The issue I ran into was that ActiveRecord doesn’t actaully commit it’s changes to the database, it executes a rollback at the end of each scenario. This is an issue because Webrat/Selenium actaully creates a Mongrel instance and runs it’s tests against that which is a totally different transaction.

The workaround is quite simple, just turn off the transactions for your Selenium environment, use DatabaseCleaner to clean the database and generate your Machinist fixtures in a Before hook. You just need to set Cucumber::Rails::World.use_transactional_fixtures to false in your enhanced.rb and true in your plain.rb. For generating my Machinist fixtures I have a method called “machine_fixtures” (pretty catchy eh?) in my blueprints.rb file. Here is what it looks like:

And my enhanced.rb has the hooks for generating the fixtures using “machine_fixtures” and for cleaning the database.

And for good measure here is what the plain.rb looks like:

I’m assuming you setup your Cucumber/Selenium environment like this: http://wiki.github.com/aslakhellesoy/cucumber/setting-up-selenium. The instructions mention the whole transaction issue and using DatabaseCleaner to clean out the database but it didn’t quite hit me till I tried using the Machinist fixtures. Hopefully this will clear things up for some other Noob.

In previous architectures I’ve resorted to wrestling with Linux Virtual Server to handle this job. I was dreading having to go through that painful process again. So this time I searched the interweb and turned up this blog post which sparked the idea of using Nginx to solve this problem.

Along with the load balancing I also wanted to setup a reverse proxy for some of the dynamically created images on the site and cacheable content that we needed to move off the file system and into the database to share across each web server. Plus there were some other dynamically generated bits and pieces that I didn’t want slowing down the our web servers.

The load balancing/reverse proxy part in Nginx is pretty simple since Nginx has the HTTP Proxy module built in. The configuration was similar to setting up the upstream servers for a Mongrel/Thin installation except it would just round robin the requests to the web servers instead the local instances. It also allows you to setup different proxy schemes for different locations… ie. cache the avatars that are stored in the database or the Google map thumbnails.

One additional nugget of goodness I found was the ability to scale and crop images on the fly using Nginx’s Image Filter module. This completely removes the burden from the Rails servers and makes creating square avatar images a snap.

Form a performance standpoint, it blows a Rails only solution out of the ballpark. During my perf tests I was getting about 700 - 900 request/sec on the avatar images (which is comparable to a static image on the site). The Rails server can serve the source image at around 190 request/sec with caching enabled. Not bad for an image that is stored in the database, served via Rails and dynamically scaled/cropped on the fly.

Here is my configuration for the load balancer. It has all the usual goodies that a good reverse proxy needs… dynamic image scaling, expires tags, gzipping, the works! If you have any question feel free to put them in the comments.

The plan was to just take it easy on the climbs and have fun. And I think we could have accomplished that had we not ridden at Skeggs. It’s all climbing there. Nothing but climbing (well some descending but you spend more time climbing they you do descending). By the end we where both spent… well I was more spent then Patrick of course since I started slurring my speech and lost a bit of my coordination.

Plus it was hot as hell out! When I say hot I mean “drink 100oz of water and ask for more” kind of hot. The kind where when you get into the shower after the ride and you’re drier then when you stepped in (I know that doesn’t make any sense what so ever but it’s my damn blog and my logic prevails here!).

The kind of hot where you think, “you know I could probably squeeze another 50oz bladder in my pack”. And that’s how ideas are born… After I ran out of water, I fantasized about having a frozen 50oz bladder in my pack that would conveniently melt enough to quench my hydration needs by the time I downed the 1st 100oz.

Of course this would compliment the “freeze half your bladder trick” I learned riding in AZ in the summer. So the next time I  have a ridiculous idea of riding in super hot weather I’m going to employ this new spectacular super bladder idea.

BTW… Patrick and I raised $1.68 for our causes on Plus 3 Network. Check out our rides:

Patrick’s ride and my ride

I could tell this thing had no honor nor did it abide by any rules of fighting. It went straight for my eyes trying with all it’s might to blind me. It knew just how to do it too. It flew right under my glasses and started to mount it’s assault like a group of angry marines avenging the death of one of their fallen brothers (not that I’ve even see a group of angry marines avenge their bother’s death but I image it’s quite a sight).

