Mtnracer

I’m currently training for the High Cascades 100 mountain bike race. I’ve been putting in some longer rides on the weekends. However, it will be difficult to judge how exactly I am supposed to prepare for 9-14 hours of singletrack suffering enjoyment.

One method I have been utilizing, though, is that of adequate rest between long rides. It has been noted that your muscles generally take 36 hours to fully recover from a depleting workout. So, I’ve been giving it about 48 hours between rides to make sure that I am adequately rested, then I go for serious endurance length. We’ll see in three weeks if this method works, or not for me.

I’m also debating whether I should ride my Santa Cruz Superlight or my Ibis Alibi hardtail, during the event. While my Santa Cruz will be more comfortable, it may not offer the performance and lightweight activity that I appreciate from my Ibis. However, riding an unknown course that may be full of rough terrain, I may get sore as a money’s uncle if I spend 12 hours or so on a hardtail. If I make no changes, I will probably be sticking with the Superlight. But, we’ll see how it handles a few more weeks of training before I make the commitment.

Any tips are more than welcome. Let me know if you plan on attending, and I’ll look out for you. Hasta el fuego!

I started a new job about three months ago. I was hired as the web admin for OSU Federal, Your Community Credit Union!

They have been treating me fantastically, truly a welcome blessing considering our latest accomplishment:
Ta-Da! Lily “Frogger” Vaughn –

She is five weeks old, and the most wonderful thing ever. Stacey and I are truly blessed. She’s a biker-to-be, indeed. The first day she was born, she was already spinning her legs in circles, pushing and kicking. I showed her how to “pull-through” the pedalstroke, and she hasn’t been crying since No, really it is great to be a Dad. I am just so happy.

The other day, I was so tired, that during my morning ride, I leaned over and found that if I placed my arms just-right, I could sleep while spinning on the trainer. I had gotten probably about 4 hours of sleep that night, and was definitely in need of something to wake me up. Coffee wasn’t working, spinning wasn’t working…I eventually resorted to some loud rock music while driving to work to wake me up. “Oops! What was that? I was just having a nice dream. Didn’t mean to hit you pedestrians. Sorry!”

Anyway, I spin-on. Lovin’ the life, turning circles now as a bonafide Dad!

Baby on the way…we’ve got about 18 days until the due date. We’ve decided to call her Lily Lin Vaughn. I’ll put up pictures when she comes. Stacey and I are both totally excited, and are ready any day now to have her come.

I’ve been riding almost every day. I get up at 5:45am and put in 45min-1 hour on my trainer. It is dark at that time, and since I think it would be unsafe for me to do either mountain or road at that time, I stick to the trainer and some good solid DVDs.

Then, on my weekends, I usually take Saturday off and spend it with the family. Sundays, I get some work done and put in a longer ride. I’ve already gotten in a couple of good 4 hour rides since I’ve been on this schedule, and I actually feel pretty good all the way throughout.

Since I started a new job at OSU Federal, Your Community Credit Union, I have been disciplined about my training. By waking up an hour early and working out, I feel more relaxed since I’ve already been active and I am much more able to concentrate while working.

I will probably not be racing a whole bunch this fall or winter, since we have Lily coming. But, I may get the occasional sneak-out to race a cross race. I tried doing one of the Eugene Short-Cross races, and holy crap did I get my butt kicked! I didn’t get lapped, but trying to keep up with the Cat A men on their cross bikes while I was using my clunky Ibis hardtail mountain bike, was near impossible!

Anyway, it feels good to write again. Keep up the good work everyone!

So, to those of you who don’t know, my wife and I are expecting a baby girl to join our family this mid-October.

We are very excited with this news, and we’ve been doing everything to stay healthy, nutritious, and active for our baby. We want her to be brought up in an environment with the pinnacle of love and good-health, and I think we’re both doing an excellent job so far of creating that environment. (more…)

So…work has been real busy lately. I have been working intensely on a new website and training has been more like intense riding than anything formal.

I’m watching the versus channel right now, with recap of the Philly Road Race and the finals stage in the Tour de Suisse. Boy do I miss racing seriously! Just watching their legs turn over with sheer power emanating from the soles of their feet. I feel green with jealousy.

I’ve been aiming to get in at least 1 hour per day in on either my bike, hiking/running, playing tennis, or doing something similarly beneficial towards my endurance fitness.

This has kept me strong, but lacking when it comes to big races. I did the Test of Endurance 50 last weekend and had ridiculous cramps! My saddle dropped 2 inches (I didn’t find out this until afterwards), and I was seizing up completely on every pedal stroke. The whole race took me 5 hours and 48 minutes, which is definitely more than my average training day. But, I survived.

Here are a few pictures of me at the race:

• Lap 1 – feeling pretty good
• Lap 2 – feeling like crapola

I don’t think I will be able to go to the season finals in Grants Pass, but I will still try and make the Mt. Ashland Hillclimb and maybe even the Eugene Celebration.

See you there!

-Andy

Hi All!

