Quote of the night and unexpected visitors

We're all winding down for the evening (Desiree, the roommates and myself) and we're all on our own computers. Alicia busts out with, "I wish I could run like an adolescent Kenyan, an adolescent kenyan boy."- lol

-21:00 and unexpected visitor(s) ring the door bell and it's USADA come to drug test Jarrod. I knew it was USADA because I saw the same guys a week ago at the local UPS shipping out DNA and urine samples. That was an interesting experience.

1st annual After Holiday, Ugly Holiday Sweater Party

Yesterday, the highly anticipated last party of 2009 held in 2010 kicked off with success. Included members on the VIP list were Desiree (of course), Anh Vu and Darcey, the roommates and significant others, the workmates and significant others, and mates in the area. We had chicken and burgers on the grill, fixing and sides, desserts, and adult beverages- mostly wine to satisfy you intake needs. Desserts were homemade with tender love and care which included rum cake and life altering tiramisu.

We had an unannounced most ugly/obnoxious holiday sweater contest and the winners went to the husband and wife team of John and Casey Scundura. The are the new proud owners of a holiday Mr Potato Head.

Thanks to Desiree for all the hard work for making the party what it was and co-hosting, Kristi and Dave for the table and chairs, and mates of all types (work-, room- and just plain mates) for the good times, memories, and house warming gifts. Be prepared for next year!

More pics: click here

much better, back in the groove

Last week's weather proved to be much more tolerable for training. Now is the time to just be on the bike as much as possible and I was able to get 6 days in a row in from Monday to yesterday. Although I only got a total of about 10 hours in for the week, I can tell that my legs are responding and with good form, the muscular endurance is improving, and conditioning/aerobic fitness is holding strong.

Thursday's ride was really windy and I on the last little climb on the way home and I could feel 4 days of training in my legs. So my training plan for Friday was to go easy and just get an hour-hour 1/2 in.

On Friday about 8 miles into my ride, I was about 1 mile from the wall when I saw one of the Orlando teams of 6-7 guys training together going the opposite way. I turned around and hopped on the back of the line. When it was my turn to rotate, I held the front for about 3 miles and found myself openning gaps on the rolling sections. I soft pedelled for them to catch back up and again hold tempo at the front for a couple more miles. At the top of the next climb, i soft pedelled again to allow the gap to close and I rotated through. Apparently I slipt the group, because there were only 3 of us. The 3 of us worked together before we made it to their start point and we circled the parking lot a few times and went through the formallities of introducing each other. One of the guys said that 1 of their team mates that was split from the group earlier, saw Floyd Landis on the trail. Just a couple minute later we saw a heavier set guy with an OUCH kit with a case of BudLight tucked under his left arm ride past. What a coincidence. That was pretty humerous.

Yesterday (Saturday), I did a ride with Desiree where she wanted to tackle climbing. We went through Ferndale up 'the wall', continued on 455 and did buckhill, and made our way back home on grassy lake. She is really climbing well and showing faster recovery. I was able to use our ride as a recovery ride and averaged 124bpm for heart rate. My legs are feeling good and I'm ready for another week of training.

Sunday- day off! :)

yay repair stand

My bike repair stand came in today. It's by feedback sports and I feel is one of the best repair stands on the market. The ratchet system makes it easy to secure your bike without having a clamp style system that can easily damage your frame. Additionally, the quick release buttons makes it easy for you to remove your bike. Similar to most bike stands, mine is height adjustable and allows for 360 degs of rotation so you can eaily access underneath the bike and all other desired areas making changing cables and cleaning your frame a breeze.

I no longer need the use of my trainer to clean my chain or build my bikes. No more deep knee squats or bending over to clean the chain. A repair stand is a must if you plan on performing your own maintenance on your bike.

cycling training....why?!

The last 2 weeks of cycling training have been a challenge especially due to the weather. When your gloves are wearing gloves and your shoes are wearing socks, there's something wrong with that picture. With sub 40 deg weather, sometimes it is hard to convience yourself that building your base and getting the miles in is what you're supposed to be doing. You just have to keep in mind that it's worth it and will set you up for the season ahead. With only 3-4 days/week in the saddle, making excuses not to ride is not allowed. This next upcoming week should proved to be more motivating with beautiful weather: 60-70s and sunny clear blues.

I am currently reading Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible. It will assist me with a more focused training plan and the latest edition includes training with power- all the reason why I bought a powertap.

2010 Pro cycling teams- my picks

The 2010 UCI cycling season has begun and I'm very excited for this season to really take off. The teams that I'm particularly looking to stay up-to-date with are of course the Argyle Armada of Garmin-Transition, Team Sky, and team BMC.

