Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The most expensive lock cylinder on the market
Imagine my surprise and pleasure.
I got robbed on Sunday, at the race. I was in Boadilla del Monte for the last Pavo (turkey) race of the season, (see my team blog for more details) and after our race was over my good mate Papito and I went for a ride to get some more kilometres in.
Well, while we were gone some desperate down and outs saw there was a bag on the floor of the back seat and smashed the window and took what they could grab.
Unfortunately, that included my bag with my wallet and my house keys. Luckily I have another little wallet thing which I take with me on the bike (and had with me) that has my ID cards and my bankcard (saving me hours of line-standing-in and form-filling-out) that's still an explosive combination. (wallet and keys)
So I had to change the locks on the house. A bit of googling let me in on the How-To, so I took the old cylinder out and went of to the hardware shop to get another one. (the googling had given me the idea that I was up for 30 or 40 dollars)
The first hardware didn't have that model but could get it for me. I politely declined, (the only real benefit for me of living in this city is that there is a certain density of consumer choices) so off I went to try some more places.
After trying the next three places that I knew of, that were close enough to walk to, (each of whom offered to get it in for me, in periods varying from next week to this afternoon), I finally found an affirmative reply. I was pleased as punch and started readying my wallet for the 30 or 40 euro slug that it was going to receive. (I thought)
"How much then", I asked in my fabulous, heavily accented Spanish.
"that'll be 95 euros" the jolly shoptender anounced gleefully.
"the most expensive lock cylinder on the market" he added in response to my swearing. "Most expensive keys too" he added.
There's got to be a lesson in there somewhere.
Don't leave things in view in a parked car, I 'spose it is. Even when the car is parked in the middle of a group of cars of your mates who are all hanging around their cars and all.
Live and learn.
Bad for my budget though. At a point where it's bad enough as it is.
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.
I know, I should be doing better than posting other peoples work, but I couldn't resist this. It's just so beautifulWednesday, January 19, 2011
esos locos que corren
Sin duda la cosa más bonito que he visto en muchísimo tiempo, y mira que yo veo cosas bonitos..
for you English only speakers, it's about mad runners, and I'm sure you can enjoy it whether you understand the words or not.
illustration friday
for you English only speakers, it's about mad runners, and I'm sure you can enjoy it whether you understand the words or not.
illustration friday
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Xmas videos
Strangely enough for me hey. I am thinking of coming back here from the wordpress blog over on spaingaroo.com, but for the moment I will just cross post everything while I think about it.
This first one is really cute.
And this one is just dilly silly fun, doggy in snow style. (not doggy style in the snow) Eni really goes for the snow experience too.
But this last one really gets into an alternative Santa story, which may be common knowledge for some but I had no idea.
And to think I recently saw five or so of these mushrooms but left them where they were.
Well, seasons greetings for the last consumer Christmas.
illustration friday
This first one is really cute.
And this one is just dilly silly fun, doggy in snow style. (not doggy style in the snow) Eni really goes for the snow experience too.
But this last one really gets into an alternative Santa story, which may be common knowledge for some but I had no idea.
And to think I recently saw five or so of these mushrooms but left them where they were.
Well, seasons greetings for the last consumer Christmas.
illustration friday
Friday, January 01, 2010
Eni is getting down has moved
As these things go and we all grow and all the world's a show and so and so.
"eni is getting down" has a new home over on my own domain. Anybody who has stumbled in here wondering if Scott has put up anything new in the last six months, be aware that indeed he almost certainly has done so, but now at the new improved (I hope) "eni is getting down"
Thanks for anybody who comes by and I hope you will go to the effort of clicking over to "eni is getting down"
illustration friday
"eni is getting down" has a new home over on my own domain. Anybody who has stumbled in here wondering if Scott has put up anything new in the last six months, be aware that indeed he almost certainly has done so, but now at the new improved (I hope) "eni is getting down"
Thanks for anybody who comes by and I hope you will go to the effort of clicking over to "eni is getting down"
illustration friday
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Bicho Breakthrough
Well almost.
Second place. Although there's nothing on the trophy that says that it was for second place, so... I could claim it was for winning and you'd all be none the wiser, but I'm just not like that.
