Arrowhead 135 A.K.A Charly Tri is a Crazy MAN!

One of my favorite friends within the Mountain Bike community is lining up at the Arrowhead 135 tomorrow at 7 am.  He is known for some other feats of madness mostly in the enduro freak category.  Just so you know “enduro freak” Category is the endurance class above any other endurance class that can be conceived of, that is where is he likes to roam.

Self-supported 135 miles at the Northern most part of Minnesota on January 31st!  According to his latest update it is suppose to be negative 15 degrees at the start.  I just want to give a shout out and maybe even a prayer to Charly Tri in his efforts tomorrow.  Details on the race can be found here.  Look to the right in my blog roll for his updates and race report I assume.  Check point updates are here.

Good Luck Bro and confident in you making the finish line this year!

CompuTrainer Time: Riding Kona and a Powertap Critique

Saturday a good friend of mine from way back in the day invited me over to BE Fitness to do a computrainer session.  He said we were doing 2 hrs and  suggested we show up an hour early and get in 3…

Well for some reason the “easy course” we were suppose to be riding for base miles was not loading and we had to ride the Kona Ironman course which saw anywhere from 1%-15% grades, but I just spun like mad in low gears and kept the power right on the hills.  It is so nice to have a simulated course though and the numbers are always higher and the workout on the muscular system better when there is change in elevation, simulated or not.  Averaged 20-30 watts higher over the 3 hours than I usually do at home in the basement with the Powertap alone.

Speaking of Powertaps…

Lately I have seen some critiques on Powertaps.  Some people are saying they are just “bling” on the bike and money thrown away for the sake of show and maybe a  confidence boost.  Some of these comments include references to Eddy Merckx and other legends who have said to get fast you just “ride, ride, ride”.

As a qualifier, I do think there are those who have Powertaps as bling on their bikes, to that I do not argue.  This is a response to general blanket statements like  this about Powertaps. 

In response I will tell a story…

The other day my Grandpa and Grandma were having trouble with their computer.  They did not know how to get their Microsoft Word to start working.  They did not know how to interpret the information coming from the computer or what to put into this technology to get the benefit out of it to create a Word document.  Without this they would have to go back to a typewriter and it may get the job done, but much slower and in a format and manner that may not be acceptable professional standards for the time.  Also if they made mistakes, the time spent making up for them would be much longer and catching those mistakes would be much more difficult and time consuming.  I helped them out with this and got Word working and now they just have to point , click, and type etc…now they can produce Word documents, as before they could not because of their inability to interface. 

If it is about riding, sure then ride…

If it is about getting faster, then training with the most efficient equipment will get you to that goal the fastest.  One may be able to get similar results the “old fashioned way” but they may not understand or be able to reproduce those results as consistently.  I would also like to know more about the inner workings of the “legends” training plans and if any type of training logs or strategies were used besides “ride, ride, ride”.as the acceptable standards for the time.

Personally I think Powertaps are a good thing for anyone who wants to compete, get faster, or has the extra cash to quantify their progress on the bike. 

Not a good thing and “bling” for the “weekend warrior” who just rides for fun with no goals whatsoever in cycling.  The bigger the goal or project the more a computer can help in respect to data analysis and organization.

This one seems to be a bit of a hot topic lately, got opinions please share!

Thanks to Chris Washburn for the CompuTrainer time and the  pics!

Tour Down Under Stage 4

Been following the Tour Down Under everyday this year.  As my interest of expanding cycling into a U.S. household name in our sports grows, I find myself gravitating towards all things cycling worldwide all year round.  Makes it feel more and more like a global community as you get more informed about the sport in all its disciplines and competitions.   Thanks to awesome sites like Cyclingfans.com we in the U.S. can get a bit of the coverage the rest of the world enjoys.  I will share whatever I find to be the most interesting and relevant cycling events and competitions as I sift through my sources that our mainstream media does not cover.

 

I always love it when a young blood gets a big win and this is the second in a row in the Tour Down Under.  Maybe it is because I can relate a bit right now and am looking for a similar breakthrough…what is even better is it was a breakaway upset along with an Overall Jersey too, so now the kid gets to see what he can pull out of himself as the tour progresses for the overall.  This is the kind of stuff that causes the status quo to shake up in the field and causes more aggressive riding and unexpected tactics as the expected “big names” of the race need to make up ground and the newwbies get a chance to show their stuff wit the support of a team around them.

Some may chalk it up to early season Pro Tour and the “big guns” not being in top shape.  I think they are all in the same boat and may have little different focus for the year and this tour, but each team has those they want to win and are fighting for it. 

