Dennis B Murphy >>>>>>>>>>

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February 2008

2.18.08 After some reflection the last couple days, I've decided to revamp my race schedule for 2008. I had too many races and too many "goals" to be effective physically or financially. I had in mind to still do the FunPromotions Endurance Series, many of the CPS races, a bunch of the NUE-100 races, as well as Ore-to-Shore and La Ruta.

But La Ruta is the brass ring target and it's a bit of a hit financially at $1000 registration (not counting the likely $1000 approximately to fly down to Costa Rica). Joni is also considering a job change and I don't want to pinch our finances too much with race fees. Brenden is racing this year too- thirteen races total. Joni will do three or four.

So what will get me to accomplish my goal? First, financially, I would need to cut back on the races and focus on riding and training. I was also rather scattered in my races as far as the type of races- several 100 milers, several 12/24 hour events, cross-country events...... just no focus to that schedule really. I definitely will do Ore-to-Shore and Lumberjack. But I think I will focus on the Endurance events and otherwise just build base mileage for La Ruta.

So- work on 12/24 hour events and a few specialty races. My list is now 12 events so there's room for an event or two, perhaps- but I think that is plenty.

2.17.08 Well, a bit of catch-up...

Detroit travel on Feb 15 due to work issue- reflashing microchips with a supplier rep. Friday night we had tickets to the Grand Rapids Opera- Patrick, Brenden, Joni and I attended the performance of The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart- fun opera, plenty of humor and great music.

Saturday, Joni and I did a 12 hour Lance Armstrong Foundation charity event with my sister and her husband, Bill. We took turns on the spin bikes, for a total of 12 hour riding. There were a couple solo riders- my friend Jim was doing the 24 hour version by himself! The event, held at Ultimate Fitness in Holland, raised over $37,000. I think I rode about five, maybe six, of the hours of our team. My butt was sore often, I had to stand and pedal, due to the seats on those Schwinn spinner fitness bikes. They aren't made to sit on for that long. Many cyclists brought their own bikes and used their own trainers, such as Blackburn or Cyclops. But it was a good jumpstart for me to get back in the spinner fitness mode. I plan to get back on the road in March depending on the weather and will need to get a set of the Specialized cycling boots soon.

Brian (from Cross Country Cycle) and I were talking about his Computrainer programs (he had set up three bikes with Computrainers to do an indoor time trial. While discussing the program, he mentioned you could download GPS to it. I mentioned I wanted to do La Ruta and was planning on getting a Garmin Edge 305. He told me that he couldn't sell it due to being severely undercut by Walmart- they were selling this $400-plus item for $300 !! But Garmin had decided to terminate their supply to Walmart for this reason. So Walmart was clearing them out online. I found out they had discounted them even further to $260. I despise Walmart and won't shop there, but Brian pointed out that the soon Walmart stock was depleted, the sooner shops like Cross Country Cycle could get back to selling this item. So I bit my lip and bought the Garmin from Walmart.com.

The Garmin does altitude, distance, Bitmap GPS downloads, heart-rate, cadence... excellent tool for cycling!

2.9.08 Well, two days of travel to Kentucky, two weeks with a cold- not training at all. Sunday is the annual MMBA Expo, which Brenden and I will attend- I have to say a couple brief words as I have been appointed the MMBA Trail School Director to succeed founder Dan Harrison. Big shoes to fill.

The weather here in our area is just getting pounded. More than a foot of snow in the last couple weeks.

2.03.08 January went by fast with little fitness regimen managed. To top it off, now I have a cold which started Thursday. I've been resting and drinking gallons of water and popping psuedophed-type meds to keep the nasal congestion to a minimum. Too cold to ride outside, so primarily I will be spinning. I moved the trainer upstairs from the basement.

The front windshield of the car had crack which is now severe- all the way across. I hope to get to spring before having to replace it. Ditto with the blower fan as the squirrel cage doesn't always start spinning until I bang on it in a cold morning.