Opening Day for Trails is March 30

Rails To Trails Conservancy.

The Rails to Trails Conservancy is promoting March 30 as the opening day for trails. I don't think I'll be able to make it to one of the rail trails in the area, but I'm going to try to do a long ride on Saturday on the  Tomahawk Creek Trail. Read more about it here.

The weather finally looks like it will cooperate and give us a nice weekend in Kansas City, providing all the snow melts by then.

KSHB.

What to do on a snowy morning?

The only thing to do on a snowy morning to to dream of warmer days. I'm dreaming of my next 5K!

Snow after St. Patrick's Day! A kick in the face.

Hospital HIll is June 1!

Time to break out the studded tires

As many of you know, I' going back to school to be a nurse. I'm on spring break this week, and I was looking forward to getting in some riding since my hernia surgery was postponed.

I didn't think I'd have to break out a set of these!

Yes, Continental makes studded bike tires. You should
not have to break these out in Kansas City in March,
but that's exactly what we are faced with Sunday.

A simple heartfelt message

I love this video. Thanks to the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure for sharing.

Training Camp

This is the time of the year that pro cycling teams head to training camp to prepare for the major cycling   events of the spring and summer. The European-based teams head to the Mediterranean, particularly islands like Majorca, where the terrain is similar to what they will experience in the Alps, Dolomites and Pyrenees later in the year.

Many European-based cycling teams head to the Mediterranean

for camp this time of year.

Of course here in the states, Major League Soccer teams just finished their pre-season camps and Major League Baseball is in Florida and Arizona preparing for the season.

It got me thinking what I can do to prepare for the riding season, so I've cooked up my own kind of camp.

I have created a short, quick route that I intend to do five days in a row and see how much I can improve over the week. It's only 12 miles, but it has some hills. I need something to shock my system, and honestly I miss the road bike. I've been mostly riding the Sirrus, my bike path bike, which is like a tank compared to my road bike.

I'll let you know how it goes.

My Spring Training Camp. I'll do this quick, short route with some elevation for five days in a row
to get myself back into cycling shape.

Crit racing video

Here's some video from Tampa to get you through the rest of the work day.

Here's the Video.

Inspiring story

I am always happy to pass on an inspiring story and this one is close to my heart in two ways: Running and art. I like to think of myself as an aspiring runner and my father is an artist.

Cait Chock was a championship runner in high school, but a hit-and-run driver almost took running away from her. After an accident injured her leg, she was told she would never run again. Thankfully, she is running and produces some pretty cool running-themed art.

Click here to learn  more.

Great Diabetes Web site

From time to time I like to share great diabetes Web sites.

dLife is a great site. There is a lot of useful information and they have a companion site, dLife TV that has some cool videos. I especially like the stories form other diabetics. I'm fascinated by the diversity and scope of experience among diabetics.

Were all in this together, folks.

Click Here to go to dLife.

Tuning up your bike for Spring

Spring is a good time to take your bike into the shop and get a yearly tune-up. This is especially important if you haven't ridden all winter long. I typically use this as an excuse to upgrade a component on my bike. If you throw a lot of business their way or it's a good bike shop, they will give your bike a good once over for little or no cost at the same time.

For the DIY set, here's a list of things that every tune-ups should include.

• Clean the chain. Invest in a good chain lube, which should work well as a degreaser.
• Clean the cassette. Mine looks pretty bad after a season of riding. Remove the excess grease.
• Check to make sure the brakes are not rubbing. You will either need to center the breaks or tighten some spokes or both.
• Make sure the cables on the detailers have the correct amount of tension. I run a double, and my Shimano's front-derailleur shifter acts pretty nutty when the tension is out of whack.
• Check every bolt on the bike for correct torque. After a while you get a good feel for what's too tight and what's too loose.
• Give your frame a good once over. Look for any cracks. This is especially important with aluminum frames. Both of my bikes are aluminum, which has good and bad points, which are the subject of many heated debates. The point that I think has some validity is that despite aluminum's strength, when it fails, it does so catastrophically. You don't want a tiny crack to suddenly fail on 30 MPH descent. 

If you want some instructions on how to do these things yourself, I consider The Bicycling Guide To Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair by Todd Downs to be my Bible. Many people swear by Zinn & The Art of Road Bike Maintenance by Lennard Zinn.

Now, today is the first day of spring so get out there - no more excuses. Happy riding!

Well, I finished

 

I learned an important lesson last weekend. But, let me set this up first.