As you can see from the evidence below it got a good piece of me but I think I managed to crushed it’s stupid little wings when I batted it out from under my glasses. Wasps have officially made the list of the Axis of Evil Creatures (right along with their suicidal buddies, the squirrels)!

Even harder is to sucker some other poor souls into meeting you for an early morning ride. But when you throw in the promise of some prime “ranger-free” singletrack and breath taking views it makes it a bit easier.

With those two benefits, I’ve finally suckered Patrick and Joe into joining me for my morning Dawn Patrol Ride at Saratoga Gap. We all agree it’s really hard to pry yourself out of a comfortable bed but when we hit the spot in the photo above, it’s totally worth it.

Being the first to ride a trail in the morning is pretty satisfying, it’s comforting to know that you can rail that twisty section without worrying about another rider coming the other way. The only real risk is hitting wild life loitering in the middle of the trail (what are they thinking? Get out of the way Bambi! Jeeez!)

Yesterday while climbing out of Peter’s Loop, I mentioned to Joe and Patrick that I was considering putting forth my entry for the “Specialized Trail Crew” contest. I explained how I thought it would be interesting to focus my blog a bit more and open up a wider forum for discussing my three passions: riding, advocacy and technology. They unanimously thought it was a cool idea, Pweew!… just the validation I needed.

One interesting angle would be to see how much money I could raise for my cause on Plus 3 Network using the bike Specialized would graciously loan to me for a year. As an added bonus I’ve even plotted a route from my new apartment to work that is off-road almost the entire way.

Keep your fingers crossed… Here are the stats from yesterday’s ride.

• Distance: 9.44
• Money Raised: $0.57 (for Project Rwanda)
• Calories: 1442
• Elevation: 1804
• Full Ride Report

View Larger Map

(I actually rode 13 miles today but I forgot to hit the start button on my GPS till we got to Peter’s Loop… Doah!)

Update: Patrick just sent me this photo… ha!

My plan was to attack him at the Sunnyvale city limit (which if you don’t know city limits are always sprint points on road rides). About 100 feet before we hit the point which I was going to mount my attack I noticed he was wiggling his left elbow and looking back at me.

Hey! I’ve seen that move before, that’s an invitation to take a pull up front. So as any honorable cyclist would do I accelerated enough to overtake him and take my turn up front. I focused on pedaling at a good even tempo (not dropping the hammer) just enough to pick the pace up a bit and say “I’m game!”

After about 3 minutes I relaxed, wiggled my left elbow and glanced back relinquishing my pull. The Googler speed up enough to over take me and I fell back inline on his wheel. We played this hopscotch game for about 3 miles till my turn off point. Since I knew I was turning off I took an extra long pull and then yelled at the end, “Thanks for the pulls!” He responded with the same enthusiasm “you too!”

This is one of the many reasons I love cycling, two strangers working together against the wind. The only thing that would have made it more beautiful is if I was wearing my Yahoo! jersey.

In the Great State of California it’s illegal to listen to music with headphones in both ears and operate a vehicle (or bicycle), one ear and your good to go. So this is exactly what I do, I put one headphone in and it provides just enough background music to get me in the just the right mindset but allows me to hear all the delicate little critters on the trail at 6 am. As mater of fact I’ve yet to have a bad ride while Rockin’.

