I Had To Give Sky Skiing A Try

This past weekend was spent doing something I've never done in my life... sky skiing. How is the best way to explain what sky skiing is? Um, it is like sitting on a stool, which is balancing on a 3 foot post, while getting pulled 30 mph through the water. Yeah, that about sums it up. For those who can read the above sentence and think, "Yeah, that is easy," I assure you, it isn't!

If you do it right, it does look very easy. For instance, my friends wife, Jodi (above) just skied and made it look relaxing... This is cool.

Then my friend, Terry took it to the next level. Again... Making it look easy. This is even cooler.

We had two boats out on the water. These pictures blow my mind. I snapped these pictures of Rick, who was landing barrel rolls, back-flips, and even trying front flips. These pictures are unbelievable...

I think everyone is familiar with a simple machine called a lever. Well, when you are out of the water and gliding the contact point with the water is at the hydrofoil. If you make a wrong move the hydrofoil will dive down while the boat pulls you forward, turning you into a powerful lever. A lever that puts the brunt of the impact on your head. This is a lesson I learned very well as I had several high speed impacts as a result of that powerful lever doing just as I explained.

Today I am a bit in the hurt locker. Between the high speed water impacts and the amount of strength it took to tow my huge ass through the water, my body is sore and my muscles ache. But man, was it fun!!!

Big Efforts... But Not Too Big

My Heart Rate During Workout Session

Tuesday was the maiden voyage for me and my new Fuji track bike on the Boulder Indoor Velodrome. I purposely didn't go gonzo on my hot laps because I wanted to make sure I got a good feel for the bike before I started focusing on speed rather than my technique. That said, I still had some good efforts during the session.

The Workout:

1. warm up.
2. 4 sprint efforts from the back of the pack
3. Recover
4. 2 3k team pursuit efforts
5. cool down

The Explanation:

1. Warm up: Twenty minute warm. Effort should be gradually increasing to a peak at the finish. First 15 minutes will be in zone 2 and 3. Final 5 minutes will be spent in sprinters lane with heart rate steadily in zone 3 and final lap can peak in zone 4.
2. 4 sprints from back of the pack: Exercise requires at least a group of three riders. This drill is intended to practice attacking off the back of the pack and taking your opponent by surprise. In theory, right before an attack the attacking rider needs to allow a bit of a gap between themselves and the group before throwing the hammer down. The idea is to allow the attacking rider to attack while still in the slipstream before passing at full speed.
3. Recover: self explanatory.
4. 2 3k team pursuit efforts: With a group of three riders the idea is to finish the effort in as little time as possible with a strict no drop policy. Each rider takes turns at the front and communication is key to allow weaker riders to take shorter pulls and stronger riders to pull longer. Along with communication, pace line mechanics is critical to success with the high speed effort.
5. Cool down: Allow your heart to recover before ending exercise. Should not get off the bike while still sweating.

In Practice:

1. Warm up: Did not track my warm up heart rate so it is not displayed in the graph above.
2. 4 sprints from back of pack: There was a group of 4 riders on the track. I have some technique to learn on this form of attack. I understand the theory, but in practice I got a bit anxious when I watched the riders open a gap. I applied the pressure a bit too early, eliminating the slipstream effect and I ended up attacking while on the outside, which eliminated any surprise. Not great, a lot of room for improvement, but like anything it requires practice. We did that a total of four times after our warm up (First four spikes in graph).
3. Recover: Seemed to recover quickly
4. 2 3k team pursuit efforts: This was awesome! Basically a three person team time trial around the track. The first effort was a bit dodgy. It was the first time the three of us rode together that fast. However, we learned quickly and made decent time. Now the second effort was were it got cool. Not only were we more comfortable around each other, but we started communicating. Allowing those who were struggling a chance to take shorter pulls while those who could handle more took longer. It started to feel like a real team effort, which is rare in a sport such as cycling (3k efforts are the second set of spikes on the graph).
5. Cool down:

In Conclusion:

The riding was great and I felt in control during the entire session. I was happy to see my heart has a large range. My max heart rate yesterday was 190bpm and I didn't feel like I was going to puke! I'm pretty sure I can get it a couple beats above that even when doing a solo hot lap. Time will tell as I plan to continue to chart my heart rate during these rides.