It's been a cold winter. And, I've suffered though an incisional hernia above my navel. My first love is cycling (but you know that). I've started running. I have a full load at school and am trying to get into nursing school. I have two young children. And a wife.

Do these sound like excuses?

Yeah, I know.

Okay, so Friday rolls around. It's 80 freaking degrees in Kansas City! Warmest it's been since, what October? I had to ride my bike. I didn't get out until late in the day. I only did six miles, but it was just something I had to do for the sake of my mental health.

Saturday morning, 9 a.m. I'm lined up for the inaugural Big 12 5K. More background. This is an important event for me. Although my school, left the Big 12 for the SEC last year, a fact my friends say I am obnoxiously proud of, I am thankful that the Big 12 is still having its Men's basketball tournament in Kansas City. It has a terrific impact on the cit's economy and it's great for all the KU and K-State fans out there. Not to mention Iowa State, which has some great fans who travel every year for the tournament.

And hey, KU and K-State were playing in the championship later in the day. My team crapped out of the SEC tournament in Nashville the night before, so I was looking forward to watching a good game (on TV) between the two teams that tied for the regular season title in the Big 12 this year. I should note that my wife is a K-Stater, so I was rooting for them, though I don't root against the Jayhawks like I used to when we were rivals. Time to move on.

Anyway, I lined up in that 38-degree weather with a bunch of KU fans, a good showing from K-State fans and a smattering of fans from the other schools, chief among them not surprisingly Iowa State faithful. I was surprised that Mizzou was so well represented and aside from one comment from a KU fan who obviously can't get over "it" was well received despite the fact I was proudly sporting my Mizzou jacket.

So I lined up behind the 8-minute pace crowd. Now, I am significantly slower than this, but I did not see a 14-minute pace marker, so this would have to do.

I started out running my own race. That's what the all running magazines tell you to do. I made it all the way down Grand from the Sprint Center, turned right onto Pershing and tipped my hat to General Washington, passed Union Station, made it all the way back up to Southwest Boulevard and just short of the halfway mark water station my legs turned to rubber.

Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

I had nothing left. I walked through the water station (the magazines tell you to do this) and then considered picking up running again. I could still salvage something, right.

Hey! Who put this hill here. Huge hill up to the Kauffman Center. No way. Couldn't do it. Had to walk most of the way back.

As you can see from the above pictures, I did pick up running the last few blocks Got to look good for the cameras. You can also see that I 1) accomplished my real goal of finishing and 2) set the bar low for improving my time in June at Hospital Hill.

I will claim victory, despite my disappointment.

Tour de Cure kickoff

We held our Tour de Cure Kansas City kickoff last night. It's hard to believe it's that time of year again. I need to get on the ball and recruit riders and fundraisers if we are going match last year's great performance. Once again I am proud to serve as Team Read captain.

This year the tour returns to "Wheels to Weston" with a route that leaves from English Landing Park in Parkville and follows the Missouri River north to Weston. The route I will be riding is 46 miles and, fortunately, has no hills! Most of the route follows the state highway, but just before you get to Weston it diverts to a crushed limestone path similar to the Katy Trail surface. The "Hardbody route" as one board member dubbed it, takes a hilly path out of Parkville, joins the other route along the state highway, then climbs the hill into Weston and descends into town from the opposite direction. The "hardbodies" can do an optional route north of Weston to make the ride a Metric Century.

I really enjoyed talking with everyone at the event. I was once again called upon to tell my story. Im so proud to be participating in this event and I relish any opportunity to "evangelize" cycling and the many ways it can help diabetics can maintain their health. Heck, it's good for anyone looking to lose weight or improve their health.

Now, onto the Tour! The Kansas City tour is June 2.

Please sign up or donate here

Okay, you can't win the car or even the bike,
but you can win the jersey if you raise
enough money!

This year's jersey is really cool. The women's jersey
is sleeveless. Super fundraisers get the
Gold "Champions for Diabetes jersey.

The food was fantastic and our host Molle Audi
did a first-rate job welcoming us.

The True Believer

I admire the true believer. And, I aspire to be one.

I am talking about the guy I saw on the way to school this morning. He was riding his road bike on a morning when the air temperature was in the low 20s. Bundled up against the cold and the wind. On his way to work.

The true believer will make great sacrifices for bike time. He will forego his morning Starbucks, his NPR, his sports talk, for that brisk morning ride.

I was close to being a true believer once. Then winter hit. Then I got into running.

