I'm going to need everything in metric untis please.
At some point when you post the food pics I will need to go get a bucket.
At some point when you post the food pics I will need to go get a bucket.
Winter in the Land of my Bikes & Wife
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
rocknrollgirl
Well-Known Member
Hi Normie,
Love the blog, but I am agree about the food pics. I will need to be prepared if this is going to be my breakfast reading. Yikes!
Glad you all arrived safely. Happy New Year.
Love the blog, but I am agree about the food pics. I will need to be prepared if this is going to be my breakfast reading. Yikes!
Glad you all arrived safely. Happy New Year.
Day 3 - 1/2/11
Riding bikes, watching the NBA, and drinking beer with Darin:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-3-hangin-with-darin.html
Check these nasty gutters along some of the roads:
This stuff is pretty not-that-good:
Plenty of food to make you happy in the link above. This ride was "nice" but my man needed to rest every 10-15 minutes. I think we averaged 13 mph and there was maybe 100 feet of elevation gain.
Riding bikes, watching the NBA, and drinking beer with Darin:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-3-hangin-with-darin.html
Check these nasty gutters along some of the roads:
This stuff is pretty not-that-good:
Plenty of food to make you happy in the link above. This ride was "nice" but my man needed to rest every 10-15 minutes. I think we averaged 13 mph and there was maybe 100 feet of elevation gain.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Awesome game face
ArmyOfNone
Well-Known Member
cmon my man! pedal!
Day 4 - 1/3/11
Blog post:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-4-climbing-quarry.html
I said I wasn't going to go nuts with biking in my posts, but this was a somewhat notable ride. So most of the post is about the ride up the hill yesterday. I didn't put this in the post because I don't so much want my wife to read it, but this one was probably kinda dangerous. I find this island is a treasure trove of adventure.
A note on training - I'm not training. Check the elevation of this ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61696739
I'm not doing f'ing 2x20s or anything. I'm just riding my bike a bunch until we leave. I guess you can say I may have wasted my money on the plan, but I think Ilya is doing it and it will still be good next year, so it won't go to waste. I just think it would be stupid for me to be in this veritable (but admittedly wet) riding paradise and miss it because I had to do micro-burst intervals.
This was the "gateway" of my ride up the hill yesterday:
Blog post:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-4-climbing-quarry.html
I said I wasn't going to go nuts with biking in my posts, but this was a somewhat notable ride. So most of the post is about the ride up the hill yesterday. I didn't put this in the post because I don't so much want my wife to read it, but this one was probably kinda dangerous. I find this island is a treasure trove of adventure.
A note on training - I'm not training. Check the elevation of this ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61696739
I'm not doing f'ing 2x20s or anything. I'm just riding my bike a bunch until we leave. I guess you can say I may have wasted my money on the plan, but I think Ilya is doing it and it will still be good next year, so it won't go to waste. I just think it would be stupid for me to be in this veritable (but admittedly wet) riding paradise and miss it because I had to do micro-burst intervals.
This was the "gateway" of my ride up the hill yesterday:
dhsean
Member
You beat me to it - the 12 yr old in me was like boobies! 😀
Have fun out there Norm. There's lots of L I V N to be done.
Cool stuff!
Good thing you brought can o beans to ride in cement. It must be hard to focus on work stuff being in a new land with so many distractions to gawk at.
Do they have mtb trails there? Maybe you can ride one of those rock gondola's up with a mtb and bomb downhill.
Good thing you brought can o beans to ride in cement. It must be hard to focus on work stuff being in a new land with so many distractions to gawk at.
Do they have mtb trails there? Maybe you can ride one of those rock gondola's up with a mtb and bomb downhill.
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
James Pearl likes this. Enjoy yoself.
He still wants you to eat yo veggies.
soulchild
Well-Known Member
I understand that there is a huge NBA following over there... btw those gutters are insane... I know I'd end up in there somehow... guess my road ride in Taiwan is out 😀Day 3 - 1/2/11
Riding bikes, watching the NBA, and drinking beer with Darin:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-3-hangin-with-darin.html
Check these nasty gutters along some of the roads:
he has been eating his veggies... there were onions in your cheese steak 😀
vanseggern1
Active Member
Not sure if you're answering stupid questions or not, but did the plan you bought actually have microburst intervals for this time of year? I just assumed those kinds of efforts weren't part of base training, but I don't know much, so...
Day 5 - 1/4/11
Blog link:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-5-toughest-climb.html
Tried to answer Chris & Jim's comments in the post as they may be of interest to the GP.
Again, biking is the primary part of the day and so much of the post. The link for Ilya:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61856037
Not exactly symmetrical but hey, we're men, do we really care? I've also decided that next time I'm bringing Ilya along, as he would love all this stuff, not care about the filthy roads, and eat all (or at least most) of this stuff we're eating.
I brought power bars with me, but usually eat nothing if the ride is 2 hours. I usually want to bank up calories so that I can gorge later. The rice balls would actually be perfect, because they come in small plastic bags which allow you to reshape them while you eat them. You press them into any form you want, generally.
Steve - yes there is some notion that you should be doing sprints all year round. This is not "modern" thinking though some people may see it as that. LeMond talks about that as something he did. I make no suggestion that anyone on here should do this. I don't know if anyone is at the level here where you should be doing them all year round. Maurice doesn't even do that stuff in the winter so far as I know. My approach was going to be basically: F it, why the hell not? Give it a shot and if you burn out, you burn out. What's there to lose?
