Wedding Wrap-Up and Back To Bike Racing (for real this time!)

Sorry I haven’t been “checking in” much the past couple months. I’ve got two reasons: 1/2/09 and 2/14/09.

The first is the day we got married and the second was the date of our Chicago reception. People told us how much work a wedding can be, but I don’t think I ever really “got it”. Getting married, and doing everything ourselves (with the help family and friends), is like having another full-time job. This is of course why the Wedding Industrial Complex exists and how people can make careers out of being wedding planners. We’d work our “real jobs” all day and then as soon as we got home would switch to wedding mode. When we went for a ride or a hike, we’d be talking about details.... before we went to bed, we’d be working on projects. I would have to start another blog to try and thank all the family and friends who helped pull it off. I’d call it “Ebert Gushes About How Much He Loves all The People In His Life”.

But was it all worth it? Oh, hell yes. As I mentioned earlier, I know the groom probably doesn’t think about his wedding day like a bride might, but both events were everything I dreamed of and I’d like to think our guests had a genuinely good time (and if you didn't, come out to California and I’ll make it up to you). We’ve got some amazing video evidence from Mike Novelli (yes, Mike Farrell’s former mechanic) in his February 7th post at http://risingmoonvideo.blogspot.com and pictures from our man Eric Schwab at http://genefischer.exposuremanager.com/g/mike_and_rosa

So, with all this wedding stuff going on I can’t say I was riding my bike all that much. In fact, I haven’t ridden much in two years- racing and training just had to take a back seat. For starters, I was off the bike all winter in ‘06 doing physical therapy. Then the PT lead to the hernia. Then Matt’s wedding in Austria. Then tendonitis from the hernia operation. Then Grandma. Then semi-retiring as ABD event director. Then Jeff. Then the job with Carter Thor. Then getting engaged. Then the car accident. Then returning to ABD full-time. Then some tumultuous team negotiations. Then the wedding.

Which brings me to right now, sitting in my home-office in L.A., sipping some coffee, writing an update, and getting ready to go ride my bike. There are still a lot of priority projects right now (prepping for ABD’s ‘09 events, raising sponsorship, coaching my athletes, helping PPC with projects, managing the team)- but it feels like my plate is emptier than it has been in a long, long time and it’s nothing but healthy portions of cycling. Being back in town last weekend for ABD Indoor TT #3 was a great motivator and I was once again overwhelmed by the hard work and great attitude of all the ABD’ers that make our events happen. Being the “front office” guy for ABD and spending a lot of time with my wife in California means I don’t get to be at all of the events and I forget just how much fun they are. Talking with different people reminded me about how the TT Series is a great event not just for the workout but for rekindling both friendships and rivalries from seasons’ past.

So to finish off my “healthy meal of cycling” metaphor- for dessert I’m going to train my butt back into shape and help the team get out and win some races. Last Sunday I decided to jump in and do my first indoor TT in five years- despite having ridden only about two dozen times in the last 6 months. The TT reminded me of many painful things, but gave me some hope for the season ahead. At my fittest I could hold about 280 watts for an hour and weighed around 154lbs (obviously with those numbers I’m not bragging here). But now I weigh in around 140 and with no training was able to hold 292 watts for 15 minutes. Again, those aren’t earth shattering figures but they give me some hope. One of the joys of training with power (which I’ve been doing since ‘01), is that you have such specific personal benchmarks.

Now for the painful reminders from the TT: 1) Bike racing is all about suffering 2) I’m no wattage-cottage 3) I’m not immune from the periodization of training. Just 10 days ago at our ABD “Race and Training Planning“ meeting I went over some basics of training and I used the metaphor of how structured, consistent training is like making deposits in your fitness bank and then racing, max efforts and sickness are like making withdrawls. Well, apparently two steady days of tempo efforts the week before the TT were not enough of a deposit to cover the the withdrawl I made at the TT (on top of travel, work and lack of sleep). The night after the TT I was asleep by 7:30 p.m. and have been fending some sort of illness off ever since. And my overzealousness at getting to race the TT on my new team Madone (floral print towel not included) is the exact reason I always recommend people talk with a coach or trusted friend when it comes to training. It’s important to have a sounding board that helps you keep sight of the big picture and realize when it’s time to either throttle back or open it up.

So now it’s time to put the bike together and go do an easy, overdressed spin around Griffith Park to sweat a bit and get some fresh air. There will be no ”opening it up" for me until I’m back to feeling 100%.