Nothing Can Stop You from Riding for Deaf Schools on Vimeo.

One of my favorite photos

Last year's fans in action.....

This year's American Velodrome Challenge will be bigger, we're estimating 1,000 fans on Friday night.

Click here to read the article on the Solvang camp

Casco Warp II for sale - Medium.

$350.

Random musings

1611 and 1608 max power in 2 of those sprints.

All sprints over 1500 watts.

5 second power: 1502 watts.

Numbers are improving steadily. Need to duplicate the numbers on the track eventually.

Speaking of the track, I'll be the supervisor for the Thurs night Open Session for Advanced and Intermediate riders. Come and ride with us!

Will be making some additions to my gym program - I'll add some plyometrics work and I'm anxious to see what kind of impact that has on the numbers. I'll start that tomorrow morning (Thursday).

Velodrome Camp with Steve Hill

Mike Troisi, one of my athletes.

The group.

Steve Hill leading the group during warm up.

Steve Hill talking to the group about motorpacing efforts.

Awesome camp. Awesome group. Couldn't have asked for a better group to work with.

Friday - we did a bunch of jumps, starts and some intervals late in the afternoon. Steve took the time to talk and I, for one, love his stories. He can be hilarious and he's a great story teller.

In the evening, we got together at On the Border restaurant to go over his Mental Training presentation. While I won't share anything on this blog, you've got to show up at a camp to listen to this one. I can say that it's making a huge difference in the way I think (and I thought I was pretty good at it before....) :D

Saturday - we all went to Gold's Gym in San Jose. They have this wood/rubber platform for olympic style lifting, sweet! We all went through the lifts. I've picked up some tips on how to improve my form as well.

In the afternoon, we did a bit of intervals while I worked around the track. In the night, we had pizza while Steve talked about sprints training. I can say that I've probably saved about 1/2 year of experience by just listening to him talk about tips, methods and strategies.

Sunday - we did motorpacing efforts and had lunch afterwards.

Weather was gorgeous. Jewel Jauregui did a great job interpreting for me. The feedback from the campers were generally very positive with some minor suggestions on how to improve the camp.

So here's the deal: We'll do few more camps at the velodrome in the future. Email me if you want to be on the mailing list for that kind of camps.

New addition to the family - 2 new kids.

Awesome camp

Can't type everything at once but here's list of tidbits

- Approximately 15-16 campers per day with a staff of Hunter Allen and Adnan Kadir. Jim Myers and John Hanmann were here representing their products (Quarq and iBike respectively). For more information and scoop on this, go to http://adnankadir.wordpress.com/. It's damn interesting and I'm going to go for this set up to find the best CdA. Jim is also working on a track crankset and I'm excited about it.

- Robb Zberiski of Saris (Powertap) was here for Thursday and helped with the ITT day. He's great at gesturing and knows a bit of fingerspelling. I had tons of fun with him.

- Went down to Encino Velodrome. Oh man - that track makes Hellyer look like a picnic.... Was supposed to meet one of my athletes; Jenn but things didn't work out. I'll be back soon with my track bike that time.

- Staff of Hunter Allen, Adnan Kadir, Jill Gass, Jewel Jauregui, Lisa Tonello, Rory O'Reilly, Omar Guzman and Everett Glenn. This is a great group of staff. Can't ask for a better group of people.

So you might be feeling crappy for missing this camp, worry not: There's a camp in Marin County in 3rd week of March. Go and check it out: http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/camps/cycling_camps_marin_2008.html

Some power snapshots of interest....

14 seconds power with a 81 inches gear (48x16)

One quick jump with a 81 inches gear (48x16).

5 seconds power with a 50x15 gear. Clearly this cadence range is more comfortable for me but the goal is to be as comfortable as I am in 140-155 range.

This snapshot shows one whole lap around Hellyer in a 50x15 gear.

Comments? I'd love to "hear" them.

81 inches - such a beautiful number.....

Dear Coach Steve,

149 max rpm (ok so the wind helped a bit)

145 5 seconds rpm

48x16

1473 watts

I am happy.

I love 81 inches.

Your friend,

Robin

Damn!

Sick again...

Random musings

- At least I'm going to be sick before the Solvang camp so it's all right.

