Eve of Destruction

On the eve of embarking on a three week, 1128 mile cycling challenge I feel about as prepared as one can feel for this type of thing. I've got 4500 miles in the legs so far this year and I've done over thirty 50+ mile rides. Still, after tomorrow's short prologue, the Sunday-Friday mileage requirement is a leg-breaking 384.4 miles. Last year the second week was the big one. This year there's no easing into it. Bam! And really, with week two's mileage of 370 and week three's 300, it's pretty much going to be three weeks of living on the bike anyway you look at it.

The most positive aspect is that I'll be at the starting line tomorrow, unlike all of the Tour's top riders who have been caught up in the latest doping scandal. The sanctimony of the team directors, race directors and other cycling hanger's on is sickening. I know the pro riders dope, you know the pro riders dope and certainly those affiliated with riders and teams know it. This business that the scandal is somehow good for the sport because it will lead to a clean-up is simply public relations gone mad. The Festina scandal of 1998 was going to be the end of doping and all it did was usher in the era of high tech cheating, i.e., finding 'blocking' agents to trick blood tests and making EPO, HGH and testosterone 'soups' and administering them on a schedule that would allow riders to pass drug tests. This latest bust will only lead to still more sophisticated methods. Don't forget, millions of dollars ride on the shoulders of these guys - people are willing to do anything to achieve or maintain the status of superstar with all of it's attendant fame and fortune.

The only question is when will Lance Armstrong finally admit to taking dope, or in the alternative and much more likely scenario, when will one of the many enemies he created by stomping on people whenever they didn't fit in with his plans finally come forward with conclusive evidence? So far the Lance machine has been successful at using money and power to squash threats to his dirty secret.

How can I say with such conviction that the almighty hero Lance is a doper? Think about it; all of his main rivals over the past seven years have now been exposed as dopers. He was consistently beating them by many minutes in the Tour. If his rivals hadn't been doping one can assume that he would have been beating them by hours. Does that seem reasonable to you? No amount of high-tech equipment, training, diet or any other preparation would separate a single rider at the top of the sport by such a wide margin. Particularly one who was a mid-packer prior to undergoing cancer treatment (something that in every single case except Lance's has left the patient weaker for many months or years). Yes, we all love to believe in miracles, but when something is too good to be true, and you must agree that Lance's story is all of that and more, it is too good to be true. Way too good.

If you're not a cycling fan, you probably won't recognize the guy on the left but he's the true hero of American cycling, Greg LeMond.

My guess is that when Lance's ability to make $20 million per year in endorsements and appearance fees comes to an end, the truth will come out. Until that time, his well-financed machine will continue to overpower his would-be detractors. He should understand that as soon as his ability to pay his homeys top dollar for protecting him, they will jump like rats off of a sinking ship, all looking for a book deaI.

I'd better get some sleep, it's going to be a tough (but fun!) three weeks.

If the Bike Fits; Ride It!

Elvis, meet Colnago. Colnago, meet Elvis.

The Bicycle Doctor had my new bike and I in for a session yesterday. The good news is that it looks as if the relationship will be a good one. Sure, we each had to make some compromises. We each had to admit that we had made mistakes and that for the relationship to be a long and strong one we each needed to be sensitive to the needs of the other. Communication and sensitivity will be the keys to a long and enjoyable relationship according to the advice of the good Doctor.

There are so many theories on bike position that I have avoided going in for a fitting thinking that they were as likely to muck up my position as they were to make me more comfortable or more powerful on a bike. But after both Buster and The Boss recommended that I go to the Bicycle Doctor to see Doctor Tom I finally relented. Click HERE to see the method I had previously used to set up my bike position.

Doctor Tom is well-known around these parts. As much for the famous Saturday morning 'Drop the Doc' ride as for his years of riding bicycles and owning and running a local bike shop. What I really like about Tom is his willingness to cut through all of the crap and get down to what really matters on a bike; comfort and power. He also subscribes to the LeMond method of getting the knees square and over the pedals, which makes sense to me.

First off, Tom had me spin easily on a trainer. He observed me from the front and the side to get a feel for where I was in relationship to the pedals. He then measured my hip angle; both with my foot at the bottom of the stroke and with my foot at 9:00 o'clock. From that he made a quick conclusion that my shoe cleats were too far back. He moved them forward so that the ball of my foot would be slightly behind the spindle of the pedal so that I could get maximum power on the forward and downward portion of the pedal stroke. This also opened my hip angle slightly which hopefully results in a bit more power.