So what am I listening to? Well I’m glad you asked because without further ado here is my playlist (in random order the way I like it):

• Sofa King – Danger Doom : The Mouse And The Mask
• London Calling – The Clash : The Essential
• You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son – Wolf Parade : Apologies to the Queen Mary
• Boyz-N-The-Hood – Dynamite Hack : Superfast
• I Am Somebody (Featuring Chromeo) [Paris Version] – DJ Mehdi featuring Chromeo : Lucky Boy
• Ring Of Fire – Social Distortion : Social Distortion
• Big Time Operator – The Dead Milkmen : Bucky Fellini
• Mansard Roof – Vampire Weekend : Vampire Weekend
• The National Anthem – Radiohead : Kid A
• The Audience Is Listening Theme Song – Cut Chemist : The Audience’s Listening
• Itsoweezee-De La Soul (Pz I Wi – Radiohead : Me & This Army: Radiohead Remi
• Setting Sun – Chemical Brothers : Singles 93-03 (Bonus Disc)
• I Come From The Water – The Toadies : Rubberneck
• Wake Up – Rage Against The Machine : Rage Against The Machine
• The Salmon Dance – The Chemical Brothers : We Are the Night
• Handlebars – Flobots : Fight With Tools
• Paper Planes – M.I.A. : Kala
• Block Rockin` Beats – Chemical Brothers : Singles 93-03 (Bonus Disc)
• Holiday In The Sun – The Sex pistols : Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols
• Knights of Cydonia – Muse : Black Holes and Revelations
• I Predict a Riot – Kaiser Chiefs : Employment
• Galvanize (feat Q-Tip) – Chemical Brothers : Push The Button
• Balls Out – The Bloodhound Gang : Hefty Fine
• Had A Dad (Demo) – Jane’s Addiction : Live And Rare [Japan]
• Let’s Push Things Forward – The Streets : Original Pirate Material
• Positive Tension – Bloc Party : Silent Alarm
• Daytona 500-Ghostface (Panzah – Radiohead : Me & This Army: Radiohead Remix
• Magic Johnson – Red Hot Chili Peppers : Mother’s Milk
• Stockholm Syndrome – Muse : Absolution
• Rock Is Dead – Matrix : The Matrix
• wake up – Arcade Fire : Funeral
• Firestarter – The Prodigy : Baby`s Got a Temper
• Dimension – Wolfmother : Wolfmother
• Down On Haley – Nerf Herder : Nerf Herder
• Sabotage – Beastie Boys : Ill Communication
• Carbon Monoxide – Cake : Pressure Chief
• Song 2 – Blur : Blur
• Rapperfection-Edan (Ft. Mr. Li – Radiohead : Me & This Army: Radiohead Remix
• Woman – Wolfmother : Wolfmother
• Feels Just Like It Should – Jamiroquai : Dynamite
• Ball And Chain – Social Distortion : Social Distortion
• Eple – Röyksopp : Melody A.M.
• Change The Beat-MF Doom (Pz Wi – Radiohead : Me & This Army: Radiohead Remix
• Breaking Into Heaven – The Stone Roses : Second Coming
• Welcome to TMCR – The Pinker Tones : The Million Colour Revolution
• Stop – Jane’s Addiction : Ritual De Lo Habitual
• Ready Steady Go – Paul Oakenfold : Bunkka
• Shimmy Shimmy Ya – Ol` Dirty Bastard : Return to the 36 Chambers
• Röyskopp’s Night Out – Röyksopp : Melody A.M.

P.S. I only Rock & Ride when mountain biking… The road is crazy enough that I don’t need any extra noise!

Here is the code along with the strategy to give you a complete picture of what’s going on:

My first attempt at this was to setup a cookie jar using Merb::Test::CookieJar and then updating the cookies using the example.org domain. Fail! Then I scoured the web looking for any hints. When all that failed too I had to hit the Merb source code and examine what was really going on. Bingo… just pass it an array of raw cookies and let it do the rest.

Thank god for Open Source!

(BTW… I’m a bit new at both Merb and RSpec so take care with trashing my code)

I quickly changed into some inconspicuous riding gear and headed out into the dark night. I took my usual route towards Palo Alto and then detoured onto the Ellen Fletcher Bike Boulevard. For those who don’t know what a Bike Boulevard is it’s basically a street which is primary focused on creating a convenient and safe route for cyclist. It’s restricted by barriers which are passable by cyclists and designed to reduce automobile traffic (That’s not the official description).