- 131 RPM for 13 seconds with a 50 x 15 gear last Wednesday. I'm happy considering the weather (cold temps, etc). Still, the goal is to get up to 135 then 140. The nice thing about the track racing is that you're always measuring up to your previous performance with either SRM or stopwatch. I can say that I'm gradually improving everytime I hit the velodrome. On the other hand.......

- Had a crappy workout today at the velodrome. Now I know why..... Nothing special to report.

- One thing to look out for teschner or dolan frames, some of the wheels have a tendency to slip when you are doing something like standing starts. For the past 3 workouts, my clinchers with a different kind of axle nut has slipped. If I am to use that zipp wheel with another kind of axle nut where I can use my tool to really gain a lot of leverage and tighten it up, it shouldn't slip.

- Solvang camp is all set. It's going to be fun. 16 campers with 3 coaches. Tour of California. Mt Figueroa, Foxen Canyon. Gorgeous. I'll probably put in a bit of riding in the afternoons while the riders are talking to the coaches. In the mornings, I hope to find a local gym and do some gym workouts - probably with Adnan Kadir, one of the PCG coaches who is aiming for the Elite Nationals Pursuit. There's just a slight problem: Phinney's in the way. Here's a picture of last year's camp:

- Momentum Cycling Team's interview - that one is a good read. I did an interview with the 3: Adam Duvendeck, Travis Smith and Jennie Reed. Read it at: http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=828&mode=&order=0&thold=0

Busy at work....

60 hours this week at work.

New PB's

145 rpm

370 lbs squat

Result:

I need a massage.

Squat - 2 different types

I've been squatting for the past 1.5 years and am still learning how to squat on weekly basis. Here's what I have learned about a year ago and have pretty much focused on this technique.

A lot of the following literature have been pulled from www.exrx.net
except for my comments in bold

During the execution of a barbell squat, the knees and the hips travel in opposite directions away from the foot, or away from the center of gravity. Draw a second line on the knee joint parallel to the line of force. Draw a third line on the hip joint parallel to the previous lines. A relative comparison can be made on the torque forces of the knee and hip. Typically the torque forces are similar for the knee and hip joints on the barbell squat; the knees travel forward the same magnitude as the hips travel backwards. Generally speaking, during a powerlift type squat (bar lower behind the shoulders and a wider stance) the knee does not travel forward as far as a bodybuilding type squat. The hips typically travel back further with the torso bent forward on a powerlift type squat. This emphasizes the stronger hip extensors and adductors and consequently reduces knee extensor involvement. Knee torque is further reduced by a wide stance.

Instructions (http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBSquat.html)

Preparation

From a rack with barbell upper chest height, position bar low on back of shoulders. Grasp barbell to sides, close to shoulders and position elbows back. Dismount bar from rack and stand with wide stance.

Execution

Descend until thighs are just past parallel to floor. Extend hips and knees until legs are straight. Return and repeat.

Comments

Keep head forward, back straight and feet flat on the floor; equal distribution of weight through forefoot and heel. Knees should point same direction as feet throughout movement.

I've found this to work really well for me. I've got a weak left knee and using this technique puts much less stress on the knees which I believe will allow me to last much longer (in terms of years) while squatting.

The other type of squat is:

Instructions (http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html)

Preparation

From a rack with barbell upper chest height, position bar high on back of shoulders and grasp barbell to sides. Dismount bar from rack and stand with shoulder width stance.

Execution

Descend until thighs are just past parallel to floor. Extend knees and hips until legs are straight. Return and repeat.

Comments

Keep head forward, back straight and feet flat on the floor; equal distribution of weight throughout forefoot and heel. Knees should point same direction as feet throughout movement.
I've found this to be much more stressful on my knees and I just don't do this type of lift anymore.


Thoughts?

New Personal Best in squats (4x4)

My new PB: 365 lbs. Aiming for 405 in April or May.

Los Angeles World Cup weekend

Los Angeles World Cup Weekend.

On annual basis, It's a requirement I go down to Los Angeles' gorgeous ADT Velodrome for the UCI World Cup track races.

Los Angeles

I have a love - hate relationship with the town, especially the freeways part. When it's not crowded, you can go at 80-85 mph and have a police car pass you by without ticketing you.