AS you may have guessed from the title of this entry, my family nickname is 'El Bicho' which roughly translates as the insect, from my years as a stick insect.
Shades of the Metamorphosis.
Before I started riding again, when I was only a painter, and was smoking I was down to 61 kgs and my wife named me the Stick insect, 'el Bicho palo' and it has stuck. only in the house though.
My good friend Elias, 'Papito' won in his category of the masters 50 and received for this a bigger cup.
Still a good time was had by all. The day before we went to another race and I was 5th after helping my teammate Pablo try and win. He attacked in the penultimate lap and I tried to hold the rest of our group back, succeeding except for one guy who got to him and unfortunately beat him in the final metres when Pablo was slowed by riders who were being lapped.
At least these guys had a podium.
Anyhow, I know there's more i could say, and all that but I better go and put a celebratory entry on the team blog (in Spanish) and so I'm going to leave it at that.
Bye for another six months.
 |
| From Hervás |
Second place. Although there's nothing on the trophy that says that it was for second place, so... I could claim it was for winning and you'd all be none the wiser, but I'm just not like that.
 |
| From Hervás |
AS you may have guessed from the title of this entry, my family nickname is 'El Bicho' which roughly translates as the insect, from my years as a stick insect.
Shades of the Metamorphosis.
Before I started riding again, when I was only a painter, and was smoking I was down to 61 kgs and my wife named me the Stick insect, 'el Bicho palo' and it has stuck. only in the house though.
My good friend Elias, 'Papito' won in his category of the masters 50 and received for this a bigger cup.
 |
| From Hervás |
Still a good time was had by all. The day before we went to another race and I was 5th after helping my teammate Pablo try and win. He attacked in the penultimate lap and I tried to hold the rest of our group back, succeeding except for one guy who got to him and unfortunately beat him in the final metres when Pablo was slowed by riders who were being lapped.
 |
| From Carrera Villa del Prado |
At least these guys had a podium.
Anyhow, I know there's more i could say, and all that but I better go and put a celebratory entry on the team blog (in Spanish) and so I'm going to leave it at that.
Bye for another six months.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Another year gone by... bye bye 2008
 |
| From SELdia8dic |
Well looking back over the three entries in the blog this year and getting back to last year I don't see much to add. No really I don't know what to say. I'm sure I'll detail the cycling year a little but I feel more like a whinge so maybe I'll soon head over to Letters to Tao and do just that.
I feel an obligation to put up a years end entry but it also feels a bit stupid. It's 20 past nine on new years eve and as usual I am here alone with the net. Well, and Eni of course. I just helped him put an entry on his blog and he's off sulking.
And I'm here eating a bowl of cereal, muesli and a special-K home brand rip off, with protein powder and L-Glutamine.
This year I've started taking food supplements on the recommendation of a sports medicine doctor and I think it makes a difference, I really do. It makes a difference to my wallet that's for sure. Here is what I had taken up to September or so, when I took this shot.
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
I'm sure there's a thousand bucks or so just there, could be more. I have it all detailed in my diary so I could add it up, but I'm not going to. Just take my word that it costs. But this year I haven't had those niggley colds and things of that nature, like every other year when I've been training. And this year I've been training and working a lot. I feel like I haven't had a few hours to myself in the whole year. But of course that's partly because I spend all my spare moments on the net, tracking the fall of the civilization and what they've been saying about me on the cycling blogs.
 |
| From QH_2008 |
And of course, they're not saying much, although lately I've had a couple of mentions on Enrique Sevilla's blog
I'm getting that mention because I've suddenly discovered the beauty of attacking the group at the start of the race and therefore getting some "TV time", or in this case a few fotos here and there. And even something getting close to results.
although I did prefer the freaky version of the foto from the aforementioned Sevilla blog
This one came with a caption that said something like "Here we have the podium of the Master 40 category with the presentation by the freaky festival coordinator in traditional dress of Fuenlabrada (the location of the race). By his side we can see the Paloma who fears for his bottom and is sticking close to the podium.
