Texas Tailwind

Rapha and Strava deliver an early gift . . . The Rapha Festive 500

Ben — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:29:56 +0000

It’s not secret that I loved the Rapha Turkey Takeoff Challenge on Strava.com. I was really hoping that they would do more Strava challenges in the future. Well, I didn’t have to wait long. Friday kicks off the Rapha Festive 500, which gives Strava users from Dec. 23 – Dec. 31 to ride 500 km (about 311 miles).

Peter and I are already planning a big ride for Friday to start the event right. In a tribute to Seinfeld we will:

Start the ride with “airing of grievances”
Perform “feats of strength” on the bicycle (maybe attack a Strava KOM or two?)
Include a Festivus Miracle (maybe a flat-free-ride)

I don’t have a Festivus Pole, but maybe we’ll finish the ride with a spin up Flag Pole Hill. Happy Festivus everyone!

The real Tour de Dallas – 100+ miles of Big D by bicycle

Ben — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:13:13 +0000

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Strava. It’s easily the best social/motivation tool for cycling and helped with my recovery from an unplanned layoff. Rapha, another of my favorite cycling brands, ran a very cool contest on Strava during Thanksgiving.

The Rapha Turkey Takeoff challenged riders to burn 9,000 calories between Wed. and Sunday. More than 2,000 Strava subscribers took the challenge and hit the pavement. To normalize the results for type of bike, rider weight, etc. the contest used a simple formula of 36 calories for every mile ridden. So to succeed, and receive the coveted badge, you had to ride 250 miles over those 5 days.

I was able to get lots of riding in over the break (thanks to my wonderful wife and in-laws). As a result, I passed the 9,000 calorie plateau on Saturday. However, my buddy Peter needed to get in 100 miles on Sunday to hit 9,000, so I agreed to do a Sunday century with him.

Given the weather at the start (low 30s and 20+ mph winds) we decided to do a leisurely ride around Dallas (in lieu of the normal loops heading out to the quiet country roads of North Texas).

We started in our hood, Lakewood, and did a lap of White Rock Lake. Then . . .

down the Santa Fe Trail to Deep Ellum

through Deep Ellum and Downtown Dallas to Oak Cliff

Around the Bishop Arts District and back to Downtown Dallas
Up the Katy Trail to Highland Park

Through Highland Park to Bluffview
Through Bluffview to Bachman Lake
Around Bachman Lake and back through Bluffview to Greenway Parks
Through Highland Park to Knox St.

Short coffee break on Knox.
Back down the Katy Trail to Downtown
Through Downtown to Swiss Avenue (passing Dealey Plaza and seeing the Christmas decor at the original Neiman’s)

Through Swiss Avenue back to Lakewood

Through Lakewood to the White Rock Trail
North on the White Rock Trail to North Dallas
Back down the White Rock Trail to the Cottonwood Trail

North on the Cottonwood Trail and back
back down the White Rock Trail to the lake for 2 more laps

I finished with 107 miles, putting me at almost 14,000 calories and good enough for 9th in the Turkey Takeoff Challenge.

This ride was a great change of pace. No worrying about speed or watts . . . just soaking in some of my favorite parts of Dallas. A great finish to a great holiday weekend and a very cool virtual event.

EDITORS NOTE: Rapha and Strava, please do more of these types of events!

I might buy a Garmin for my car now . . .

Ben — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:13:46 +0000

One of my favorite characters in pro cycling, Dave Zabriskie, is one of the new voice options for the Garmin nuvi system. Dave Z is known for being a little quirky (i.e. the name of his chamois butter is DZ Nuts), but I have a similar sense of humor and can only guess what shenanigans would ensue with Dave Z as your navigator.

Young Keanu Reeves as a bike racer makes Kevin Costner look like Eddy Merckx

Ben — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:21:39 +0000

So many funny things about this commercial . . . all I’ll say is Keanu is no Kevin Bacon.

Bicycle racing in a tie . . . and on a folding bike?

Ben — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:26:14 +0000

Our friends across the pond have given us some true gifts:

The Beatles
Top Gear
Monty Python
Rapha cycling gear

Now you can add folding-bike-racing to the list.

Bicycle of the future. Aero? Yes. Electronic Shifting? Yes. Brain-controlled shifting? Yes?

Ben — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:05:57 +0000

If you thought Shimano’s electronic shifting Di2 was futuristic, how about shifting using your brain? It’s like a cycling-Jedi-mind-trick. Its helmet picks up brain waves, which are transmitted to the bicycle’s brain-controlled electronic derailleurs.

Before riding the cyclist needs to train the bike to read his mind. The cyclist acquires Jedi powers by practicing with an experimental iPhone app, moving a cube on its screen until the neural technology associates that thought with the neurotransmission. Once the link is made, all the cyclist has to do is think in that way and the bike’s gears will shift accordingly.

This seems like a great product addition for SRAM, maybe the 2015 version of the “Force” gruppo?

Contador punches back in the Tour (literally, not figuratively)

Ben — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:16:57 +0000

After yesterday’s disappointing performance, Alberto Contador “attacked” today trying to “punch” back at the Schleck brothers and Cadel Evans. However, the only “blow” Contador was able to deliver was to this fan dressed as a doctor running up the famed climb of Alpe d’Huez. Authorities have yet to confirm if Contador was enraged over tainted beef.