On other hand, It's a 15 minute drive from LAX to ADT Velodrome, It took me 1.5 hours just to get there on Friday night during rush hour.
ADT Velodrome

This is a gorgeous facility. It's just too bad this is not sold out every day/night. The races were incredible and full of drama.

Adam Duvendeck

Most of you know by he's the fastest American sprinter by far (nearly by .300-.400) over anybody else. He's been on the p3 program (www.p3.md) for a while and his physique is much more impressive now.

It's paid off with his speeds getting high.

He shocked the place when he defeated Mark French, one of the best Aussie sprinters. Unfortunately he had to go up against Kevin Sireau, the fastest 200tt holder at ADT Velodrome. In one of those heats, Kevin did a 10.33. Amazing.

Adam's getting faster and he's going to do something like 10.3 by this fall.
Kilo

It's a dying event. Scott Sunderland of Australia sent shockwaves through the place when he did a 1:02.270. Everybody could see it - he was going thru the laps just super quick. By the time 4th lap, he was dying but still going fast. It was very electric.

Scott threw up 15 minutes after his kilo.

Proves this point: Kilo is still the hardest event you can do.

Tactics and Speed

Chiappa wasn't the fastest one on the track but he defeated Shane Kelly, Mulder and Sireau
to win the Gold medal.

Amazing.

In one of the rides, Chiappa looked as if he was at his 100% with Bourgain by his side in the corner.

As soon as he hit t3 - he just had one more gear in his legs and sped up.

Warren Geissert who was sitting next to me explained that Chiappa wanted to give Bourgain the impression he was at 100% before getting into t3 before speeding up a bit. That's a good poker move.

Questions of the weekend:

1. What's making the French sprinters so fast these days?

2. How did in the world Aussies sprinters regress so badly? (Or is it just part of their plan to peak at the right time?)

3. Why couldn't the French sprinters last well into the late rounds? (Again, is it a part of their plan to peak at the right time with some endurance work coming later on?)

4. What if we were to put Adam Duvendeck and Travis Smith (who's been gradually becoming faster after his hip surgery and we'll probably see a 10.4 out of him as well) with a group of french/brits/aussie sprinters? Would they be able to post 10.2-10.3? This is more of a question whether they need other riders to push them.

Fundraising for Lance Armstrong Foundation

I'll be hosting a cycling camp in Solvang, California with Hunter Allen in Feb. One of things I am going to do is donate 2 days worth of riding and learning from Hunter Allen.

Patt Baenen-Tapscott's organization: Beat the Clock series is fundraising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They've been doing this for years and they have raised over $50,000 for this cause. I've been so impressed with Patt's dedication to this cause.

So I wanted to donate 2 days to her cause and you can find out more about this auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190192671602&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1123

Not bad.....

1 minute power on the trainer: 500 watts (yes, exactly 500 watts) at 118 rpm.

If I can drive that up slowly during the winter season then it should be a bit better on the track when it's summer.

Now it's onto the aero position....... :D

Skins Recovery Pants

For months and months, I'd always walk funny after a day of squats. Today was no difference - I went up to 350 lbs while squatting and that's the highest I've ever squatted.

I knew I'd be super sore afterwards especially around my hip and groin areas. What happened afterwards was really not something I expected - I was just hoping for maybe 20%-30% of what I'd experience today.

I got the Skins Recovery pants in the mail few days and It kinda felt funny wearing it under the pants. Anyway, I decided today would be first day I'd wear it.

Oh...my....god....

It kept my lower body warm all day and kept my legs a bit compressed so when I sit down, it wouldn't cut off the blood going into my legs.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like I am all jumpy. I still feel a little of soreness but it's just so unlike anything I have had in the past.

No, I didn't get it from them for free and they're not a sponsor.

I just love it.

You will.

Isn't this crazy?

Today at Velodrome:

Average power: 107
Norm Power: 231

I guess this is what happens when you sprint like 30 times with easy spinning in between.

Max Power: 1460
5 seconds power is down though: 1276

Be Different

The first time I heard it was during Larry Nolan's presentation to the USA Deaf Cycling Team for the World Deaf Cycling Championships at San Francisco, CA in 2006.