Anyhow, To get back to me, as always, it's time to try and sum up the year. My first year racing in the tightly contested Masters 40 category here in Madrid and I have learnt a fair bit. It took me a while to get up to speed but I started coming good in the Christmas season races, getting myself a third place and a fourth place, second in my category (being a race with the 30s and 40s together).
I previously got myself a fifth some months back in a race in Ciudad Real.
All in all I've done seventeen races and finished all but three, for a puncture, giving my wheel to a team-mate, after his puncture, so he could try and finish and get some points (which counted in the end for him to win the Master 50 championship, along with his previous efforts, of course) and not being able to get back to the peleton after stopping to check on a team-mate after a crash.
 |
| From cycling-other peoples fotos |
At this race. the team as it was in 2008. next year it's a different line up.
I came eleventh overall in the Master 40 championship series, so I reckon that's all right for a beginner. Next year I plan to improve a lot on that.
This year I only did two CicloMarchas, the Quebratahuesos and the Pedro Delgado.
The QH is the one in the Piranees and the PD is in the Sierra de Madrid. Both are truly hard events and I have done them for the last few years. I improved my time in both.
So to sum up; 16616 kms and 94 and a half hours of the static bike. So the equivelent of 18838 kms of cycling this year and an improvement in most everything I can compare to last year.
If I can get my breathing better I can do alright. You can see above how much trouble I have getting the air in. Oh and I've been battling a bad Anemia and now they tell me I'm Hipertyroid and should take medicine for a couple of years to control it. I haven't decided to go along with that one yet.
Well I'm getting sick of this and I'm sure you are too, if you even exist. So I'll call it an entry.
No painting by the way. I said I was turning into Seton and I wasn't joking.
Love youse all
illustration friday
Friday, September 19, 2008
end of summer
Well, as the title says, it's the end of summer, or very nearly. I have to start working again, of which I am less than keen to start again with the English classes. If only some Spinning classes would come through. I will be doing some this week and next, but only those; at least for the moment. But for the moment I will be at it again with the English classes. At least I still have the bike to keep me sane.
Here she is patiently waiting while I was doing the same, (patiently waiting) for the peleton of the 2008 Vuelta a España to come past this afternoon on the Galapagar pass.
It was my only opportunity to see them this time round, even though they were going to go climb Navacerrada and Navafria today, I didn't have time to go so far as I agreed to be taken to Festibike en Las Rozas.
A sort of trade fair, well a trade fair, exactly
you know the sort of thing.
Alejandro Valverde's Pinarello.
Nice attention to detail.
But back to the story. Not much of a story really and all the photos I took of the riders, who shot past, as you would expect, turned out blurry as hell.
For example
Only the back of the struggling Wouter Weylandt, who seemed to be getting dropped, although I have no doubt he got back on all right, came out sort of reasonable.
Anyhow, fun enough.
I will try to come back in less than 6 months to finish up here.
illustration friday
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
Here she is patiently waiting while I was doing the same, (patiently waiting) for the peleton of the 2008 Vuelta a España to come past this afternoon on the Galapagar pass.
It was my only opportunity to see them this time round, even though they were going to go climb Navacerrada and Navafria today, I didn't have time to go so far as I agreed to be taken to Festibike en Las Rozas.
A sort of trade fair, well a trade fair, exactly
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
you know the sort of thing.
Alejandro Valverde's Pinarello.
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
Nice attention to detail.
But back to the story. Not much of a story really and all the photos I took of the riders, who shot past, as you would expect, turned out blurry as hell.
For example
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
Only the back of the struggling Wouter Weylandt, who seemed to be getting dropped, although I have no doubt he got back on all right, came out sort of reasonable.
 |
| From vuelta2008 |
Anyhow, fun enough.
I will try to come back in less than 6 months to finish up here.
illustration friday
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The two of them, or us or three or four...
Well such a long time, as usual. I have a few days off to celebrate the christian calender, but beggars can't be choosers. One takes what one can get these days. (not that I have that much against christianity per se,(apart from the fact that it's a religion) but the christians are giving it a bad name these days, or perhaps they always have). Anyhow back to me, the main man, at least as far as this blog is concerned. I hope to achieve a few things in these free days from my grueling schedule (I'll have a whinge later on my Letters to Tao blog) and one of same is to post on the blogs and so forth. So here I am.
