Wednesday -- Computrainer & Rollers

Another team Computrainer workout today, these have been fantastic. Today, we road the master road race circuit, the virtual course doubled the 11 mile course, so in total we did 22 miles. The course was one of the best computrainer courses we have done all season with a mixture of challenging climbs and flat sections. I road it in with my power cranks and averaged just a hair over 21 mph. For the course was just cooking. The next riders came in 8+ minutes later. After a cool down, crew chief Ben and I hung around and discussed ultra-logistics.

After dinner, chicken pasta, mixed vegetables, and a salad, I hopped on the rollers again on the power cranks and spun out another hour, giving me two hours today.

Its Tartan Time!

Tuesday – More indoor miles..

Between work and life, I only had time to crank out 1.5 hrs tonight on the rollers, at least I was on the power cranks. But I really would have liked to have had a chance to put in more miles.

Its Tartan Time!

4/24 – Salem Bike Club – MONSTER cookie

Today, Team Tartan as a whole the entire crew, and rider all got together for some team bonding and road Salem Bike Clubs annual Monster Cookie metric century as a team. The weather was mixed and improved over the course of the ride, but good sprits and lots of cookies made up for the showers.

After the ride, we discussed team tactics, the Kilts were distributed, and we did a team photo shoot.. Stay tuned for some photos, and bio’s on the website. (www.TeamTartan.com)


RAO Team Tartan Roster:

Solo Rider - Kenneth Philbrick
Crew Chief – Ben Larson
Crew - David Philbrick, Cathey Philbrick, Larry Philbrick

Its Tartan Time!

4/23 – Northwest Time Trial Series 40K

Feeling like we needed to gauge our current fitness level Team Tartan made the trek down from Seattle, to Corvallis, Oregon. The TT was a rolling 40K time trial over a course that had George and Terri’s names written all over it. Over the RAO course they some how finds away to pack in 40,000+ feet of total climbing over just 538 miles, where RAAM only gets a measly 80,000 feet in 3,000+ miles.

Driving down, from Seattle Friday night, we didn’t get into Keizer, where my parents live, till a little after midnight and then it wasn’t until 1 or 2 in the morning that we had the car unpacked, bikes prepped and had hit the sack. After 4 hours of sleep, the alarm went off and it was TT time, straight to the car, and then to the TT course. With the only deviation being a brief stop for coffee, vente extra hot mocha for me and two straight shots of espresso for crew chief Ben.

In route to the TT both Ben and I slurped down a breakfast jug of perpetieum.

We arrived at the TT start just a little after 7:30. Registered, and had a start time of 8:55 or so, I don’t really remember exactly. George and Terri looked really great, I think they are secretly training for something.. Anyway back to the TT.

In a little over an hour, I changed into the TT clothes, had to make a few final adjustments to the bike, break pad swapping, etc. Use the portable facilities, warm up,
Eat some gel, finish the coffee, and get myself to the line..

On the line, things were feeling good.. Ben was off, and then, 30 seconds later I went. After which everything just was one big groove fest! I would like to describe the TT more, but I really don’t remember it all that well, After ~3 miles, I caught Ben and the guy he was chasing, after I seemed to real people in just one after another.

There was a slight head wind heading out, and it was definitely a tad easier on the return,
Over the course I basically held my heart rate at a real constant 175 BPM, every now and then it would spike up but over all it was very constant.

I ended up finishing second in the cat 4’s, averaging just a hair over 22.5 mph for 40K on a George Thomas suffer fest. First place was just 10 seconds up, and Ben secured a very solid third a little over a minute back.

After the TT, we did a short cool down riding out towards Mary’s Peak.

It’s Tartan Time!

- Midweek Update -

This week has just been crazy, and I'm a little behind on my bike hrs.Monday was a massage day. Unlike last year this year the legs seem to be doing very, very, well.

Wednesday - Took a long lunch and went to the gym mid day to do my lifting routine. Then in the evening it was over to computrainer to do a spin workout.

Thursday - Tonight, if I'm really lucky I will be able to work an hour in tonight.

I can't wait for camp.. It's Tartan Time..

Sunday, Off to Mud Mountain.

Feeling like our leg’s needed extra mileage we decided to brave the weather and head out towards Mud Mountain. After yesterdays ride today was a thankfully a huge non event. Weather wise, there was a little wind and rain but not too much. After riding in AZ, the wind felt quite wimpy. Rain wise, it did definitely poor, but amazingly we missed most of it. I flatted on the return, but it wasn’t a big deal.

The distance round trip was ~120 miles.

Recovery: 2 scoops hammer whey.

Saturday, Riding the Lake,

Ben and I got off to a late start, and with ominous weather decided to scale back our riding plans, so we just road around the lake, throwing in a few bonus hills.
Total distance: ~60 miles. After getting back, I added a few extra (10 – 20), just riding around the city doing errands.

That F#@$King Motorist
Ok so if you’re a cyclist you’ve at some point in the not so distant past had a real crappy interaction with a motorist. Most of the time, they pass too close, open their doors, or in some way or the other are just criminally oblivious to the fact that they are sharing the road with another. After growing up in Oregon, I know I ride faster then a John Deer Combine, but for some reason motorists are much more cautious passing them then me. Maybe it’s the steel, or the huge disk blades.

Well back to my venting session, today, I was descending a short hill, Ben was behind. We were doing 30+, not screaming down but at or over the speed limit, when huge Toyota SUV came up right behind Ben and honked and then proceed to pass him with little room. The driver then came upon me and proceed to pass me, F#$king up my line through a corner. Then after passing me, and getting right in front, they slammed on their breaks! Yeah, so were doing 30+ down a hill, they have just passed, are in my lane, and now their stopped in the middle of the road! My breaks while great, won’t stop me as fast as theirs. I slowed down, and swerved to the side. They started up again, and then proceeded to slam their brakes on again! Ben got the number off the plates, and we are calling the cops.