Did it register to me immediately? Yes and No. I understood it but I didn't understand the depth of that statement.

Let me give you a bit of history about Larry Nolan then we'll get to the point.

Larry has won 7 UCI world titles (all masters track) and 34 USAC national titles (1 masters crit, 33 masters track).

His 1 km and 3km pursuit time are much quicker than when he was 35 years old. He's 50 now.

Sure, he's naturally gifted but his commitment to the training plan is amazing AND he does it mostly through the means of commuting.

Here's what Larry had to say few months ago:

Yes, I get a majority of my miles through commuting (year-round) and I love that fact for a variety of reasons:
- I live in silicon valley where traffic is horrible. In some ways I save time commuting, espcially when its raining
- why be in a car when you can be outside
- I live in California where the weather is pretty darned great.
- Gas prices are not going down
- we have a shower at work
- My 34km commute that takes me over the bay and through some good winds too
- 34km is an ideal distance for me. (1 to 1-1/2 hours)
- BUT, I can always add more miles by joining a morning group (2-1/2 hours)- I suspect your athlete will need to do the same to get the intensity in!

optimizing the commute- somedays are easy (ah, Monday's), somedays are hard (honey, get home!) but most days are just moderate with some intent. I don't call them "junk" because I head out for every ride with a plan (recovery, endurance, speed, power, starts, bike handling, aero position, double days to up my metabolism and more)

Okay- I must confess that my commuting mentors are my teammates Kevin Metcalfe (was doing 20 each way 5 x a week) and Kent Bostick for whom I have learned a lot!



The point: Be Different

Once when I understood what Larry Nolan was trying to say, I made a decision to push myself in all areas of my life up to the limit and push it upwards every 3-6 months.

How do I do that?

I'd document my goals in the following areas: (Work, Personal and Training). Simplifying your goals and documenting them may make you more focused. Write it down and put it up on your refrigerator, office wall and by the bed.

Looking back to the last 2-3 years of my life, I'm very proud of what I have accomplished in terms of work, personal life and more. Now I want to push myself even more and be even prouder.

I've written some goals such as hosting several camps per year, establish an interpreting company, training and more. I'm starting to see some things I want to improve on. That would have never happened to me if I had never pushed myself to the limits.

Write down goals that will make you be proud of yourself. Learn from them and push yourself again.

Be Different.

Top 10 Stephen Hill-isms

Stephen Hill


Steve Hill's my coach. He's the 2006 and 2007 Elite Kilo Champion. I've gone from maybe 1,100 watts (max) / 900 ish (5 seconds) to 1,611 watts (max) / 1515 (5 seconds power) with his training program. I still have to work on other areas - such as high rpm cadence and acquiring long term power up to 1 minute with high RPM. I know he's the right man to learn from especially when it comes to track racing.


Anyway, he's one of the hardest men I've ever met. Add some quick wit and sarcasm to the mix and you've got a guy who's going to keep everybody entertained everyday.


Truthfully, he's one of the nicest person I've ever met. He'll go out of his way to help anybody in the sport of cycling.

Below is the top 10 favorite Stephen Hill-isms from mine. Some of them were from IM's conversations I had have in the past with Steve. Some of them were pulled from fixedgearfever.com.

1) Cyclist: I’ve got strained muscle/pinched nerve in the back. I don’t know if I can lift weights or not.

Steve Hill: Well, I don't have any ideas on what you may have done, but I would saythat it doesn't sound serious. Skip the next leg workout, take someadvil, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, and see how it is on Monday.Given that I've worked through a ruptured disc, you're not going to get much mercy out of me... ;)

2) Steve Hill: Regarding the whole "going for maximal weight will slow you down" thing, here are my thoughts: Not exactly. To some extent, you are correct - if all you ever do is go into the gym and do maximal weight, it will, after a certain point, slow you down. If that is all you ever do. However, since speed work is done at a % of what you can lift maximally, if you do not work to improve your maximal strength, you will never go beyond a certain point in doing speed work (with weights) either, so it's give-and-take. You must do both. Secondly, for speed work, we also have these nifty devices known as bicycles, some with fixed gears, upon which we can also do speed work. So, if all you ever do is squats at maximum, yes, you will be slow. But that does not mean that one should not always strive to increase their PB at squats, or any other lift.