I gave the two bikes a wipe down and took them down to the square this morning to take a few views of them together.
Eni came along, of course!
One wouldn't expect any less. I'll help him do an entry on his blog later with some more photos of him with the bikes.
But enough of the beauty, back to the beasts.
Any regular readers (I know there is no such thing on this blog, but let's just pretend) would recognise the closer bike as the faithful Orbea of the last 30 thousand kilometres. The further is the new luxury Colnago Extreme Power. And quite the beast it is too. I was a little dissapointed that the difference wasn't more, hum, shocking, as it feels just about the same as the Orbea. It's not like when I changed from the 20 year old steel Battaglin to the Aluminium Orbea. Now that was an astonishing difference. No, this difference was a bit more subtle. But still, the first time I took it for a serious ride though I went up the Galapagar pass, and cut 30 seconds off my all time record there. And it's still basically the off season.
So, difference there is. Perhaps the PowerCranks have something to do with it too. I know that I have suffered plenty with them, so they must be doing something. The guys in the bike shop that I went to the other day flipped out over the cranks that both hang down the bottom of the stroke. I had to give them a lend of my shoes so they could have a go.
That's them, as the theoretical regular reader would already know, from the Christmas day entry on this very blog. They are the training aid from hell, but I would recommend them to anybody who thinks that suffering will get you to where you want to be.
and then there's the top of the line biking experience. Or as close to it as I'll ever get, (I assume). The civilisation will crash before I get a chance to better this machine. It's not really the most beautiful of all the bikes on the market but it's among the most elegant, that's for sure.
Although I was hoping to pull my head in a little on the spending front, I really need to and and all, I also am really sick of suffering such a sore arse. (from the seat of the push bike) so after hearing the for the nth time how comfortable the Fi'zi:k Arione Wingflex was, I gave in and bought one. I took it out for the first time to do the 200 km brevet des randonneurs mondiaux organised by Pueblo Nuevo Cicling Club, and liked it enough to buy the company. No wait, that's not right, I liked it enough to buy another one for the other bike.
So now I have two beautiful Fi'zi:k Arione Wingflex Titanium saddles and 200 euros less.
And also two brand new saddles that just didn't seem to agree with my bum. Both of which are really top class saddles too. And then there's the bottle cage that came with the new bike and all.
Since I am completely hooked on the Specialized Rib-Cage (as you can see if you look again there's two on each bike)
That leaves me with a fifty euro Moro d'Elite without a use. Anybody that wants to make off with a bargain just let me know.
a shout out as usual to illustration friday.
I gave the two bikes a wipe down and took them down to the square this morning to take a few views of them together.
Eni came along, of course!
One wouldn't expect any less. I'll help him do an entry on his blog later with some more photos of him with the bikes.
But enough of the beauty, back to the beasts.
Any regular readers (I know there is no such thing on this blog, but let's just pretend) would recognise the closer bike as the faithful Orbea of the last 30 thousand kilometres. The further is the new luxury Colnago Extreme Power. And quite the beast it is too. I was a little dissapointed that the difference wasn't more, hum, shocking, as it feels just about the same as the Orbea. It's not like when I changed from the 20 year old steel Battaglin to the Aluminium Orbea. Now that was an astonishing difference. No, this difference was a bit more subtle. But still, the first time I took it for a serious ride though I went up the Galapagar pass, and cut 30 seconds off my all time record there. And it's still basically the off season.
So, difference there is. Perhaps the PowerCranks have something to do with it too. I know that I have suffered plenty with them, so they must be doing something. The guys in the bike shop that I went to the other day flipped out over the cranks that both hang down the bottom of the stroke. I had to give them a lend of my shoes so they could have a go.
That's them, as the theoretical regular reader would already know, from the Christmas day entry on this very blog. They are the training aid from hell, but I would recommend them to anybody who thinks that suffering will get you to where you want to be.
and then there's the top of the line biking experience. Or as close to it as I'll ever get, (I assume). The civilisation will crash before I get a chance to better this machine. It's not really the most beautiful of all the bikes on the market but it's among the most elegant, that's for sure.