I got to Palo Alto bicycles just in time to grab a seat and see the beginning on his presentation. He broke it up into three parts. The first was about his life growing up in Palo Alto and the people who influence him. He talked about the Jobst Rides and what a profound impact Jobst made on his life. He also continued to go through the history of Ritchey (the company).

All along the way he would throw in little antidotes like how Jobst begrudgingly let Tom build him a frame and Jobst decided to design Tom a logo (which is the same one he uses today). Tom also talked about his relationships with Gary Fischer and Joe Breeze , he touched on the birth of the mountain bike movement and went into some of his relationships with his riders. It was an amazing walk through his history.

His second part was about his travels to Rwanda and the foundation he started, Project Rwanda. He showed wonderful pictures of the landscape and how beautiful the country is. He also showed photos of the wooden bikes people use to haul stuff around. Huge 200lb loads of water, bananas, coffee beans, potatoes, you name it they hauled it.

He explained how a bike in Rwanda really represents freedom. He showed examples of typical bikes he saw there. They ranged from wooden bikes made with scraps to 100 year old bikes with rebar used for spokes and most of them were practically un-rideable by American standards, but they still ride.

He then went into what Project Rwanda’s goals are and how they are trying to develop a sustainable economy with the bicycle. He told a story about how with the right bike, coffee bean farmers could get their beans to the washing station quicker and produce a higher quality bean which would help energize their economy.

Along the way he would touch on topics like the genocide and how the country was dealing with reconciling the past. You could tell that his time in Rwanda has had a deep impact into Tom’s perspective on life and it’s changed his outlook.

After the last presentation he invited everyone who didn’t need to take off right away to stick around while he went through some more slides of his travels to Slovenia. Unfortunately, at that point it was time for me to start heading home… There is nothing like riding home while being inspired.

This morning when I got into work I noticed that my unused $50 donation gift certificate that Yahoo! had givin me for Xmas was still sitting on my desk under a pile of cords. I opened it up and logged into the donation site and pledged my gift contribution to them. If you would like to get involved or make a donation please visit Project Rwanda.

Lately I’ve been taking ibuprofen at night to help with my knee pain so I can get some quality sleep. The last few days I’ve been having quite a bit of pain in through out the day. It’s irritating because I’ve been doing everything I can to take it easy, I’ve even made Amanda take stuff down to the storage closet (and felt kind of jerky about it), but still the pain.

Yesterday I decided to take ibuprofen through out the day and it’s done wonders to dull the pain (even remove it completely). My concern as usual is that I have to start taking this longer term in order to avoid knee pain and I’m worried that that will cause some kind of bad side effect.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to have to start accepting the lesser of two evils with regards to my knees and health. If you recall I was trying to get rid of my knee straps and take a break. Even the little bit of riding I’ve done without them has “probably” cause this recent flair up. On the other hand if I use them I can start to loose some of this excess weight I’ve put on since September.

I think at this point I need to address my weight before it becomes real problem and learn to live with using the knee straps for a while till I have things back under control. I also have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday to revisit my knee issues… hopefully we can come up with a plan for my recovery.

Nice bike, is that your commuter?

Often when people see my bike the phrase above is usually the first thing they blurt out of their mouth. I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Yes I do commute on it but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s my commuter bike. It’s also the bike I ride on group rides, off-road rides, solo rides and I hope to be able to do some bike camping with it in the spring. It also happens to be my only bike which is pretty rare for a bike fanatic like myself.

Yes it’s heavy but you can hardly notice it since it’s also very comfortable and speed is not very important to me (anymore). I think it’s kind of silly to worry about weight with the style of riding I do (did you notice the triple crankset and the big ass gears… those make any bike light).

The one thing I’ve learned from my injury is that I really just love being on my bike and riding. Thinking back to how this injury started, my goal last year was to get faster, attempting to get faster got me into this knee pickle. Now I just want to be able to ride my bike a lot and without pain.

Is this working?