3) Cyclist: I know I've been bitching a lot about not having races here in South Florida despite the fantastic winter weather we have (80 degrees today Nov 29!) but it seems that after twisting a few arms the park has reluctantly agreed to put together a 4 week series on saturdays at 12 noon during the following dates:


January 21 and 28
February 4 and 11


We the cyclists, are hoping the lights are fixed soon so that we may hold weekday racing. If you are down in our neighborhood at around these dates, consider yourself invited to race with us!


Steve Hill: Fantastic Winter Weather? I was there almost 2 years ago for World Cup Quals, and it never got over 60! You guys must not have paid the heating bill that month...


4) Steve Hill: I tried mental training, but after all those reps, my brain hurt.

5) Cyclist: would love to become an elite athlete, however I am lazy. Is there some way around this?


Steve Hill: Electroshock therapy?

6) Fieldsprinter: Every kilo rider eventually goes nuts, so I avoid them like the plague.


Steve Hill: What do you guys mean? I enjoy doing the kilo.

7) Steve Hill: I think the best way to kill nerves is to do the kilo as often as possible. I swear I have fewer brain cells each time....

8) Steve Hill: Come to Atlanta and I’ll turn you into a Charles Atlas, jr


9) Steve Hill: Don't half-wheel the coach!

10) Steve Hill: I showed Eddy B (the legendary coach) my training plan and he told me I was crazy for doing this. This was after I did 10.5 at Colorado Springs......

An interview with Steve Hill on youtube.com

Random Musings (1/9)

American Velodrome Challenge returns to Hellyer Park Velodrome at San Jose during the June 20 - 21, 2008 weekend.


American Velodrome Challenge

The picture on the right shows how tough it was. In this keirin heat, we had Giovanni Rey who is a very strong local keirin rider, Adam Duvendeck (Elite Keirin Champion), Matt Barlee (Canadian Champion), and Stephen Hill (Elite Kilo Champion).

In a star-studded field the National Racing Calendar (NRC) points leader Ben Jacques-Maynes (Team Priority Health) had one goal of the weekend and it was to win the John Peckham Memorial Race. During the race, Ben Jacques-Maynes had John Peckham, who was killed by a drunk driver only a year ago, on his mind. Jacques-Maynes accomplished his goal, finishing with 40 points, while Kenny Williams (Cody Racing) took second place and Matthew Johnson (5 Star Finish) finished third.

I expect this year's AVC to be much bigger, and faster. We'll also be including the Beat the Clock Time Trial Series the next day to raise funds for Lance Armstrong Foundation with. Patt Baenen-Tapscott will be the promoter for that event.



Training:

Cold is finally going away. Still stuck with trainer workouts. Velodrome is still closed to the wetness. Am hoping to get over there at least 3 times before I head down to Los Angeles for the World Cup races.

Got my 48 (Sugino Zen) and will ride it to make it a 81 inches gear. I'm thinking - going smaller I will definitely see new PB's with watts but I will also see higher cadence as well. However, my goal is to stay up close to 150 rpm and STAY there as long as I can.

Looks like I may have found a training partner - Jesse Wilson. He's moving into town mid Jan and we'll go from there....crossing fingers.

Misc

ASL Bridge - ASL Bridge provides sign language interpreting services for the deaf and hard of hearing communities. Its innovative and simple request process, streamlined pricing, and attention to quality bridges the gap between the general public and the sign language-using communities. www.aslbridge.com A friend of mine, Sam Hawk and I are the co-founders of this company and we'll focus on Bay Area first.

What's next?
Inspirational figure - Patt Baenen-Tapscott interview coming up. She's the promoter of the Beat the Clock Series.

Adam Duvendeck - one of the nicest guys I've ever met and Momentum Cycling Team (Josiah Ng, Travis Smith and Jennie Reed).

Video clips of workouts I usually do.

How to follow the LA World Cup weekend with live coverage.

Stephen Hill-isms. You don't want to miss this one.

Be afraid of the half lived life.

Maverick's.

