events finished:

Beaver Lake Triathlon (Sprint)

Tour de Blast

Cycle Oregon 2011 - "Going Coastal"

 

Overview: (see the race reports for details)

"Be a man! Take some Pepto Bismol and ________!" (Fill in the blank with every event I missed last year)

No more excuses. This year was lame. Next year will be better.

At the Beaver Lake Tri I learned that my bike training was terrible. I did PR on the swim but came no where close on my bike/run goals. 

On the Tour de Blast I learned that the best weather preparation in the world only works if you actually bring your bad weather clothing on the ride. I won't be making that mistake again. Otherwise it would have been an EPIC bad-weather ride.

Cycle Oregon 2011 once again proved that my bike training this year was poor but that is the only thing bad I have to say about that ride. It was amazing in almost every way. I am waiting with baited-breath for the 2012 kick-off Party where I will finally decide whether or not I'm going to kill myself to get there in 2012.

Lessons learned:

  1. I need to find a new way to deal with illnesses and still train. More to come...
  2. Focus earlier in the year on distance running and cardio volume.
  3. My best and more consistent results are still from bike commuting, which I try to do 3-5x per week during the spring/summer and early fall months.

 

Bike Light Review


For 4 months out of the year I commute home in the dark. Not sunset, dusk, or twilight, I'm talking the dark of NIGHT, the witching hour, when good little boys/girls turn into pumpkins... OK, I'm out of lame darkness-related sayings. It's dark. On December 21st Seattle gets 8 hours and 25 minutes of daylight (sunrise to sunset). On the flip side we get nearly 16 hours of daylight on June 21. It is SOOO fun going for a bike ride at 8pm and coming back an hour later and the sun still hasn't gone down, but I digress. Back to the dark.

During the dark months of the year riding home in traffic is scary. Are you visible enough? Are the drivers paying attention? And if it is raining all bets are off. I wrote a lot about bike safety a while back and have strong opinions about what I think it takes to stay safe on the roads. Being visible is one of the most important things you do to improve your night time safety.

Can you spot the ninja cyclist in this video?

 

What if you could be brigher without breaking the bank?

I started off my winter riding career with the basic Cateye front and rear lights (similar to the HL-EL135 and TL-TD150 respectively). It only took me a couple of night-time rides to figure out that these lights simply would not do.

There are 2 types of lights-

  1. "Be Seen" Lights - cheaper lights that flash or strobe and are used primarily to increase your visibility. They are not very good if you actually want to see the road on a dark street. Cost: usually less than $20 each.
  2. Headlights - These lights are bright enough to allow you to see the road/trail on a dark night with no other light sources around (i.e. street lights, the moon, or other vehicles). Cost: the cheaper ones start at $50 and go up from there.

By watching various clearance sales and websites (i.e. chainlove.com) I was able to pick up a very nice front headlight that goes up to 600 lumens-

Front light: Light & Motion ARC NiMH Bike Light (Discontinued)
Rear light: Planet Bike Superflash Stealth Rear

But I was unsatisfied with my overall visibility at night. One day I was shopping at REI and found a couple of products that would fit the bill: increase visibility at a low price point.

Wheel lights: CatEye SL-LD120 Orbit Spoke Light Kit

Frame light: BikeGlow Safety Light

Unboxing

The lights came with basic instructions for installation and battery insertion. No need for complicated tutorials here, these lights are pretty simple. 

Installation

Putting these lights on my bike was relatively simple. On the Bike Glow I attached the battery pack and wound the light cord around the bike frame, securing the end with the included zip tie and electrical tape.

The Orbit light was even easier: attach the center groove to a spoke and slide it toward the rim until the ajoining spokes secure the sides in place.

The final result, as seen in the dark-

Comparisons Videos

Now for the field test! To show just how these lights operate in the dark I, here are some videos...

The "before" shot - riding with just my front and rear lights.

 

 The "middle" shot - riding with just the new lights.

"After" - All lit up and nowhere to go (yet).

Summary

CatEye SL-LD120 Orbit Spoke Light Kit

Pros:

  1. Great attachment to the spokes, very solid. We'll see how it wears over time.
  2. Uses a very common battery.
  3. Doesn't distract the rider's eye during use.

Cons:

  1. Difficult to turn on/off without the right leverage.
  2. Only available in 1 color (amber).

 

BikeGlow Safety Light

Pros:

  1. Battery pack uses velcro strap and rubber to stay in place: very secure.
  2. Zip ties and electrical tape included for installation.
  3. Doesn't distract the rider's eye during use, even though it is visible (depends on how you install).
  4. On/off button is easily accessible (I mounted the batter pack right below my seat on the top tube).

Cons:

  1. Emits a very high frequency whine during operation which is only audible when not moving. When the light is in the flashing mode the whine goes on and off with the light.
  2. Limited retail availability (REI only?)

Conclusion

These lights are cool and draw a LOT of attention. They greatly increase your visibility from the side where my other lights are primarily focused on the front and back. 

What about battery life? Not enough experience to guage this one. The Bike Glow runs on a 4 x AA batteries while the Orbit light uses a pair of CR2032 batteries. So far they have survived a couple weeks worth of night commuting with no issues or run-downs. 

The only downside that I can see is that they may attract TOO MUCH attention. They may cause people to gawk and increase other risk factors. Right now it's fun to tell people about them.

My kids saw it and immediately started calling my bike a light cycle and have named it "Flynn" after the main character of the movie Tron.


Light Cycle from Tron: Legacy