The measurements also confirmed that my saddle was too low. We spent the next few minutes raising the saddle, spinning and measuring, until we found the optimum height. He would continually ask me how the position felt because he believes that the "feel" of the rider is every bit as important as the science of the fitting. He would rather that a person be comfortable than for a person to fight to be in a textbook position.

Since the seat tube angles back at 73.5 degrees any upward positioning of the saddle also required some compensatory movement forward. As the saddle goes up it also goes back because of the angle of the seat tube. To get this right Tom used a laser beam to accurately get a saddle fore/aft position that placed the forward part of my knee directly over the pedal spindle when the pedal was at the 9:00 o'clock position. This, according to the LeMond method, provides more efficiency as well as less stress on the knee joints. The neutral-knee position.

Note the position of the tape which marks the starting point. The saddle went up 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) and it went forward 3/8 inch (9.5 mm).

Once those positions were dialed in the next thing to measure/adjust was feet angle. By this I mean the rotation of the foot from side-to-side (the deflection from flat of the inner part of the foot to the outer part). That last line was confusing, wasn't it? Just go HERE for a better description of the problem as well as the solution, from Lemond Fitness.

Doctor Tom again used his laser device from in front of me to measure the deflection of my knee position in relation to my foot, the so-called forefoot tilt I was trying to describe above. From this measurement he was able to determine that I did in fact have some foot deflection. The solution was to insert some plastic wedges in between the sole of my shoes and the cleat to compensate for my forefoot tilt. Tom said that the classic knee-in riding position of years past has been proven to be less efficient and more likely to cause knee injuries that the neutral-knee position. Look at some old pictures of professional riders or watch some old Tour footage and you'll see riders with their knees bumping the top tube on each stroke. And then remember that many rider's careers ended with knee injuries, something we don't hear a lot about any more.

After that we spent some time making sure that my position felt good. I did feel 'tall' on the bike and I could feel the wedges on my shoes but none of it caused pain or discomfort so that was good. But I didn't feel particularly powerful either. Tom said I needed a few days of easy riding so that my muscles could get used to the new position before I would feel any benefits. New positioning means that different areas of the leg musculature will be asked to do more work and those muscles need time to 'break in'.

Then Doc checked my elbow angles as I rode the hoods and the drops. He said that handlebar width and stem length have more to do with comfort than with power so whatever 'felt' good was good. How refreshing, a shop owner not trying to sell me some equipment to solve a non-existent problem. I'm beginning to like this guy. The last thing he checked was handlebar height. He thought that I might want to raise it a bit due to the 1/2 inch rise in my saddle. But since it felt good to me the way it was we decided to leave it alone for now. if I experience any low back pain I can creep the bars up a bit.

As we were finishing the Sram rep stopped in to give Tom a demonstration of the new 10 speed shifting componentry. I hung around for the demo and my initial reaction is that it's nothing special. No features that break any ground when compared to Campy or Shimano, no weight savings and it's priced about the same. I see no reason to switch. But I do think that competition is a good thing and if this forces Campy and Shimano to innovate, all the better.

The fit session ran $75.00 and for that Tom also set up a second pair of shoes for me. Was it worth it? Only time will tell. Since I'm about to log some major mileage I should be able to give you an update in a week or so.

For some general tips on bike position go HERE. For more on the Greg LeMond system of fitting I recommend that you find a copy of his book, "Greg LeMond's Complete Book of Bicycling". In addition to his ideas on fitting you'll find tons of other useful information. And for a contrary view, just to add to the confusion, go HERE.

Later that evening The Boss took me out for a moderately paced 30 miles and what I noticed the most were the wedges in the shoes. I could see that my knees were staying vertical and the side-to-side swaying was all but imperceptible, so the wedges seem to be working. My legs were more sore than usual the following morning and that I suppose can be attributed to the muscles working a bit differently than before. I'm not talking about severe soreness, just different.

I've got just a few days before I begin the second annual "50% of the miles, 100% of the effort" Tour journey so hopefully my legs will quickly adjust. Speaking of the Tour journey, I do plan on posting a ride report every day so please stay tuned. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about you can peruse my posts from last year by clicking HERE and HERE. Essentially, I ride 50% of the Tour de France mileage every day of the Tour. It's hard, it's fun. You can keep track of my progress by clicking on the "Tour Mileage Chart" in the column at the left. And if you're in the area of Milwaukee, WI and want to do one of the rides with me just send me an email, I'd love the company.

BREAKING NEWS!

June 25, 2006 - 9:26am CDT

ElvisKennedy.com is breaking this news! It's a scoop! You'll hear about this issue other places soon but Elvis Kennedy has beat the NY Times and all other news outlets to the punch.