Although I was hoping to pull my head in a little on the spending front, I really need to and and all, I also am really sick of suffering such a sore arse. (from the seat of the push bike) so after hearing the for the nth time how comfortable the Fi'zi:k Arione Wingflex was, I gave in and bought one. I took it out for the first time to do the 200 km brevet des randonneurs mondiaux organised by Pueblo Nuevo Cicling Club, and liked it enough to buy the company. No wait, that's not right, I liked it enough to buy another one for the other bike.
So now I have two beautiful Fi'zi:k Arione Wingflex Titanium saddles and 200 euros less.
And also two brand new saddles that just didn't seem to agree with my bum. Both of which are really top class saddles too. And then there's the bottle cage that came with the new bike and all.
Since I am completely hooked on the Specialized Rib-Cage (as you can see if you look again there's two on each bike)
That leaves me with a fifty euro Moro d'Elite without a use. Anybody that wants to make off with a bargain just let me know.
a shout out as usual to illustration friday.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Grass
An oldy but a goody.
I never did a proper scan of this work before it was framed up and it's taken me until now to get around to unframing it, (to use the frame for another work).
Pencil on finely sanded gesso.
Fuck, I wish I had more time, or less interests.
approximately 1 month of eight to ten hour days, seven days a week, back in 2004 when I was a real artist.
there is a bit more space around the edges with some more water drops, but since they don't reproduce properly anyway...
Some details
Well, if I still hung around illustration friday I could probably get some comments.
What a shame.
I never did a proper scan of this work before it was framed up and it's taken me until now to get around to unframing it, (to use the frame for another work).
Pencil on finely sanded gesso.
Fuck, I wish I had more time, or less interests.
approximately 1 month of eight to ten hour days, seven days a week, back in 2004 when I was a real artist.
there is a bit more space around the edges with some more water drops, but since they don't reproduce properly anyway...
Some details
 |
| From grass |
Well, if I still hung around illustration friday I could probably get some comments.
What a shame.
Monday, December 31, 2007
thus endeth 2007
Yes that's right, it's New Years Eve and I am at home and thinking about going to bed, even though I have drunk a coffee and maybe I am going to go put another one on.
Yes, I did make myself another coffee and it's now almost 11 pm so I suppose I am going to see the new year in after all.
By the time I finish this entry I suppose it will almost be time. and with the amount of firework firepower that will be unleashed as the hour draws near there's no going to sleep anyway.
sometimes I do miss living in a civilised land
Anyhow, on with the year wrap up.
well I don't really want to talk about anything much except cycling. Even my painting seems to be taking a back seat to cycling for me over this year. I've turned into Seton. I was planning that in 2008 I was going to do less cycling and more painting the along comes the offer to join a racing team and turned that plan on its head.
So that's why although there are other things that I do do, there's still above all for this blog the suffering.
If you look closely you can see a half finished painting waiting on the shelf behind
But I digress... 2007
in figures
15907 kms on the road. And that's with almost two months off again this year to try and be there for my mum when she came to visit.
and to have a bit of a rest.
Add to that 57 hours twenty mins of time on the indoor trainer. the equivalent of another 1719 kms at 30 km/hr
So that's about 588 hours of cycling this year.
and that's cycling in the mountains too. Don't think that it isn't like they do on tele. Let's see...
Full size Mountain passes, the eight or ten kilometre ones, (or more of course) 46 this year, with the Morcuera being the one I climbed most, at eleven times, followed by Navacerrada, at five times. and a heap more, even the three in the Pirinees, that make up the Quebrantahuesos, (along with the Hoz, which I relegated to the next category)
That's the category of the medium sized mountains, the 3 to 5 kilometre ones, or the longer but more drawn out ones, that anyway, aren't really in the full sized mountain pass category. by my count I did 122 of them this year. and then all the other kilometres that one puts in and all the other hills that I didn't count in either category.
