We have finally been led out of the darkness
to enjoy the everlasting effects sunshine


We met on 59th street and


Headed West



to Pewaukee Lake

we could of kept going but

there are plenty of days ahead.

Sure was great to get out this

weekend and enjoy the fresh air

and warm temps. I think we all had a great time,

Greg, E, Captain and myself. By the way...the temps

hit 51 degrees downtown by the lake front Greg!

ALTERRA GROUP RIDE E-MAIL LIST

Just want to let everyone know that the Alterra website now has a page listed for our friends to sign up for group rides. Just click on the above link and it will take you to the web page of Alterra where you can sign up.

I think this is a great feature and I hope you all join in on some of our rides. My favorite is the Thursday night rides leaving from Alterra Coffee on Prospect Ave in Milwaukee. Thursday night road rides should be starting soon so don't' be left out, sign up now!

We usually split up in two groups, A group and B group. (A) group is fast, pace usually in the 20's MPH Zone and the B Group is usually in the high teens, low 20's MPH.

We have a variety of group rides throughout the season, and not only road rides but Mountain Bike rides as well.

Intoxication

Last night we all got together for Jo's Birthday at
Ricardo's Pizzeria in the 3rd Ward. I captured Jo making
a wish and thanking the wine fairy for descending on her party.


I had the waitress ( who was super fantastic in serving up the vino, my glass was never empty) take this pic before we, all got smashed.

Thankfully for that! I think we all look quite smashing.



Unfortunately, this is how I feel today. I finally got
out of bed at 4:00PM after praying to the porcelain goddess a
few times today. I Missed my ride with Captain, who happens
to be riding out to Pewaukee lake as I write this post. I seem to
enjoy Birthday Party's a bit too much. I think I need to jump on
wagon for awhile and detox. Then maybe I'll loose some of this fat
tire I put on in the last few months.

69 days till this...

MTB Mama comes to town

Well MTB Mama loaded up the truck and headed for a five hour trip to the BIG CITY for a little R&R and to sell her husbands rig.

There is nothing better than the big city when it comes to selling your stuff. Thanks to Tong G

he is going to place the bike for sale on e-Bay for them. Anyone interested?

Luckily she missed the storm this weekend which did most of it's damage late into the night, so we were able to get in some fun.

Sanjay and Anna joined in a bit later.

Of course, Tammi blazed her little tires off and beat everyone to the finish line, except for GMAN.

Calumet 2003

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I was going through old pictures the other night to come up with something entertaining for my blog entry. I came across all these old movies from 2003 and found this one hilarious. Still to this day, we fail to have enough hand-ups for Greg during his race. He is "always" running out of gel's. We are bad, bad team members and hopefully we will be more supportive with hand-ups this year. By the way, you would think if maybe Duckette would empty some of the junk in the back of that jersey he could fit a few gels or two:)

more pics...stay tuned

Mixing it up

Duckette photo

Time for a new camera

Buckette

Anna and Chris

Recovery time at Whole Foods




Today the training plan called for a group ride so we joined in with the Alterra gang at Crank Daddy's. This sure beats my rides at home looking out the window to my back yard watching the squirrels. Instead, I had to look at Duckett's rear end today as he blocked my view of the computrainer screen, but I got some good drafting. Thank goodness the big screen TV was above his head or it would of been another boring ride for me. Thanks Greg for taking the lovely shot of me, then again I guess you owe me one. It was nice seeing everyone again and I look forward to Spring time training! Next week I here 40 degrees, YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

44 miles

Average power 120

average speed 15 mph

average cadence 80

calories?????? Captain's watch interferes with mine, it went ballistic so I shut it off. Probably 2000 or so.

quads started to burn towards the end

Train Right Nutrition Newsletter

click the above link for more info

Happy Valentines Day

Captain Candy and I decided to get each other new seats for our road bikes. We seem to spend so much time on our bikes which can put a toll on your parts. These seats are marketed to protect your toys. So what could be a better gift then that!