My last post I mentioned I have a new plan: stop riding with the knee straps and continue my rehab exercise (and limit my riding to commuting/errands). Since I started doing the exercises again my knees have been aching a bit more or at least I feel like they have.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if this stuff is working it seems like there are days where I feel like I’ve made progress and then there are other days where I’m no better off. I’ve also stared stretching daily and using the foam roller.

Today I feel like I’ve made progress since my ride was really fun and I’m not having much pain (well, much more pain then normal). Ibuprofen and Coors Light helps too.

Daddy’s face is itchy!

I’ve decided to grow a beard (or just stop shaving… I’m that lazy). Amanda doesn’t like it very much but I’ve kind of grown attached to it. I just wanted something different… It was either this or a pink mohawk!

A few weeks ago I also started developing some lower back pain associated with my tight hamstrings. I started getting back into my stretches and SMR from PT and it’s pretty much eliminated the back pain all together (thank god!).

I’m also concerned about having to wear the knee straps for too long. I’m worried that they have become a crutch and are starting to interfere with my full recovery. While they have given me enough relief to ride about 30 - 40 miles I still feel like I maybe slowing my recovery by continuing to put strain on the tendon even though it’s reduced. For example if I go multiple days without riding I’m almost completely pain free.

With that in mind I think I’m going to take a break from the distance riding, I’m still going to ride to work and maybe some short errands but nothing like my normal training routine. I think I’m also going to ditch the knee straps permanently and just take it super easy on the bike, high RPMs… low gears… slow. I’m also going to start training in the gym again focusing on strength training, stretching and working on my core.

Before I switched to road biking I did a lot of training in the gym and mountain biking. The gym work really helped keep my body form getting injured. Once we had Catie I stopped working out and focused on road cycling. One thing I remember from my gym workout days is that I never had issue with back pain or chronic over use injuries, most of the research I’ve done supports this.

Besides my rides lately have been lack luster due to the current weather conditions. It’s not like I live some where it’s really cold but you have to remember I do most of my riding before 9 am. At that time the temperature ranges from 25º - 40º and it makes my old man muscles stiff.

It’s time to go pump myself up!

Now I may sound all high an mighty about how spread out everything is and I’m tempted to do a diatribe on how this makes public transportation difficult and creates a car culture and blah blah blah. Truth be told my main choice of transportation in the Bay Area is still our car. I wish I could ride my bike everywhere but it’s just not practical when you have a family of four.

Ok enough about the sprawl.

Let’s talk about cycling, I have to admit that the Metro Phoenix Area is really bike friendly. The drivers here are very courteous and there are tons of bike lanes everywhere. I didn’t have one conflict where drivers honked at me or where I felt threatened (I think they where too busy hating each other to bother with me.) Most of the time drivers just smiled and waved. I even had a lady pull up next to me and give me a wave and a smile at a light (she was old and I think she was checking out my ass).

I have a few uneducated theories as to why I felt a good vibe from the drivers here:

1. I haven’t spent enough time riding here to get a real feel for how drivers feel. But I also didn’t hear from friends families how they are totally annoyed by cyclist either. So maybe the animosity just isn’t here. In the Bay Area most of my friends complain about how cyclist are rude, entitled and run red lights all the time (even when most cyclist I see are exactly the opposite).
2. There are not very many hipsters or bike messengers here. I think the bike messenger/hipster culture is somewhat fascinating but I think it also puts an ugly face on cycling. (Overgeneralization Warning!) The perception is that Hipsters/Messengers have a tendency to bend the rules of the road to their liking, I also think the media in the Bay Area over emphasizes the rule bending so most people automatically start hating cyclist even when they have never had a bad experience with them. People see a cyclist in the Bay Area and automatically assume they are going to run red lights and break the law when it’s convenient for them. Most of the cyclist I encountered in Phoenix are either day labors or Roadies (doctors, dentists, young professionals, retired adults, etc) and these type of riders have a tendency to signal and ride respectfully (well except for the day labors riding in the wrong direction in the bike lane.)
3. There is no “Take the Lane” law here. When I first read up on the laws before hitting the streets (BIKE NERD!) I was concerned to read that they have a “Stay Right” approach instead of “Take the Lane”. But after my first ride I realized why this works here, the lanes in Phoenix are so freaking wide it’s ridiculous. Also every other street has a bike lane so you can plan a route without ever having to leave the bike lane. And when you do ride on a street without a bike lane there is still a TON of room. Most roads in Phoenix are at least 4 lanes wide and the lanes are big enough to accommodate two cars. My theory why there is some animosity in the Bay Area is that when a cyclist takes a lane they are encroaching on the Drivers territory and since most people are territorial they feel like they must protect their domain with aggression.