So that's why I am putting even more work in already this year. (well this year hasn't really started yet, there's still a quarter of an hour to go) let's call it the pre-season.
With my new PowerCranks, that I briefly explained last time, and my plans to cut back on my coffee and internet time in the mornings to do my Core training at five in the morning and then more training mid morning when I have four hours free.
So this time next year, one year from now I hope to be able to tell you of the fabulous performances that I have put in over the year and the wild results that came my way
We'll see I suppose, we'll see...
Happy 2008, maybe we'll all see more than we bargained for this year.
illustration friday
Yes, I did make myself another coffee and it's now almost 11 pm so I suppose I am going to see the new year in after all.
By the time I finish this entry I suppose it will almost be time. and with the amount of firework firepower that will be unleashed as the hour draws near there's no going to sleep anyway.
sometimes I do miss living in a civilised land
Anyhow, on with the year wrap up.
well I don't really want to talk about anything much except cycling. Even my painting seems to be taking a back seat to cycling for me over this year. I've turned into Seton. I was planning that in 2008 I was going to do less cycling and more painting the along comes the offer to join a racing team and turned that plan on its head.
So that's why although there are other things that I do do, there's still above all for this blog the suffering.
 |
| From casaybici |
If you look closely you can see a half finished painting waiting on the shelf behind
But I digress... 2007
in figures
15907 kms on the road. And that's with almost two months off again this year to try and be there for my mum when she came to visit.
and to have a bit of a rest.
Add to that 57 hours twenty mins of time on the indoor trainer. the equivalent of another 1719 kms at 30 km/hr
So that's about 588 hours of cycling this year.
and that's cycling in the mountains too. Don't think that it isn't like they do on tele. Let's see...
Full size Mountain passes, the eight or ten kilometre ones, (or more of course) 46 this year, with the Morcuera being the one I climbed most, at eleven times, followed by Navacerrada, at five times. and a heap more, even the three in the Pirinees, that make up the Quebrantahuesos, (along with the Hoz, which I relegated to the next category)
 |
| From tres_puertos |
That's the category of the medium sized mountains, the 3 to 5 kilometre ones, or the longer but more drawn out ones, that anyway, aren't really in the full sized mountain pass category. by my count I did 122 of them this year. and then all the other kilometres that one puts in and all the other hills that I didn't count in either category.
So that's why I am putting even more work in already this year. (well this year hasn't really started yet, there's still a quarter of an hour to go) let's call it the pre-season.
With my new PowerCranks, that I briefly explained last time, and my plans to cut back on my coffee and internet time in the mornings to do my Core training at five in the morning and then more training mid morning when I have four hours free.
So this time next year, one year from now I hope to be able to tell you of the fabulous performances that I have put in over the year and the wild results that came my way
We'll see I suppose, we'll see...
Happy 2008, maybe we'll all see more than we bargained for this year.
illustration friday
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas day riding
Hey that didn't take so long hey.
To come back and post something else that is.
Well there's so much to catch up on I don't know where to start.
Christmas day has come and gone and I did my favorite Christmas day thing. Go for a ride. It was pretty cold though, as you would expect.
But the traffic levels are just right.
Thats what I like about this day.
Don't know where that steam is coming from. All the storm water drains along that stretch of road were emitting steam like that.
I went to the meeting point at the usual time but nobody came along. Just me and Orby. (the bike)
Do you see something different about her? hint: check out those cranks. both pointing forward.
or down, as the case may be.
My new PowerCranks. What are PowerCranks?
(from the website)
Blah blah blah.
But the truth is that they are the real macoy. The hardest thing I have ever done on a bike.
I am just starting to really get the hang of them now after two weeks of extreme suffering. Thank dog I really like to suffer. The truth is that when I put them on and tried it out, (on the trainer, not on the road), my first thought was "well there goes the fun. It's all work from here on in." Although that feeling has gone away, mostly, and I am back to thinking that it's all good.
Anyhow to cut a long story short, I went by myself, for one of my favourite rides, climbing Galapagar and then Torrelodones and across to Colmenar Viejo via Hoyo de Manzanares.