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold has dyed his hair. This is a vain attempt to make himself look young and vibrant for his expected run for the U.S. Presidency in 2008.

As this blog entry is being written Senator Feingold is the guest on NBC's Meet The Press with Tim Russert. While viewing the interview yours truly noted a change in Mr. Feingold. After a few thoughtful moments it was obvious what had happened. The salt and pepper hair had gone completely brown (or brunette, for you metro-sexuals out there).

Here is a picture of our esteemed Senator from sometime in 2005;



And this one from the John Roberts hearings in September of 2005;



Here is his latest 'Official' photo from his web site and which he provided to NBC;



Amazing what a little Grecian Formula can do, isn't it?

As soon as I can find a photo from today's Meet The Press I'll post it for comparison purposes.

Maybe his interest in looking younger is related to being featured in the fashion magazine Vogue as you can read HERE, or being interviewed in the men's style magazine GQ as you can read HERE.

During today's interview Mr. Feingold stated that America is looking for a presidential candidate who is, "Honest and straightforward". Interesting. If he is sincere about that then why is he allowing vanity and "image" to dictate that he dye his hair? Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting. Feingold is a "maverick". It just doesn't seem entirely 'honest & straightforward' to me.

UPDATE:
Here's a shot from the show. It's a small photo but you can see that the gray is gone.

Elvis Kennedy Podcast #5

A world first! A podcast done while riding a bicycle. It's rare that you can be the first in the entire world to do something, but Elvis does it!

Listen in as Elvis takes you along on a bike ride. Hear his rambling thoughts as he spends lonely hours on the back-roads of Wisconsin. Because Elvis always promises to give you The Corrected Vision on the Complete Situation you'll not only get to hear his stream of consciousness, you'll also get to hear his bodily functions in their complete and unedited glory. It may not be pretty, but it's real. It's a look deep (maybe too deep) into the loneliness of the long distance rider.

Click here; to listen now.
Or do the right thing and subscribe to The Elvis Kennedy Podcast by clicking here; . If you have iTunes on your computer and you subscribe (as you should), each time a new episode of The Elvis Kennedy Podcast is published your iTunes software will automatically download the show. Easy! And Free!

LAPT Criterium Race Report

From Darin;

This was the race that I was not looking forward to when I first looked at our calendar, it was right in the middle of an eight day work week for me, and that’s twelve hour shifts for eight straight NIGHTS, 7p.m. to 7a.m.! This was also our team race (LAPT), so not only did I have to be there to help but I also had to race. After getting out of work at 7 a.m., I went home to take a shower and try to get my hour and a half of sleep (which ended up really being forty five minutes) and then go off to MadTown (Madison - “Best Bicycling Town in the U.S.”, I don’t see it but that’s what they say). Barry “The Boss” picked me up at 9:15 and we headed out for our 1:00 race.

One hour before the start of our race I chugged down an entire pot of coffee that I had brought in a Thermos, nothing like hot coffee on a 90 degree day. After warming up and getting to the start line we had a pretty good field, just over 40 guys. We ran the race the opposite way than we did the first two times this year; with the strong winds this meant an uphill finish into the wind. I felt very good the whole race staying in the front third of the pack. Barry stayed up in about fifth for most of the race. There were a couple of attempts at a break away but with the wind and heat they just self destructed without any extra effort from the pack. Someone took off with a lap to go only to get caught before the line. The pack picked up the pace with two to go and coming down into the last turn we must have been fifteen wide. My plan was to stick to Barry’s wheel for the last few laps and hope to stay with him for his usual top three finish. So I was right on his wheel going through the last turn, getting blasted from the sweat coming off his head (this is very normal following The Boss, you just get use to it). We headed up the hill in about twentieth place, I was wondering why Barry choose to be so far back for the sprint and just then he kicked in the afterburners and was gone leaving me behind. Barry finished third overall, first in age. I could not gain any more speed and just held my twentieth place to the line, but luckily there was a lot of 30-something guys in front of me and I got seventh place points in my age category. I really need to work on my sprint, I’m doing more research for training. I think I'll try to mash too big of a gear instead of working on leg speed in a smaller gear. I felt really good the entire race, it felt like we averaged 19 m.p.h. when really we did 23.6.

From The Boss;

It was hot.
It was windy.
The wind kept anyone who tried from staying away.
I stayed up front.
Someone took off on the 4th corner right before the bell lap and held on to it until about 20 yards from the finish line, then got passed like a grandma on the way to church on Sunday.
Got jammed a little in the last corner.
Sprinted like a madman.
Got 3rd. Tony won. Some young guy from Endeavor got second...almost had him.