But I still hear that call. A little piece of me dies every time I see a rider or peleton making its way down Mission Road near our house on a semi-warm winter day. Why am I not doing that? I ask myself.

It is the same (and sometimes greater) feeling I get when I skip mass.

So seek out the Bible in the nightstand and thumb through to the correct daily reading. I work through a couple of articles from the cycling magazines I take.

More bike time. That's what I need.

Fortunately it's that time of year. Spring is in the air. The basketball tournaments are coming to town. The forecast calls for 70s this weekend.

There is hope for me to be a true believer...again.

Great Article on Running with Diabetes

I found a great article on running with diabetes at Active.com.

Click here to read the article.

A lot of the article is basic stuff about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Most of us with the disease can skip this, but about halfway through there is some useful stuff.

The author quotes a doctor who reminds us why running is a great way to improve our health as diabetics. Running helps our bodies to more efficiently use the insulin we produce or supplement. It may even reduce the need for insulin in many of us.

A great tip from this article is that we should keep a meter with us when we run. I have two meters, both of which I got free from my doctor.

One of the meters is tiny. It's about the size of an iPod Nano and it fits perfectly in those little pockets Nike and other clothing manufacturers so kindly sew into running tops, shorts and tights. Its feather light, too.

The article goes on to say it's important to test before, during and after a run. I usually test right before the run (or ride) and test every 45 minutes to an hour after that. For a 5K, I would not test unless my blood sugar was under 150 or so. In that case I would be sure to take on some carbs at the start line or before the race and test on the course.

I am better able to predict my blood sugars when riding. I am too new to running, except that I know my blood sugars will drop faster than the equivalent time riding a bike. Not surprising.

Everyone is different. The key in my experience is that you should treat yourself as your own science experiment. I record my blood sugars obsessively when I exercise so I have a good set of data about what the activity will do to me.

It's important to take on carbs after the activity too. In the past I used an hour on the bike as a way to earn a donut (or two). Now my goal is more to maintain a good, healthy blood sugar before, during and after the activity. 

A lot of this is trial and error. I try not to beat myself up if I experiment with something and end up with a higher than I would like blood sugar. When "dialing in" your blood sugars and exercising it's important not to risk a low that could leave you out on the course or trail needing sugar and not having it handy.

It goes without saying that it's important to carry more carbs than you need in your bike bag, jersey or pocket. Those power gels are perfect for this: They are light, have the right number of carbs and taste horrible, which is an extra incentive to get it right.

Happy running! 

No Going Back

I took the plunge last night. There is no going back.

I am registered for my first 5K of the year in two weeks, which will be only a few days before my hernia surgery. This will be the first 5K I plan to run. Well, mostly, I will do a little walking, but I intend to treat this as a run, meaning I'll be running about 3 of the 3.2 miles.

But wait, there's more.

I have registered for the Hospital Hill 5K in early June.

That means I'll have to fully recover from surgery and get back on the road before the next one rolls around in about 90 days. Whew!

And to think before my illness in 2010 I would go to extraordinary measures to avoid a flight of stairs.

At Hospital Hill last year I remarked to my wife that I would not even had made the walk from the car to the start line. We walked that one.

Now, I have become a runner!

My goal is to finish the first 5K. My goal is to improve upon that base time for the second one.

Tour de Cure

This is my second year as team captain for the Tour de Cure Kansas City. The Tour de Cure benefits the American Diabetes Association.

This year, as Team Red captain, I've been included on the planning board for the tour. It has been a great experience so far. I have a little experience planning charity events, but nothing like this. The logistics of organizing a ride for 500-plus cyclists is quite daunting.

Saturday we had the route planning committee meeting. This year the event is going back to Weston. Longtime riders may remember that Wheels to Weston as it was known then was a signature event on the cycling calendar. It became logistically difficult to continue that ride, but this year we're going back.

The route will be officially released in two weeks, so I won't say more, but we have created a route this year with something for everyone. Families can ride around English Landing Park in Parkville and there are two routes to Weston, one with no hills and a more challenging route for what one of the board members calls "The hardbodies."

I'll be in full swing with fundraising and team recruiting in the next few weeks. Last year Team Red fell just short of being the top team. I mean, we were short by something like $30. Not this year!

Go Team Red!

The Racing Season Is In Full Swing

Today marked the true beginning to the European racing season. Sure, it's not the first race of the year, but it's the first big one. Paris-Nice.

Team Sky has a nice photo album of today's action.