Not bad but not good

After a few years of pretty much no riding I decided to get my road bike back up and running last February.  It was a slow start but eventually got some great rides in, some long rides, some racing and some results too!  November 1st marks the beginning of my training for next season and I'm more determined, focused and motivated than ever before.  With life only getting busier and crazier it's going to require a strict nutritional plan like never before, and structured workouts with minimal time to train.  Last summer I learned a lot about what I can achieve with limited training.  I was able to be competitive in some races and fast group rides last summer and I look forward to taking it up a notch.   I want to be fast!

 Time to reflect on my weight. Based on the graph below...I LOVE FOOD!  In fact too much of it.  No reason why I shouldn't be skinnier and leaner compared to a year ago.  Those that know me know that I ride to eat. That has to change for next season.  My goal is 164lbs by the beginning of March 2017.  We'll see what happens over the holidays and what kind of serious effort I need to make in January and February but it's going to happen.

Definitely looking to improve on these personal bests! Something about long solo days on the bike that I absolutely love.  Who knows maybe I'll recruit some buddies to bust out the Grand Tour again in June. That 200 mile ride with 3 mountain passes in a single day should take care of these personal bests for 2017.

Looking at this graph the last 12 months I want CONSISTENCY for next year! Maybe a couple bigger months during the summer but definitely no blanks months.

Look forward to updating this blog more often with my progress. Game on!

Check out my ride on video

https://www.relive.cc/view/709141420

Motorcycling

I remember when too much caffeine was considered cheating. This is just crazy! Curious how many competitive amateur cyclist are motor doping?

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/sports/cycling/with-a-discreet-motor-doping-the-bike-instead-of-the-cyclist.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

Bike Practice

4 days in a row of bike practice! Easily 3-4 years since I've had a 4 day block of training.  Legs are tired but definitely coming around. Hoping to be competitive in the Meridian practice races come April. Tonight was a high cadence workout maintaining 100 rpms for the majority of the ride.

I Love Racing My Bike

First official race of the season and man was it HOT and windy. Temperature was a pleasant 95 degrees at 7pm and the wind was howling from the west. I was surprised to see so many guys show up and want to suffer. The race splintered into smaller groups with I'd say half the guys dropping out completely. I managed to find myself with a solid group of 6 guys just rolling through hard each lap. I definitely did my fair share of work in the group and really tried to go as hard as I could. I was struggling a little bit with the racing rhythm you only get when you race a lot; I could tell the guys in my group had raced a bunch already this season. Given the amount of riding I've been doing and more so running I feel pretty good about the second half of the season once my ultramarathon is completed. I'm looking forward to being more competitive come July! Time for one last long run tomorrow morning before I shut it down for the North Fork 50 and taper. Below is what racing looks like with a pegged heart rate! Man it felt good to suffer.

Vlog Numero Uno - Training for North Fork 50

Volvos are cool!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21688765

Cycle Monkey - NAHBS 2013

Cycle Monkey - NAHBS from MarkSimon on Vimeo.

NAHBS
February 2013
Denver, CO

Let's try this whole bike racer thing again...

and see what I'm made of.  The last 3 seasons were pathetic and although I attended a few races I never put the proper training in to get any kind of rewarding result.  I was there but I was there.  It didn't help that during those times I always looked back on a great season I had almost 4 years ago with some wins and thought I would easily get back to that level.  I'm ready to approach this season only looking forward to getting fit and ready to do some hard work.  I realize I'm already behind on the calendar when it comes to group rides, base miles and weight loss but it doesn't matter. What worked in the past will not work going forward.  Things have changed and I have to adapt and I will adapt.  Starting today and ending on the last day of the month I have made a goal of 33.75 hours of training (riding) and 10 lbs of weight loss. Not sure what I weigh but I'll post it tomorrow morning as my baseline.  All I know is I'm fat and out of shape.  The good thing is I can suffer.  I plan to post something everyday to document my progress. I'll add weight, photos, my attitude and my setbacks all on this blog. Enjoy the ride. Hopefully I'm going fast this summer.

ze eLEPHANT rOCK

A short video of an organized 100 mile ride I did with my sister, brother, sis-n-law and bro-n-law. What an amazing day with great weather and riding with my family. They really dug deep to finish what was a very challenging course. Lacey just bought a road bike and had limited training time but man did she kill it. John and Claudine crushed it also finishing ahead of everyone. My bro was getting stronger as the day passed so I know he had been training. It's nice to chill out and do rides like this with my family and friends instead of racing. I've got to squeeze a couple more of these epic rides in between races this summer. What's next?

Elephant Rock 2010 from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

2010 Primal Elite Cycling Team

This is your Primal team for 2010:
Patrick Hill
Ewam de Freitas
Mark Agcaoili
Marty Guess
Drew Christopher
Brad Winn
Aaron Whalen
Chris Cummings
Evan Gatseos
Jesse Allen Goodrich
Garrett Davis
John A. Matthews

*277

Put this in your cell phone! It's the number to the Colorado State Patrol(CSP) so that you can report aggressive drivers. I've had this in my phone but never really used it even though I've been buzzed many times. Well the other day while I was riding in a bike lane on 32nd street I was buzzed by a honking car and it was enough to trigger me to actually stop and take the time to remember the license plate and report the car to the CSP. As cyclist we need to do this and not just keep on riding and bitching to ourselves about aggressive drivers. From what I know the license plate goes into an aggressive driver database and if there are 3 complaints the owner of the car gets a warning letter from the CSP. If more complaints trickle in a State Trooper actually makes a personal visit so do this and do this every time you encounter an aggressive driver. We need to look out for each other. Be safe.

Boulder's first velodrome but hopefully not the last

Last night I went up to Boulder to check out the new velodrome and I was pleasantly surprised. After hearing of talks about building a velodrome in Boulder for the last 10+ years it was finally good to see one up and running. I think it's great for the cycling community and I look forward to training on it in the near future. I hope this velodrome becomes the launching pad for what Boulder/Denver really needs which is a world class World Cup worthy velodrome. The track is short at 138m and as far as I'm concerned it only has two turns. I'm used to the more traditional 250m and 333m tracks around the country but this will do for now. I know of one other velodrome project in the works for the same area and I hope this velodrome only inspires them to follow through on a more grand and desirable velodrome.





Turn 1

The home stretch