Vehicle: beige/silver Toyota Sequoia
License Plate#: 604RQH from Washington State.
Driver: Male (Middle Age)
Front Seat Passenger: Female, roughly the same age.

The incident happened while riding down, Lake Washington Blvd SE, at the intersection of Lake Washington and 113th Pl SE. After the incident the vehicle merged onto 405 heading north.

Friday, Powercranks & Rollers

I ended up getting home from work much later then I had planned, after taking care of dinner and what not, it was kind of late. But since, tomorrows the weekend, I was free to ride the rollers all night long. So a little after, NOW on PBS, I was spinning away on the rollers. For some reason and I don't know why but after getting back from PAC tour, my bike saddle, stelle italia flight, on my rain ride indoor power crank bike just hasn't melded well with me. So every now and then, I would take a brief break from pedaling to give my rear a rest.
Total time on the bike right around 3hrs.

The Saddle Story:
Last year, while perusing bike parts at Gregg's one of the shop guys introduced me to the Carbon Fizik Alante. The saddle seemed kind of pricy, but then I thought, what the hell. Well it was love at first contact. As far as my rear was concerned it was nearly the perfect saddle. My only gripe being it was a tad short. Flash forward around a year. The padding in the back of the saddle was starting to wear thin and the screws holding the scuff guards on were starting to poke through. It was time to replace it, and lucky me I had an identical new one gathering dust in drawer. I had purchased it through my USCF teams sponsor deal; it was just waiting on hold as a backup part.

The new saddle felt was a huge improvement with better, firmer, foam. After a few weeks in Seattle, I flew down to AZ to ride the PAC tour and on the final day of the tour snapped the carbon rails on both sides of the new saddle! I limped into the next rest stop a few miles down the road where I made a emergency repair, binding the broken rails together with layer after layer of electricians tape. Thankfully the saddle held together for the next 140+ miles of the tour. On getting back to Seattle, new and busted got taken back to the shop and old broken in came out for another round.

4/12 -- Rollers

Road the rollers last night for ~1.5 hrs on the power cranks. Tonight its another team computrainer session. Went by to see if my pictures from PAC camp were back from the developer yet.. Nope, won't be done till the 25th. You all will have to wait.

Time is really starting to fly. A few months ago RAO seemed way off. Now as I look at the schedual its getting harder and harder to fit in the training rides into the schedual..

I ordered the first set of Zipp wheels today, wow is that company friendly, they sure have their act togeather and are a real pleasure to work with.

Its Tartan Time!

Registered for Fireweed 400

Yesterday I sent in my snail mail registration for the Fireweed 400. Its all official now, Team Tartan will be there! After having a massive adventure down in Oregon, the Tartan Boyz are going to be setting sail, packing the provisions, harnessing the sled dogs and venturing up to Alaska in early July to see just what lies in between Anchorage and Valdez.

Master chief Ben Larson and I are going to be entering in the 2 man, under thirty, cage match, rumble in the jungle, 400 mile relay format.

Its Tartan Time!

4/11/2005 -- More Sponsorship News!

More exciting news on the sponsorship front! I'm really pleased to announce that Team Tartan has secured a wheel sponsorship through Zipp Speed Weaponry (www.zipp.com) for the 2005 ultra season. Zipp hands down is the top manufacture of high performance wheels bar none. Zipp is also some what unique in the bicycle industry in that they are an entirely US based company doing everything from design to construction in the United States.

What wheels exactly will team tartan be spinning? Well I can’t say, but if you sit a top bakeoven and don’t blink, you might just see.

Its Tartan Time!

4/11/2005 - Really busy!

So I've been a bit behind on my blogging.. The closer we seem to come to the go date the more hectic life starts to become. After getting back from PAC tour, I came down with a head cold. The plan had been for the post PAC tour week to be a recovery week, and the cold has just been confirmation.

On Monday, my first day back I got a massage.
Tuesday - Nothing.

Wednesday - Team Computrainer workout - Kicked some but with out ever going anywhere..

Thursday - 2 hrs on the rollers + power cranks - easy spinning.

Friday - 1.5 hrs on the rollers, 1 hr on the power cranks, .5 hrs on the normal cranks.

Sat - 60 mile ride around the lake at a totally chill pace. My nose is still giving me problems.

Sun - Ben and I did a 70 mile ride, out to may valley and back around mercer. Pace was still chill.

Monday - After work today I'm going to go and do some lifting..

Plans going forward: I sorta figure that this is now the start of the final period before I start to taper for the big day. The plan is more or less to build up through the RAO camps, do one extra week, and then put the feet up and wait for George to fire off his starting pistol to start the sprint...

-- Kenneth

Back From Camp!

Just got back from camp very early Monday morning. The quick summary of PAC Tour Desert Camp is "AWESOM!". It was very inspiring to ride with many of the ultra cycling greats! As I get time I will work on a camp write-up.

8 days of riding averaging 100 miles a day some times a little more some times a little less.
Lots of climbing, min elevation, 3,000 ft. Max Elevation over 9,000ft.
Rain: ZERO!
Wind: Ohh my god! Did a decent, (4-5%) down a pass starting at around 5,000 ft, into a head wind. At high power (~300 watts), in my aero bars, the best I could do was 20 mph.

Slept almost all Monday and got a massage in the evening. Today I might lift a little, but in general just take it easy.

About a month till RAO Camp! I can’t wait.

-- Kenneth