LOVE YOUR BIKE

LOVE YOUR BIKE

SUPPORT THE BIKE FED, WISCONSIN'S ONLY NON-PROFIT BIKE ADVOCACY GROUP

MEET OTHER BICYCLISTS, SHOW OFF YOUR BIKE, ENJOY FREE BEER!
GET COOL THINGS FROM THE SILENT AUCTION

LEARN ABOUT MILWAUKEE'S NEWEST BICYCLE CLUB "HOLLANDER FIETSCLUB,"
A EUROPEAN STYLE BICYCLE CLUB WITH RIDES FOR KIDS, FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS OF ALL LEVELS.

WHEN: FEB 15TH / 8-11 PM
WHERE: CAFE HOLLANDER
2608 NORTH DOWNER AVE.

$: 10 BUCKS OR FREE WITH PURCHASE OF BIKE FED MEMBERSHIP

Presented by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin & Cafe Hollander

Sponsored by Beans & Barley

Show and Tell

This is the equipment that is used by the anesthesiologist to put you to sleep. This is used for long cases in the Electrophysiology lab and Cath lab, usually these procedures are more invasive and they need the patient to be completely sedated.

This is the control room where the doctors and nurses and special technologists manage the operations of the procedure's and view live computer images of the heart catheteriztion while being performed.

The actual table the patient lies on during the procedure.

patient exam room in the clinic

my lovely office


Jennifer, my wonderful co-worker and partner in crime, whom I share an office with.

For those of you who don't know what I do to support my Rock & Roll Life Style, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures. This past Friday it was a bit quiet so I was able to take some pics without getting in trouble with the new HIPPA laws, which are laws that protect patients privacy. I think it is always interesting to explore what people do and I think it is a great idea to get kids involved so that they can have a better idea of what they might like to do in the future. I am a preceptor for students who are going to school to become Nurse Practitioner's, and I find it very rewarding to mentor them and it's fun. So what do I do? I work in collaboration with the cardiologists in seeing ill patients with heart disease. My days are split working between the Cardiac Catheterization lab, (where patients go to get their coronary arteries fixed), the hospital and clinic. I see patients independently for such diseases as heart failure, chest pain, atrial fibrillation... I am able to write prescriptions, order tests and bill independently for services. I would of loved to show pictures of us in action, but that is not possible, thanks to privacy laws.

Your cardiovascular system plays a very important role to all your vital organs. Many people unfortunately are stricken with disease and it is inevitable. For many of us, living a healthy lifestyle is one way to prevent some forms of cardiovascular disease and/or the progression of some disease processes. Exercise at least 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week are now recommendations of the American Heart Institute. I think the latest reports state that over 60% of Americans are obese and it is only getting worse. Diet plays a significant role in your health and learning how to eat healthier is just as important. Obesity leads to all kinds of complications such as diabetes which is one of the main culprits of cardiovascular disease. So I have to say when it comes to patients trying to make excuses for exercise or eating fast food, I don't buy it. There are special circumstances where persons are limited due to financial hardships and getting there basic necessities of life taken care of is a chore in itself day to day. We try to work with those to at least teach them the basics, such as reading a food label and at least try to educate them. But for the rest of you, there is no excuse! Health care costs enough and every ounce of prevention can save our country billions of dollars if we would just get off our A**!

So congratulations to all of you WORS enthusiasts, my hats off to you all! Keep up the good work!

ROME

A ferocious lover of life, possessing the courage and loyalty of a warrior, but the morality of a pirate. A man of huge appetites and wild passions. Impulsive, unreflective, optimistic, conceited, generous, and brutal.

Rome is one of my favorite mini series that I watch on HBO. Since there is less day light time in the winter, I am unfortunately drawn to the television for entertainment late in the evening. HBO together with BBC have really put together a historically factual and somewhat over dramatization of this ancient civilization. I really get into the characters and their roles within the empire. Titus Pullo who resembles myself in similar ways, or at least I like to think so, is one of my favorite characters. He is my kind of man!

If you get a chance and you like history and drama, check it out. They should of had stuff like this when I was in school, it would of made learning a lot more interesting, minus the nudity and adult language of course.

ARE YOU CLEAN INSIDE?

Exciting plans for WCA in 2007

I was invited on behalf of Kristin Wentworth, Wisconsin Cycling Association board member to this WCA meeting today. The letter I received stated the following.