Official Results;

Barry 1st in Category 3rd Overall
Darin 7th in Category 20th Overall

Back Roads Time Trial Report

The First Annual Back Roads Time Trial billed itself as an Eddy Merckx-style race. This was supposed to mean that no fancy time trial specific bikes were to be allowed. Nor was any "aero" equipment to be allowed. Stuff like aero handlebars and disc wheels that give riders an aerodynamic advantage by minimizing the effects of wind. None of that stuff existed in Merckx's day.



Eddy "The Cannibal" Merckx for those of you who don't know, was the greatest cyclist of all time. And yes, that list would include Lance Armstrong, as you can read HERE.

In addition to dominating the sport of cyling during his entire career, he remained true to the sport. No physiological testing, no wind tunnels, no performance enhancing drugs and maybe most importantly, no whining and continually trying to keep his name in the news like a certain other cyclist named Lance Armstrong whom you may have heard about.

Eddy now spends his days promoting cycling and building fine bicycles. He also offers the best advice regarding training, "If you want to become a better cyclist, get on your bike and ride".

Race report from Darin;

The route was all rolling hills, and a lot of wind. All the turns were smooth and fast. I thought it was a great course. The race was promoted as an non areo race like the days of Eddy Merckx. I didn't know that Eddie had areo helmets and $1000 Hed three spoke front wheels, I must have missed that picture of him...

I had a 9:56 starting time and as usual they were 20 minutes behind from the start. The person ahead of me was a 14 year old girl and the person behind me was a Cat 1/2. So I planned it out the night before, if I don't pass the 14 year old girl I'm quitting racing and if the Cat 1/2 guy doesn't pass me I want a free upgrade. I did pass the 14 year old girl pretty quickly (it was just like Lance going by Jan last year in the TT, I felt very fast!) and the Cat 1/2 guy passed me about a mile past the half way mark so I was fine with that. Having never done a TT I planned on a designated heart rate and just keeping within a few beats so I didn't blow up. For the 9 mile TT I averaged 22.6 with a 23:45 time and I have no idea if that is any good or I should quit racing.



Official Results;

Darin 6th in category, 15th overall

Editor's note: Darin, that's good, keep racing!

Cheesehead

Reader Mark W. made a comment on the last post that yours truly did not include a picture of a Cheesehead in the video slideshow. I am very sorry Mark. That was a critical oversight on my part and I will try to remedy the error by providing you with this;



Speaking of Lambeau Leaps, did you know that you can click on the "Videos" tab on the left of this page and then click on "Lambeau Leap" to see a spectacular leap from the frozen tundra into the south end zone seats of historic and storied Lambeau Field? Well you can. Note the vertical height achieved. That Elvis has got ups!

12-Time World Champion Green Bay Packers - The Slide Show

I've been lucky enough the past couple of years to do some on-field photography at Lambeau Field for a Wisconsin newspaper. As a test of the capabilities of the Elviskennedy.com web site and to share some of the work with you, my dear readers, I made a short (4 minute) slide show.

If you've got a decent internet connection it should begin playing in less than a minute.

Click here; PLAY SLIDESHOW

You cubicle dwellers should be warned; the show contains music.

Please let me know if it works on your computer. If it doesn't - let me know what kind of computer you have and what software system you're running. Maybe some of the elves here at Elviskennedy.com can figure out how to get it to play.

I'd also appreciate any comments on the merits of the slideshow itself. In other words, did you like it? Click on "Comments" just below this post to add a public comment or click on "Email" at the bottom of the page to send a private note. Really, I'd appreciate it.

Enjoy!

How Political Correctness Will Lead to 9/11, Version 2

I spent the early part of this week in the Washington, D.C. area. Much of that time was in a car listening to talk radio, specifically, 107.7 FM, Washington Post Radio.

The major topic was about the arrest late last week of 17 Canadians on terrorism charges. This gang, or cell as we like to call them these days, was plotting to blow stuff up in Canada and to kill people because of Canada's participation in the U.S. led war on terror, in particular, the activities in Afghanistan. Because the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a strict policy to protect the identity of criminal suspects, the only information we had on the 17 were their ages and that they were Canadian citizens.

Canadian citizens? Plotting to blow stuff up because of U.S. activities in Afghanistan? Post Radio presented a long train of so-called experts to pipe in on the topic. The experts were mostly university types with titles such as; Chairman (I'm sorry, Chair-Person) of the U.S.-Arab Studies Department at XYZ University. They all agreed on one thing; the world hates the United States. They were incredulous that Canadians, presumably our best friends, were becoming terrorists because of U.S. activities around the world. Bad, bad, United States. Look what we've done to these poor, innocent canucks. In fact, these poor innocents weren't turning into terrorists, the U.S. had made them. That damn Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld!