New Cervelo S5 aero road bike

Ben — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:40:01 +0000

Cervelo has just launched a new aero road bike (just in time for the Tour de France) and it looks pretty amazing. It’s called the Cervelo S5 (previous code name for the bike was FM70) and here are the stats:

Frame weight is only 990 grams. That’s very light for an aero road frame and about 80 grams lighter than a Cervelo S3.
Frameset is $3,800
A complete bike with Dura Ace Di2 is $9,000
A complete bike with Ultegra Di2 is $6,000!

$6,000 may sound like a lot of money for a bike (it is), but for this frame, with electronic shifting . . . it’s a pretty incredible package.

According to Cervelo’s wind tunnel testing, the S5 will save a rider 32 watts at ~25 mph over a conventional road bike. That’s a huge savings, which increase as your speed increases. Grab a S5 with some Zipp 808 wheels and you have the ultimate wind-cheating-road-machine. Let’s hope the Gamin-Cervelo Team can give the bike a good showing at the Tour – only 3 more days till TdF goodness!

Signs of improvement . . . Strava motivation

Ben — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:33:35 +0000

My road to recovery showed some signs of improvement this weekend. I rode with my PowerTap for the first time in months (first time post-surgery). I did a pretty easy ride, but decided to “open up the legs” on two separate, one minute climbs in Fort Worth. According to Strava, I set new personal bests on both climbs (averaging about 530 watts). More importantly, I took back the Strava KOM on Rogers Rd. (see above), from my good friend Anthony. Strava is a great motivational tool and I plan to use it that way as I ride my way back in shape.

I’m still alive . . . literally! Appendectomy, recovery, rehab, cycling and Paleo eating

Ben — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:40:50 +0000

I haven’t posted to this blog in over two months. Many of you might be thinking, “is he still alive?” I am, but it could have easily gone the other way. Let me take you back 8 weeks . . .

I was at a company offsite meeting and started to feel some stomach cramps. Nothing major, more uncomfortable than anything else. I went to bed early that night only to wake up the next day with worse cramps and headaches. I still had no fever, so I assumed it was a stomach bug. I had a white glove service send a nurse to the house and she agreed with my prognosis. I didn’t show any of the signs of appendicitis (no fever, no pain on the right side, no vomiting or nausea, etc.). However, that night was horrible. My stomach pains become more violent and I had crazy, migrane-type headaches. I didn’t sleep a wink.

Early the next morning my wife woke-up and asked me how I was feeling. When I told her how I felt, she suggested we go to the hospital to have me checked out (she’s a rock star occupational therapist, so I generally trust her medical advice/judgement). However, that day was my son’s birthday party. I told her I would “gut it out” another day and if I still felt bad the next day, I’d go to the ER. This was at 6 a.m. and she made a very convincing argument that we should go immediately, it was early in the morning and the ER wouldn’t be very busy. I went with her better judgement . . . and thank goodness I did.

Upon arrival at the ER we learned:

I did have appendicitis and it had ruptured already.
I might have been walking around with it ruptured for a couple of days.
It was a “very bad” rupture – it actually blew a hole in my colon.

Within 30 minutes I was in surgery. I was blessed to have an amazing surgeon and it went very well, all things considered. The doctor said I had the worst rupture he’s ever seen. His exact words were, “it looked like a grenade went off in your abdomen.” The headaches I had were due to all the septic from the rupture that was flowing through my blood stream. I was told if I had waited another day to come in, I probably would not have survived.

I was in the hospital for 5 days and then recovery moved to home. My rehab started with walks in our backyard. First 10 laps, then 20. After a couple of days I started to venture outside for walks – first half a mile, then a mile, etc. For the first 5 weeks the doc said no cycling, weights, nothing . . . only walking. So that’s what I did for 5 weeks (thank you Pandora for keeping my walks enjoyable).

My diet was also limited (little fiber, etc.). However, I was able to eat mostly Paleo. Lots of omelets with guacamole, some protein shakes, etc. At my 1-month check-up the doctor said my recovery was truly amazing. I credit a couple of things:

Paleo eating. I’ve been Paleo for about a year now and I’m convinced the low-inflammatory nature of a Paleo diet helped speed my recovery.
My general physical fitness. Being healthy means healing faster.
My amazing and supportive wife/nurse and the positive motivation of being able to pick up my kids again (couldn’t lift over 10 pounds for the first month).

I’ll now add a cautionary note. The staff said I must have an incredible pain tolerance because I should not have been able to even stand up with the amount of damage I had in my abdomen. I credit high-intensity cycling and becoming “comfortable” in pain. Fellow cyclists:

ignore pain on the bike = good

ignore pain off the bike = bad

I’ve now been back on the bike for one week. It feels great to ride again and in general I’m pretty much back to 100%. Like I tell everyone, the good news with an appendectomy is that you never have to do it again (you only have one appendix). However, a close call like this definitely makes you re-evaluate what is important in life and being thankful for family and friends.

So since I’m “alive” expect more regular updates to the blog.