I know it has been a while since I have sent out an update. But, I have been real busy looking for new work (anyone hiring?), and spending some quality family time.

I’m still riding almost every day, alternating between mountain and road. A “real” pro has moved to Corvallis, and I’ve been having a blast showing him around the Valley, putting in 2-3 hours on his rest days.

Later this Summer I will probably do a couple of crits down in Eugene and if I get in real awesome shape I might even get to do the Cascade Classic with the rest of the 2’s.

I plan on doing the Return on the Jedi, but that is also another “we’ll see,” as it depends on whether I start a new job or not in the next month.  I’m planning on returning to work in the Health Promotion field, as I miss the interaction with individuals in improving overall wellness. So, if anyone hears of a job along these lines, feel free to pass it on.

Otherwise, I look forward to continuing training, racing, and plain-ol’ enjoying being on the bikes!

It looks like Spring is here, at last. At least, I can hope that the weather stays this nice. It was beautiful, clear blue skies and warm all today – perfect weather for riding, sunbathing, reading and working outside…everything I love to do.

Training was blah last week. After the BB3, I took a few days off, bought some new tires, and even went for a run!
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I’m down to 166lbs now. I have been stable at this weight for the last week and a half. With my goal of 156lbs, I only have 10 more to go before I reach it. Yay for me!

I have been wanting to share this for a while now. Here is my ipod playlist that I listen to while warming up for a race. It’s a bunch of angry, hardcore rock music. So, cover your eyes if you don’t like that type of music.

The list is also not ordered, as I have an ipod shuffle, and love that I get to be surprised by what type of angry music I get to listen to next.

• Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) (Short Version) – Concrete Blonde
• Running Knees – Days Of The New
• Walk The Sky – Fuel
• Brain Stew (The Godzilla Remix) – Green Day
• Papercut – Linkin Park
• One Step Closer – Linkin Park
• With You – Linkin Park
• Points Of Authority – Linkin Park
• Crawling – Linkin Park
• Runaway – Linkin Park
• By Myself – Linkin Park
• In The End – Linkin Park
• Place For My Head – Linkin Park
• Forgotten – Linkin Park
• Pushing Me Away – Linkin Park
• Enter Sandman – Metallica
• Wherever I May Roam – Metallica
• The God That Failed – Metallica
• Come With Me – P. Diddy
• No Shelter – Rage Against The Machine
• Pressure – Staind
• For You – Staind
• Schism – Tool
• Parabola – Tool
• Lateralus – Tool
• Falling Away From Me – Korn
• Last Resort – Papa Roach
• Stupify – Disturbed
• Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
• Alive – Godsmack

The training has been going well. I am improving in speed as well as overall endurance. I think I will be ready to actually compete in the next week or two at the Banana Belt races. I probably will not be doing the BBII, but am definitely writing it in my schedule to do the BBIII, since it’s part of the Oregon Cup, and also a good distance for racing (77 miles).

So, with my own training, I have also been doing some coaching. And, one thing that I have done with some of my athletes is test their fitness and strength to see where they are compared to where they were. Here’s a quick run-down on how I test this:

1. Fixed-interval sessions -

   For these, I give a fixed duration interval and fixed duration rest (for example 2 minutes all-out, 3 minutes rest). When your overall power starts to really drop, and you are no longer able to complete another full interval, I call that the end-point or maximal number of intervals. By measuring exactly how many of these you are able to do before complete exhaustion, you can monitor your progress.

2. Variable-length sessions -

   Similar to the other intervals, except that you mix up the length of interval and/or length of rest. After doing these a number of times, you will find that you can hold the efforts longer and recover faster.

3. Body weight -

   In cycling, there are few things that will make you as fast in the hills as losing pounds off your total weight. Some people will spend thousands of dollars trying to lose ounces off their bikes, but forget that donuts and cinnamon rolls make their purchase in vain. Another benefit, is that for men, who tend to carry much of their extra weight in their abdominal region, losing weight will make it so that they can be much more comfortable on the bike and reach a more aerodynamic position.

4. Average speed -

   This is something that I like to take a look at on my rides after the ride. And, I particularly pay attention to it on easy-medium days. Everybody likes to test their speed on hard days, but I find that an increase in my easy-medium day average pace truly shows an increase in fitness. If I used to average 15.6 mph on most of my easy-medium rides, and I now average 17.1mph, then I have really shown that my comfort level at higher speeds has increased as well as my fitness. I also tend to look for trends, not specific days. Because a single day may be high due to group riding, tailwinds, or some other particular vigor. But, trends across weeks or months speak much more highly about your fitness.

5. Hard-as-hell hills -

   My favorite test is to seek out the hardest hills in the area, whether by gradient (steepness) or length, and just do them. I don’t race up them, and I don’t particularly aim to pace them either. I try and make it so that just accomplishing the hill is a test in itself. We have a couple hills like this in the Corvallis area. Heather drive off Ridgewood is one of them, and I have a few secret others. But, I love to do these hills and see if it made me cry or dance with joy when I accomplished it.