Comes now some truth on the matter. They aren't citizens of Canada, they're residents. Big difference. Citizens are born and raised there. Residents just show up and claim to want to stay a while. These terrorists are, in a word; Muslims. Honesty test: When you first heard about this incident what vision of the people came in to your head? What did they look like? If you said, "The McKenzie Brothers", give yourself a big "F".



That's what the liberal press wanted you to see. They wanted you to believe that the current U.S. administration has so bungled the whole world that the two guys pictured above have turned to terrorism. And in fact, if you instead saw someone like this;



Then you are a bigoted racist.

Another test: What is the name of the leader of the gang that was arrested? Qayyum Abdul Jamal. Yea, sounds Canadian to me. Eh?

Here is my point; some people in our great nation are so quick to condemn the United States for every bad thing that happens they we've gotten to the point of looking inwards to blame, instead of outwards. I would never suggest that the U.S. is perfect, but instead of crying for regime change in Washington and instead of trying to give radical Islam a great big hug to make it all better, maybe we should be call it as it really is; terrorism acts today are performed almost exclusively by radical Muslims. Not by Canadians, not by Iowans.

Not every Muslim is a terrorist. Far from it. But when that subset of people produce the majority of radical Islam terrorists shouldn't the authorities keep a keen eye on them? Is that such a terrible thing?

Here is an example; 6 months after 9/11/01 I was sitting in the gate area of a flight from Seattle to Minneapolis. Three Muslim men, all wearing turbans and carrying gym duffle bags (I didn't even know they still made these things) were walking about and speaking softly in Arabic. They made numerous phone calls from the pay phones (who uses pay phones anymore?) and kept moving from seating area to seating area. 9/11 being so fresh in my mind I became suspicious and even nervous. Call me a racist but when you're just a few months removed from 9/11 and you see Muslims acting this way you get nervous. Whether you like how that makes you feel or not.

As we get in line to board I find myself behind these three gentlemen and surely the security officials will pull one of them out of the line for a random check, right? Wrong. The security guys eye them up but because the Muslims were such an obvious target for a check the security guys passed them through and pulled me out. Why? Because the security guys had been trained to not assume that every Muslim is a terrorist. True enough, but what did this training lead to? The political correctness and soft bigotry of pretending not to notice the obvious differences in people. Even the fact that the checks need to be random will lead to trouble.

Just like the liberals ranting on Washington radio about how the U.S. somehow created terrorists out of simple-minded Canadians. We're pretending not to notice that the majority of terrorists in today's world hang out in mosques, oftentimes wear turbans and speak in Arabic. Is this so hard to see? If we ignore it then surely another 9/11 will happen, and right under our noses too, because we'll be ignoring the obvious and wasting time checking the bags of a guy like me.

By the way, do you know how the Canadian authorities (with much help from U.S. authorities (in other words, we did the heavy lifting)) tracked these guys down? That's right! The authorities tracked phone calls and emails made from these guys to and from known terrorists overseas. Gee, maybe that Patriot Act has some value after all, doesn't it? And why isn't this - "Patriot Act Foils Another Deadly Attack" - the lead subject day after day in the mainstream press? And I wonder what maverick-boy, Mr. I-voted-against-the-Patriot-Act, Russ Feingold has to say on this matter? Oh, that's right, he's too busy in his run-up for a presidential bid to spend any time actually working for the people of Wisconsin or the United States. He's out working for himself. But I'll save the details of that for another rant.

Hot Chick Running

Peggy B. (lovely bride of Elvis' cycling buddy Russ) kicked some butt recently at the Lake Geneva Half-Marathon. With a splendid time of 1:57:50 she came in 4th out of 31 in her category, 41st out of 205 women and 134th out of almost 400 total racers. And all of that on a rainy, crappy day, too.



Peggy spent many months training for this race and is taking a few well-deserved days off for rest. For those of you who don't know, a half-marathon is 13.1 miles of leg pounding, knee grinding, mind numbing pain. Anyone who can complete one, and in a fast time too, gets top dog kudos from Elviskennedy.com.

And check this out; she had her very own fan club, Team Peggy;



With Peggy is her manly stud, Russ, and their descendants Noah, Olivia and Jake. Or is that Jake, Olivia and Noah? I get so confused. And who wouldn't, they're triplets.

Hey Peggy! Is that an iPod that you're sporting? Then surely you were listening to the Elvis Kennedy Podcast. What a great way to make a half-marathon seem almost easy!

From everyone at Elviskennedy.com; Congratulations Peggy! You're the bomb!