Which is way out in the country, sort of. Within reach of the Sierra de Madrid as you can see. Them's snow covered mountains boyo
and then it winds down a series of switchbacks into a valley and up the other side...
looking back after climbing up the far side
All of that section is inside a national park too. so really nice and a really hard slog. I was trying to keep my heart rate under 150 beats per minute all the day so wasn't taking it too hard, but it is a pretty challenging route. I am trying to train up my aerobic capacity, and they have me convinced that it is necessary to do whole weeks of long rides without going over a certain heart rate. I have never done that sort of training at all. Always flat out and Devil takes the hindmost, as they say. But this year I am giving it a go. I hope that this year between the PowerCranks and the scientific training and the CycloCore On The Go core training workouts that I am hoping for the big improvements. Oh and this year I am racing too. But I will tell you about that next time. For now I am getting weary as I did 2 hours on the static trainer today and it's late now and all. and like the ride in the bush...
all things must come too an end.
The few photos that I didn't use in this post you can find here.
illustration friday
To come back and post something else that is.
Well there's so much to catch up on I don't know where to start.
Christmas day has come and gone and I did my favorite Christmas day thing. Go for a ride. It was pretty cold though, as you would expect.
But the traffic levels are just right.
Thats what I like about this day.
Don't know where that steam is coming from. All the storm water drains along that stretch of road were emitting steam like that.
I went to the meeting point at the usual time but nobody came along. Just me and Orby. (the bike)
Do you see something different about her? hint: check out those cranks. both pointing forward.
or down, as the case may be.
My new PowerCranks. What are PowerCranks?
(from the website)
Many people hear the name PowerCranks and think they must measure power. PowerCranks do not measure power. They are simply independent bicycle cranks and this simple change does several things for the user.
* teach proper cycling technique
* teach good running technique
* train all the muscles necessary for good cycling and running technique.
* train and balance all lower half muscles including the core, improving performance while reducing risk of injury
* Improve lower extremity coordination improving performance while reducing risk of injury
* and it is all non-impact, allowing increased intensity of workouts while reducing risk of injury in the healthy and allowing most injured athletes to continue to exercise
* training more muscles results in a higher VO2 max (improving performance) and makes it easier for the fitness enthusiast to lose weight by increasing basal metabolic rate.
These changes result in substantially more power and speed for both running and cycling, hence the name. These changes also make athletes more resistant to injury and, if you are injured, they will help you to recover faster. To help you better understand this product we invite you to start with the General Introduction video for a general overview and then move on to other areas that will, hopefully, address your specific needs.
Blah blah blah.
But the truth is that they are the real macoy. The hardest thing I have ever done on a bike.
I am just starting to really get the hang of them now after two weeks of extreme suffering. Thank dog I really like to suffer. The truth is that when I put them on and tried it out, (on the trainer, not on the road), my first thought was "well there goes the fun. It's all work from here on in." Although that feeling has gone away, mostly, and I am back to thinking that it's all good.
Anyhow to cut a long story short, I went by myself, for one of my favourite rides, climbing Galapagar and then Torrelodones and across to Colmenar Viejo via Hoyo de Manzanares.
Which is way out in the country, sort of. Within reach of the Sierra de Madrid as you can see. Them's snow covered mountains boyo
and then it winds down a series of switchbacks into a valley and up the other side...
looking back after climbing up the far side
All of that section is inside a national park too. so really nice and a really hard slog. I was trying to keep my heart rate under 150 beats per minute all the day so wasn't taking it too hard, but it is a pretty challenging route. I am trying to train up my aerobic capacity, and they have me convinced that it is necessary to do whole weeks of long rides without going over a certain heart rate. I have never done that sort of training at all. Always flat out and Devil takes the hindmost, as they say. But this year I am giving it a go. I hope that this year between the PowerCranks and the scientific training and the CycloCore On The Go core training workouts that I am hoping for the big improvements. Oh and this year I am racing too. But I will tell you about that next time. For now I am getting weary as I did 2 hours on the static trainer today and it's late now and all. and like the ride in the bush...
all things must come too an end.
The few photos that I didn't use in this post you can find here.
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| crissyride |
illustration friday
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