Modifications and adaptation

This is where life is at right now, adapting to circumstances and modifying the plans which are under my control to what changes around me that is out of my control.  Kind of like watching things unfold in the Tour Down Under this year.

Radioshack switching up tactics as they have McEwen and Hunter on board and not much focus on an overall down in the TDU.  Or like HTC putting their hopes in Goss as he took the first day in the Crit and now the 1st stage and has the  ability to make it through big elevation changes well.  It is about adapting and modifying…

Got real sick two weeks ago and could not train the entire time...so start over.  I had the first base period done but it looks like I am going to the April Pro XCT events and not the March, so I see it as Divine Coaching… 

We needed to downsize on the expenses of life so we moved back into my duplex and out of the house we were renting.  We donated and threw out so much needless stuff and now I actually like our smaller place much better and find it much more manageable with 3 kids  romping around with limited space to terrorize instead of an entire house…

First day of school today and the schedule is modified and my body needs to adapt as I start into Base training while attending school full-time…

A New Team on the horizon…will have official announcement in a week or two..

Modify and adapt, all goals in life require us to change to the circumstances we receive and use them to best reach the goal in mind….Just like in a group sprint or intense mountain bike race, I adjust myself to where others position themselves to get the best result possible, or I adjust position and speed to get the fastest line through a technical descent to reach the goal of the fastest time possible.  My life is a race and I will adapt to receive the best possible result.  Cool thing is I have amazing people on my “team”.  Just like how Renshaw  provides a little reprieve from the headwind so too family, friends, supporters have provided reprieve in a hard headwind…

And there are some who are even willing to fight for my cause and put in a headbutt here and there!

Thanks you so much to everyone who has helped over the last two weeks as  they have been very hard and without your help I would probably be sicker and still trying to move while being so…and thank you to all those who are supporting us and helping in the coming year!  We love you and adore our shared passion and relationships.  On to the goal of obtaining the prize while doing all in excellence to the glory of God.

Guerra Means War!

Sorry for lack of updates, I got really sick.  As the Doctor put it, “people think they have the flu, but they have colds, there is no 24 hr flu just bad food and colds, but you, YOU HAVE THE FLU”  been wiped out in my bed shaking for 3 days straight….

Here are some videos, oldies but goodies from the original family team “Guerra Means War!”.  No official kits, no idea what was to come of all this racing stuff…but pure dedication to each other and to giving all our hearts out there for our team…our family…Guerra Means War!

They are all a bit long, but I figured I would share a bit of our early days in racing.  I admit I was overly dramatic with the editing, but these were originally just for family and friends memories…and I guess I probably thought I was a bit too cool back in the day…ya know, cause of course I don’t think that now…

Looking back I wish I would have done this every year since, I would have so much better documentary of what racing really is and is all about rather than just a bunch of medals and trophies gaining dust on a shelf…

Byron Guerra, now married and just had their first child!!!  Yea that young guy in the video is a Dad now!

Hannah Guerra, now “Hannah Guerra Zlomke” living right below us in my duplex and representing the Stone Creek Coffee with her husband Caleb Zlomke everyday.

Kyle Michael Guerra.  This guy would climb Trees like a monkey all day, throw logs bigger than me,  drag and chip brush as Mr Tree Landscaping’s Foreman and then come home and ride hard with my soft handed butt who sits in classrooms writing papers all day.  He persevered and overcame so much in life and he shows it in his tenacity while racing!  Now we persevere  in light of his presence in that cloud of witnesses (Heb. 11:1-12:3 if you have the endurance check out that whole context it is amazing!…but 12:1-3 sums up the exhortation very well).

And then there is me, full of natural talent, but no idea how to be a “cyclist”,  just knew how to do this ever since childhood.  Wearing a falling apart Trek Kit I won from the Fall Color Festival the year before, not understanding it did not match the Giant Brand I was riding…really do people match those things???  I had no clue…but I think maybe it was better that way, I road  and raced because I just love competition and that is what I am still in it for! 

By the way, that Trek Kit sagged so far off my butt at Sunburst mud-fest the following year I had to retire it…it was one of my favorites…That was the year they had to cut out the ascent up the south side of the hill and instead just sent us up a grassy straight shot up the hill right in front of the concession stand. 

Jeff hall won by like 9 minutes after just 4 laps I think, he said it was all in the tires!!  I believe it, right equipment in these kind of conditions….

can make up seconds every few feet on a course.

Some really big changes coming with 2011 Team and Sponsors…Stay Tuned, big things brewing!

 

Thanks to Ty and Christine for the pics.