Bike Porn: Not For The Faint Of Heart

This past Wednesday I picked up my new track bike. The good people at Excel Sports in Boulder did a fantastic job of building it up and fitting me to it. Today I finally got a chance to ride it. I took it out on a spin at the local technology center (empty roads on weekends) to make sure it is dialed in before I take it to the track on Tuesday.

My Speed Chart for Today's Ride:

After my ride I took out my camera and did a small photo shoot. Imagine Austin Powers with a camera, "Oh Yeah Baby, Work with me, Work with me, Yes, Yes, NO! NO!"

Disclaimer: The images you are about to see may increase the pressure in your tubes. If you sustain overly inflated tubes for greater than 4 hours, seek help immediately as it may be a side effect.

Performance: A Video That Cracks Me Up

I have to post this here so I can have a good laugh any time I want without searching for it.

It is totally true, but seeing as how I just bought a brand new fixed gear bike... I can't help but feel a little made fun of... Totally worth it! Give it a watch.

TrailCentral.com Is Slowly Sinking... But There Is Hope.

It has been a while since I've posted anything regarding my website, TrailCentral.com (TC). The reason I've been quiet about it is because I haven't been working on it in over a year. Yikes! Well, that would be a true statement about 3 months ago. Let me explain.

About three months ago I had a hard decision to make because I noticed that the path TC was on meant one of two things: Continue to neglect it's operational needs and let it implode on itself or upgrade the server.

This was honestly a hard decision because my priorities in life have changed a lot to include family, work, fun, and much more. When I looked at it in terms of priority it seemed TC was always on the low end of the priority list. However, it is like letting go of a family member. If I think of all the lost sleep and energy I put into creating the site, it would be a hard pill to swallow to let it implode on itself and forget about it.

I know big time investors and business people would say, "Cut it loose and focus your energy on the next big idea." I agree with the statement when it comes to business, but TC has never really been a business. One of the most important things I've realized in my time away from TC is that it is not a business and honestly, I don't ever care if it becomes a business. What I care about is having a place where I can continue to play with new ideas. A place where I can explore the world of web development and system management. Most importantly a place where business need does not dictate what I develop, but a place where instinct and effort allows me to develop anything I want about a sport I am passionate about.

So after all that long winded rambling can you guess what my decision was regarding TC? Should TC sink or swim? I choose swim... but not an Olympic freestyle king of swim; more like a doggie paddle.

Three months ago I made a plunge and purchased a dedicated server. This single element (system management) has always been a black hole on my radar. In the past I've always developed code. If it worked... great! If it blew up my system... I always was able to call the 1-800 number and have an operations expert help me to get it rolling again. Honestly, I wouldn't have gotten a dedicated server without the help of a good friend I work with named Zach. He's an operations guy and knows his stuff. Plus, he is willing to let me ask really stupid questions and answers me with somewhat of a straight face.

Since I've started running the system I learned something; it isn't as intimidating as I thought. In fact, it has helped my development by allowing me to see how my code is running on my server. I no longer think in terms of getting it to work. I now think of it as getting it to work with performance and stability. Pretty cool!

I didn't make my decision a moment to soon. In fact, since working on the new server I've noticed that the old site has been acting up a bit, as if it knows I'll be shutting it down soon. I receive daily notices that I'm reaching the capacity of my current server. Each time I hit the ceiling it causes my database to lock up and at times takes down the entire website. It is ugly and I'm sure it isn't a pleasant user experience.

However, there is hope. I'm reaching the end of my development and hope to have the new server turned on in the next month or two. I'm making a lot of changes. I will E.O.L. several areas of the website that require a lot of effort on my part and I'm trying to enhance areas of the website that require community. This way the site will stay as fresh as the community that uses it and not look dated because I haven't updated it. While optimizing the performance I have also been updating the look and feel of the website, which was something I've wanted to do for a long time.

So the short of it is I hope you hang in there with me. I realize the old server is sinking and nobody will be more pleased than me when the transition to the new server is done. There is hope... There is a light at the end of the tunnel... and thanks to all of you who have been a part of my journey with TC. I'm happy to say the journey is not yet done.