In the past many WCA races offered only an Open Women's Category. However this year the intention is to have Women's Category 4 race offered at all WCA series races. In doing this they hope to encourage more women to participate in competitive cycling. We realize it can be intimidating for novice women to enter an all-category (i.e.,open) event and have to race against much more experienced racers. A Category 4 only race will provide an opportunity for beginners to experience racing in a less stressful and safer environment. We believe this change is critical to growing the sport for women and will help make racing accessible to a broader range of individuals.

There are also discussions surrounding the separate scoring of master's age categories (i.e. 30+, 40+) within Women's Cat 4 races and keeping track of this cumulatively throughout the season.

So today I headed out in this dreadful cold ass weather to Delafield Brewhaus for this meeting. We rallied up a posse of girls to demonstrate support for this movement. There were at least twenty girls that attended that were already familiar with road/cyclo-cross racing and a few of us beginners. Kristin led the group discussion about how can Wisconsin Cycling Association attract more Women to the interest of cycle racing. Many of us voiced our opinions about how uncomfortable it is to race in an "OPEN" race and get dropped and then discouraged from ever returning to race again. There was also discussion about advertising locally and state wide through our own cycling communities within to attract more interest. We also discussed how important it is, to have, perhaps a race clinic to learn specific race techniques and etiquette. And along with that, teaching others the basic "lingo" of road racing. Many girls are intimidated to enter a race when they have no clue of how the race is set up or some of the terminology that is used, it is like being in a foreign country for a race. Basically in a nut shell, mentoring new racers to the sport will only help grow future Cat 3 fields and up...thus helping support entry level racing will hopefully enhance growth the the field of racing.

TATER BAKE OPEN REPLACES ROME AROUND

Alterra members hit the road for Guatemala

Check out Carlos and Sonia's Holiday adventures through the US, Mexico and Carlos's home town, Guatemala.

Comptom takes Silver at World Cyclo-Cross Championship in Belgium

"one second off the pace of the winner," to top it off, Katie started form the back of the pack!

EASY WEEK

This past week I had a reduction in the hours on the training plan and no resistance training either. This left me with plenty of time for getting my home office organized, having an impromptu dinner party and a relaxing endurance ride in the bitter cold yesterday afternoon. Buckette, and Jo came over last night for dinner and a movie, Little Miss Sunshine. Captain cooked up a great tasty meal, Roasted pork loin and fig sauce. Jo brought a tasty salad with all the fixin's.


For dessert, my favorite, Madelyn cake! A few glasses of wine, dinner and halfway through the movie I was toast. I missed half the movie. I'm a looser!

Train Right Nutrition Newsletter

The skinny on meal replacement drinks.

Shifting Duties

I got home from work early today and jumped on the trainer to get my work out in before Captain Candy gets home. This way, if I get my work out in first I can get dinner started while he trains a bit later. We are having trouble with interference when we ride together side by side on the trainers and it is nerving at times, especially when you are doing specific work outs.

Tonight I decided to make something simple and quick, Frittata with Asparagus, Tomato, and Fontina Cheese. I received this great cookbook from Trail girl for Christimas and I just love all the relatively simple recipe's within. Well by the looks of it, you could say it "looks" burnt, but it tasted pretty good. This is made with eggs, so it is high in protein and good for your muscles.

Tomorrow's menu: Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette. After relaxing a bit, I prepared the marinade. Captain will finish things off by cutting up the chicken and throwing into the marinade to sit over night. Then we can roast the chicken while getting our workouts in on Wednesday night.

The Boy is back!

Captain is back a 100% and ready to go! He took his first Time Trial test yesterday and it felt great to hammer it for once without getting yelled at.

Alone on a Friday night.