On annual basis, there's a surfing tournament in Half Moon Bay which generates a tremendous amount of interest from spectators and participants. This area generates up to 100 foot waves but not during the tournament.

Today, I went to Pillar Point, about 4 miles north of Half Moon Bay where I could see waves down in the horizon exploding like crazy.

60-80 foot waves.

Mac, a surfer, chuckled to me and nodded in agreement when I asked him if the waves were in that range.

Those surfers are serious about this. They may look your happy go lucky and laid back California dudes. They work hard at it, honing their equipment and keeping themselves in shape year around so they can surf insane waves when it hits out of blue.

I will never be a surfer but I appreciate people who constantly challenge and push themselves to different limits.

Be different.

Be different from other people and push yourselves to new limits and challenge yourselves to something new everyday.

Training:

Still somewhat sick. Doing the trainer workouts as usual. Going to go down 1.69 inch to 48x16 instead of 49x16 and spin much faster.

There's a GREAT thread in Fixedgearfever.com especially with very informative posts by Gord Singleton and Steve Hill talking about doing high rpm sprints, etc. Check this out - (posts by Hotblack and 2006) http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4264&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

Hoping the rain will let up so I can hit Hellyer tomorrow morning for few hours.

Random Musings (1/3)

Random Musings (1/3)

- Track Camp with Steve Hill - 6 spots filled up. 4 to go. Amazing. Steve's going to have every camper read "Gates of Fire". I will say this: you will leave this camp ready to create hell after reading the book and listening to Steve Hill.

- "...Burning desire on daily basis to achieve your goal..."

This is so true. If you are very committed to your goal, everything should revolve around that goal and everything else should become "secondary" except for your spouse and work.

By making everything else secondary, you may be less emotionally attached to them as well and making it easier to deal with on daily basis.

- Solvang Camp with Hunter - 8 campers. 12 spots to go. This one is going to be tons of fun. Last year we had gorgeous snow capped mountains around Solvang and yet it was still warm enough to cycle.

- How do I keep myself motivated about the program on daily/weekly basis?

This can be a little tough but one of the reasons why I like short and intense efforts is the ability to measure them. For instance, squats - I can measure them on 2.5 or 5 lbs improvement on weekly basis. Eventually I will hit a plateau though.

At the track, I can measure my improvement in couple of areas:

1. Watts

2. Cadence

3. Stopwatch/Timer for (kilos, 1.5 laps, 1 lap, half lap, 200's and 100's). I'd record them as much as I can. I'd also use it for standing starts (1/2 lap and 3/4 laps then maybe full lap).

Focusing on little and mini goals on weekly basis and see gradual improvement keeps me focused and motivated in working towards the bigger goal.

Training program

- Am sick right now. Am hitting the trainer instead of the road workouts. Bay Area is going to get slammed with 3 straight storms over the weekend and I have zero interest in going outside and shiver while having sore throat/colds. It's counter productive. However, getting on the trainer - you can get all sweaty. Plus you get to do the track intervals with minimal amount of recovery time in between. That's nice.

- Looking for a training partner right now. Having a training partner allows me to do couple of things:

1. Push myself up in the gym while being reminded of my technique, etc. I have a friend who I can do that with at the gym.

2. Open up the velodrome together. Hellyer doesn't permit me to train there by myself - safety reasons.... Hell, I have a better chance of getting hurt on the road rather than at the velodrome. But...

Also, We'd push each other to be faster. Sometimes it's better to chase someone than doing it by myself.

Anybody?



Statistics....

- 1410 watts (max power) 1338 (5 seconds peak) - Trying to push it up to my road watts level (1611/1515)

- Average 5 seconds cadence: 140 for 5 seconds with a 49x16. Trying to push it up to 145 then to 150 within few months.

Story of the day....

- You definitely know it's just right after New Year's day when you show up at the gym and it's nearly full.

There's a skinny guy on the bench press trying to lift 135 lbs and his arms are all wobbly. It's just painful watching him do that. I wanted to run over there and pull the bar up and tell him to take it easy.

I feel sorry for them. They're going to get hurt.

Misc:

- Thresholdpower camps - I'll be adding 2 powertap wheels to our program on rental basis. You can now rent them instead of buying them.