An Experiment of 1

My history with the bike is pretty short.

When I first moved to Portland in 2003 I bought a big aluminum comfort bike for $250. At the time my car was in various states of disrepair and the bike would be my transportation while I waited for another paycheck to get the Toyota running again. My longest ride was a 4 mile jaunt from Sellwood to downtown. I felt so fast even though I smoked 30 cigarettes a day.

In 2005 Kristin and I were in a relationship. She was finishing up college and training for the Portland marathon and her enthusiasm for running infected me. I quit smoking and started running on the Springwater Corridor to take my mind of the relentless desire to light up another cigarette. I would run in cheap shoes with my arms covered in multiple Target-brand Nicotine patches.

Kristin finished her marathon and I decided to try to do the same in 2006. It would be a celebration for a year without cigarettes. I trained for a year and in October I was shaking violently while wrapped up in a foil blanket after finishing the race a few seconds under 4 hours.

In 2007 I moved on to trail ultramarathons. 3 times that year I ran 31 mile ultras. Hours and hours spent slogging through Forrest Park alone. Kristin was deeply involved with Portland Velo by this point and we would rarely see each other. At the end of the year I hurt my knee and decided I would try this whole biking thing while I recovered. At least I would be able to spend time with Kristin.

I sold my old comfort bike and bought a fixed gear Bianchi and started bringing that out to group rides in March. I'd show up in my baggy running gear on a one speed bike surrounded by lycra-clad roadies on carbon dream machines.

Riding with Portland Velo hurt more than running ever did. The struggle of staying with the group was what I loved about cycling. In running I went out "at my own pace". On my bike I cut my legs to pieces because I didn't want to ride by myself.

In July of 2008 I bought a real road bike. I spent July and August doing some Mt. Tabor races and a few PIR's. In the fall I raced most of Cross Crusade.

In 2009 I plan to race an entire season.

I think training and racing is an "experiment of 1". What works for someone else might not work for you. I'm going to spend the year figuring out how to train for bike racing and will document some of those experiments here.