I actually left work today and it was light out. This gives me motivation that Spring is just around the corner and I need to behave and stick to the plan. So after work I headed to the gym. Captain Candy was out helping a friend move so I had the night to myself to do what "I" want to do. Well, I guess I always do what I want to do anyway, and NO, I am not selfish. I hit the weights and had no problems with waiting in line tonight. The most difficult exercise I have to do is one legged curls. I really need to work on those hamstrings, I feel I have no brute strength. After weights, I usually jump into Powerflex class, but it is Friday night and no one with a life teaches class at this time. I wanted to do some cardio so I tried the Elliptical thing that Teri recommended years ago. Well I got on and this nice girl Laura showed me how to program it. I set it for "Fat Burn" since that's all I do is cardio. Burning fat sounds like fun! So I am plugging away and trying to get into a rhythm. The computer asks for your weight and age and then gives you a target Heart rate. I felt quite comfortable and could easily hold a conversation with the gal next to me. Might I add, this is the machine that you also use your arms, so you get a full body workout and is not a "wussy" elliptical. All of a sudden the machine flashes in red bold letters, REDUCE YOUR SPEED ! I thought, "what?" I feel like I am floating through air. So I slowed down and continued on. Again the machine said, "SLOW DOWN, REDUCE YOUR SPEED !" I thought to myself, wow, I must be pretty good:) Well at least it was a confidence boost. I could not believe how hard it was to control a lower heart rate, I felt like taking off. So I had fun trying this out and actually burned about 500 calories and a couple miles skating.

After the gym I headed home to make Shrimp scampi. Captain hates seafood, so every opportunity I get to squeeze it in, I indulge. I used Tyler Florence's recipe and it turned out super great! MMMMMMMMM!

Now that's my kind of night alone.

QUESTION

Any of you use Cycling Peaks for downloading Power Data? I would love to hear any comments. They offer a free one month trial and I was considering using it since my SRM computer data is really difficult to comprehend at times.

Priorities

The weekend went by in a flash and it is now Monday night 22:42 and time for bed. The house is still in disarray, and the Christmas tree still stands. Boxes and crap lying around the house in need of picking up. Mold growing in the basement, oh is that the laundry? I never seem to get enough time to get things done except I did manage to get in my rides and the gym. How does that work?

later

ONE LEGGED INTERVALS ON ROLLERS

HOW MANY OF YOU CAN DO THIS WITH NO HANDS!

Recovery

While I was on Holiday this past weekend in sunny Florida, I had a chance to catch up on some reading and came across some interesting articles about training and nutrition. The article was about inflammation and the healing process of muscle fibers. Every time you work out you injure your muscles by making tiny tears in them, "this is part of your body's response to heal those micro tears to build stronger tissue." States Dr DiNubile, orthopedic surgeon. Inflammation is the important part of healing. Dampening that inflammation by using over the counter Tylenol or Ibuprofen like M&M's can also dampen the healing process. Even more interesting is the foods we digest. Poor nutrition can also hinder muscle growth and performance in the long run. This research was published in March of 2002 in the American Journal of Physiology. They concluded bottom line is nutrition and adequate recovery between workouts is key to over all performance.

The food choices you make modulate inflammation and can make it work for or against you. The article states, concentrate on the basics, eating whole grain foods and avoid highly processed and refined grains. Avoiding saturated fat, sugar and highly processed foods is a no brainer. Anti-inflammatory diets consists of increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids, like cold water fish such as salmon, walnuts and flaxseeds. Other foods listed that have anti-inflammatory properties include curcumin which is a spice in turmeric. Ginger, green tea, onions and garlic which contain quercetin which is like a antihistamine and anti-inflammatory and even anti-tumor properties. Pineapple which contains an enzyme called bromelain, which controls inflammation in soft tissues and muscles. Tart cherries such as cherry juice may reduce symptoms of muscle damage and enhance recovery after workouts. Other anti-inflammatory fruits include blueberries, apples and red and green grapes. Sounds like diets especially high in fruits is key to reduce inflammation.

I had a lot of time to relax, recover and think about things while lying around on the beach this weekend. I think I do a pretty good job with what I eat on a daily basis. I avoid processed foods most of the time, especially when away from home. At home, we always cook with fresh ingredients and usually spend quite a bit of time and money on preparing meals from scratch. But I still don't think my diet is a 100% geared toward peak performance. How anal can one get with nutrition for endurance sports? Are there any of you who take it serious about fueling your body with the proper nutrients ALL THE TIME? I would really like to learn more about fueling my body with clean nutritients, and see how others do it? Maybe I have gone a bit over the edge with this stuff, but I spend hours training my body for better performance and I should really take my nutrition more serious. I have tried some peformance products that claim they have anti-inflammatory properties, but they are usually loaded with sugar. Anyone spending the time and eating bushels of fruit?

Family photos

Opps! I forgot to introduce you to my aunt and uncle and cousin Matilda.


Meet the Fockers!