However, and I think long time readers like ChrisG and Walter may have seen something like this coming, this trip will amost surely change my perspective on things. As I was climbing those hills yesterday I couldn't shake the notion that the absurd amount of racing I had done last year was just too much. If I had ridden my bike all that time instead of spending those hours driving, I probably would have logged 15-20,000 miles. We'll see.
I do wish there was someone over here to ride with. I mean, not Darin.
I'm so happy I didn't bring Magic Bike. These roads are always lightly covered in rain and lightly covered in dirt or stone dust. It's not just quarry roads, it's everywhere. There's just a crazy amount of grit all over my bike. More pics on the day 6 recap.
Iggy - I ride early, so I don't sweat it as much thinking about when I can ride. I go when the sun comes up then deal with the rest of the day from there. It's usually 55 degrees by the time the sun comes up, at least. There are really no mtb trails to speak of. I think there are old logging roads and maybe some small mtb scene in the south. These hills would be an aggressive DH scene at best. They're crazy steep.
Martin - I got maybe 2/3 of the way up that climb. It's gotta be 3000-4000 feet high. I may go back one of these weekend days when the trucks don't run. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see that place opened 7 days a week.
James, eat your veggies please. And gizzards. Maybe I can bring you next time too. Can you be disassembled and put in a box?
This was on one of the farming roads and basically says, "Don't eat our food, asshole"
Blog link:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-5-toughest-climb.html
Tried to answer Chris & Jim's comments in the post as they may be of interest to the GP.
Again, biking is the primary part of the day and so much of the post. The link for Ilya:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61856037
Not exactly symmetrical but hey, we're men, do we really care? I've also decided that next time I'm bringing Ilya along, as he would love all this stuff, not care about the filthy roads, and eat all (or at least most) of this stuff we're eating.
I brought power bars with me, but usually eat nothing if the ride is 2 hours. I usually want to bank up calories so that I can gorge later. The rice balls would actually be perfect, because they come in small plastic bags which allow you to reshape them while you eat them. You press them into any form you want, generally.
Steve - yes there is some notion that you should be doing sprints all year round. This is not "modern" thinking though some people may see it as that. LeMond talks about that as something he did. I make no suggestion that anyone on here should do this. I don't know if anyone is at the level here where you should be doing them all year round. Maurice doesn't even do that stuff in the winter so far as I know. My approach was going to be basically: F it, why the hell not? Give it a shot and if you burn out, you burn out. What's there to lose?
However, and I think long time readers like ChrisG and Walter may have seen something like this coming, this trip will amost surely change my perspective on things. As I was climbing those hills yesterday I couldn't shake the notion that the absurd amount of racing I had done last year was just too much. If I had ridden my bike all that time instead of spending those hours driving, I probably would have logged 15-20,000 miles. We'll see.
I do wish there was someone over here to ride with. I mean, not Darin.
I'm so happy I didn't bring Magic Bike. These roads are always lightly covered in rain and lightly covered in dirt or stone dust. It's not just quarry roads, it's everywhere. There's just a crazy amount of grit all over my bike. More pics on the day 6 recap.
Iggy - I ride early, so I don't sweat it as much thinking about when I can ride. I go when the sun comes up then deal with the rest of the day from there. It's usually 55 degrees by the time the sun comes up, at least. There are really no mtb trails to speak of. I think there are old logging roads and maybe some small mtb scene in the south. These hills would be an aggressive DH scene at best. They're crazy steep.
Martin - I got maybe 2/3 of the way up that climb. It's gotta be 3000-4000 feet high. I may go back one of these weekend days when the trucks don't run. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see that place opened 7 days a week.
James, eat your veggies please. And gizzards. Maybe I can bring you next time too. Can you be disassembled and put in a box?
This was on one of the farming roads and basically says, "Don't eat our food, asshole"
kush
Active Member
Boobs are rarely perfectly symmetrical. So this will do. I remembered I did that in puerto rico actually 🙂
Yes, I would eat all that stuff, except for the McDs :drooling:
Steve, I struggled with the concept as well. This program does include long endurance/tempo rides back to back on the weekends, approximately 7-8 hours over two days which is plenty to get the benefits of long steady distance. Then there are 2-3 breakthrough workouts during the week that do focus on specific areas of your game with intensity, but the bottom line is that this combination is designed to raise your FTP which is after all the end goal of training.
It's impossible to know whether I would be better off doing the classic periodization, versus this. I don't know if I will blow up and burn my power meter in effigy. I do like experimenting, trying new things, meeting new people and long walks on the beach.
Yes, I would eat all that stuff, except for the McDs :drooling:
Steve, I struggled with the concept as well. This program does include long endurance/tempo rides back to back on the weekends, approximately 7-8 hours over two days which is plenty to get the benefits of long steady distance. Then there are 2-3 breakthrough workouts during the week that do focus on specific areas of your game with intensity, but the bottom line is that this combination is designed to raise your FTP which is after all the end goal of training.
It's impossible to know whether I would be better off doing the classic periodization, versus this. I don't know if I will blow up and burn my power meter in effigy. I do like experimenting, trying new things, meeting new people and long walks on the beach.