Garmin-Transition has already has a couple victories on their board for 2010 and they are a force to watch this Pro-tour season. Even though they lost their 4th place GC Tour de France triple gold medal winner Wiggo (Bradley Wiggins), their roster is strengthened by Robbie Hunter formally of Barloworld and little Meyer joins older brother Cameron Meyer. Travis Meyer just won the Australian Open Road Race Championship for a repeat victory from last year.
www.slipstreamsports.com

Team Sky is a new British ProTour cycling team which will consist of big hitters like Bradley Wiggins formally of Garmin-Slipstream, Michael Barry from Columbia-HTC, Simon Gerrans from Cervelo Test Team, Juan Antonio Flecha from Rabobank, Chris Sutton from Garmin-Slipstream, Ben Swift from Team Katusha, and many others.
Thy will be riding one of the most eye appealing, curvy, all new Pinarello Dogma 60.1.
www.teamsky.com

BMC is a US ProContinential team that is looking for a wildcard UCI license with it's international resume dense roster. This includes former road world champion rainbow jersey wearer Alessandro Ballan from Lampre, current road world champion rainbow jersey wearer Cadel Evans from Team Lotto, George Hincapie formally of Columbia-HTC and others.
Congratulations to the team who just received approval of their UCI ProTour status.
www.BMCracingteam.com

Lance Armstrong's partnership with RadioShack can't be discounted. Team RadioShack has cyclist that re-unite with Lance again such as Levi Leimpheimer, Andreas Kloden, and Yaroslav Popovych. Their roster also includes the big names such as Fumiyuki Beppu formally of Skil-Shimano, Chris Horner of Astana, Jason McCartney of Saxo-Bank, Gert Steegmans of Team Katusha, and many others. This of course is under the direction of Johan Bruyneel.
http://www.teamradioshack.us/

Those are my picks. Let me know who you'll be watching out for for the 2010 cycling season!

Welcome roomies

Today my roommates moved in and are spending their 1st night here at my hostel. Jarrod Shoemaker and his wife Alicia are professional triathletes who will be staying with me for the next 3 months while their house is being built in the same neighborhood only a couple blocks around the corner. Tomorrow one of their friends alsoing be joining the living quarters and will be staying in the other guest bedroom. For the next 3 months, this place will be a house of hardcore athletes.

Stay tuned for roommate adventure updates.

Holiday B-B-Q numero Uno

Yesterday's party went really well. It was a dry run for the upcoming 'Ugly Holiday Sweater'/open house party with friends and co-workers. I invited Desiree's family and the two of us hosted at my house. We had hors d'oeuvres and wine to start things off. Lucky for the wine drinkers, I have good neighbors because I had to run down the street to borrow a wine key to satisfy people's wine cravings. For the main course, I made my infamous roasted potatoes- sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, onions with olive oil, black pepper, garlic, and paprika which complimented the kabobs real well.

I finally got to use the new grill that Desiree's mom and mom's husband Mike got me for my birthday/house warming gift. It worked like a champ. There was a mix of steak and chicken kabobs with green peppers, zucchini, and squash on the grill that was marinated with a kobe tamari and sesame grilling sauce. This is my new favorite grilling sauce.

Thanks to all that came. The party was a success and I'm ready to tackle/host the next one in 2 weeks.

Kara and Chris's wedding

Their wedding was held in Sarasota on Longboat Key. The morning of the wedding, Desiree and I cycled around St. Pete in low 40 degree weather. So we were bracing ourselves for a cold wedding on the beach. Well the tempurature turned out to be perfect with sunny blue skies and high of mid 70s. It couldn't get any better than that for Kara and Chris.
Congratulations to them!!!

Happy New Years

WELCOME! to my blog...

Just wanted to say Happy New Years and Merry Christmas. It's been a while since my last update. I think back in September. This will be the new format that I will be using to keep you informed of what's going on. So check back often becuase new blogs should be posted weekly and 'wouldn't you like to konw?'

Since the last update, I was in the process of having the construction and building process of my house come to a close. On November 17th, I closed on the house, moved my stuff in, and have been sleeping there since. I can't believe that its already been a month and a half. I'm loving every minute of it and about 3 weeks ago, I said to my girlfriend Desiree, "It actually feels like a home now!"

Desiree and I have been dating now for almost 4 months and things are going very well. We spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years together and just got finished attending 2 wedding together over the Christmas holidays. 2 close college friends got married in Sarasota on Dec 30th, and 2 high school friends (one who was my best friend in high school) on Jan 2nd. It was a pretty busy holiday. It was also a different then in past years because my brother and his wife were in Vietnam, and my mom, sister, and extended family came down to my house the day after Christmas. But as mentioned earlier, I had the pleasure of spending the time with Desiree and her family.

Aside from the house, girlfriend, and the holidays, I got a new car a few weeks ago. It's an Acura TL. Immediatlely, I got a roof rack to transport my bikes and it has already been put to good use.

My training has continued however not to the full extent as ideal. Work and weather has kept me from putting miles in the saddle. I do continue to cycle 2-3 times a week and I am weight training 2-3 times a week as well.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, New Years, and Holiday. Please feel free to subscribe, comment, check back often as I will be updating at least weekly and new pics to be posted soon.
Take Care!