Like I said these are my uneducated theories, I’m sure some (or all) of my generalizations and assumptions are wrong. But since this is my blog I can comfortably make those and there isn’t anything you can do about it, except post a comment correcting me (which I get to moderate… ha!).

A few drawbacks that keep Phoenix off my list of ideal cycling communities.

1. It’s 10,000º here in the summer! I have a tendency to melt in hot weather and my favorite cycling weather is cold cloudy days with a mist of rain.
2. Everything is really spread out. If you plan on riding to work or to a friends house across town it’s probably going to be at least 20 miles round trip (which for someone like me isn’t necessarily a bad thing…) The infrastructure in Phoenix is really designed around driving.
3. IT’S 1,000,000º IN THE SUMMER!
4. It feels like your constantly surrounded by cars rushing past you. Almost every surface street has a 45 mph speed limit, all you hear is whoosh…. whoosh… whoosh… whoosh whoosh. It’s not very relaxing. On the bright side most of the canals in Phoenix are open to bikes so this does give your a bit of a break from it.
5. Did I mention that it’s 1,000,000,000º in the summer.

The drawbacks aside I will admit that I had a lot of fun riding here. The best ride was climbing to the top of South Mountain, it’s an amazing climb. The surrounding desert landscape is just absolutely beautiful. You practically forget your in a large sprawling metropolitan area. The average grade is just 5% with a few undulating sections and a steep final ascent at the summit. This is what the climb looks like most of the way up:

The road is ultra smooth and makes for an amazing descent, I think I maintained 25 mph all the way down. It’s an absolute thrill! If you are ever in the Phoenix area with your road bike, South Mountain to the Towers is an absolute must do ride.

I hate to admit it but I could see myself living here again. One of the toughest things about living in the Bay Area is the lack of close friends and family, I didn’t realize how much I missed them until today. Amanda really loves it here and the kids had such a blast playing with their cousins. Although there are a lot of things I like in the Bay Area I think our time may be limited there.

Here are a few crappy photos from my ride (via iPhone)…

• Distance: 42.11
• Elevation: +2473 ft / -2457 ft
• Calories: 3204
• Moving Time: 02:48′30
• View full rides stats

View Larger Map

PS… Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I decided to head out towards the Los Altos/Palo Alto area with no real plan in mind. About 7 miles into the ride I felt the need to go do a bit of climbing. Since it’s been a while since I’ve done a real climb I was a bit apprehensive. But I told myself that I just need to go do it so I can see where things stand, fitness wise.

I made the turn towards Moody Rd, one of the steeper climbs in the area. This climb is only 1/2 mile but the average grade from the bottom to the top is about 12%-18%, it’s a real leg burner. Not to mention the road leading up to the steep part is an average of 3% which isn’t too bad but it’s not really flat either.

This is a good climb to combine with sections of the Portola loop because you get some decent climbing combined with some of the nicest roads in NorCal (Moody Rd leading up to the climb is absolutely beautiful). Also this is the climb I used to get into shape earlier in the year because you pretty much redline it from the bottom of the steep part up to the top. The descent down Page Mill is fun too since it’s not super technical but you get to practice some decent turns and get back into the swing of things.

I guess I have to say combining this climb with Portola Loop is one of my favorite rides. It has just enough climbing that it’s challenging and just enough scenic rolling hills which makes it fun and relaxing. Today’s pace was what I would like to call meandering, I didn’t hammer it but then again I didn’t soft pedal the entire time either. It was just perfect.

On the way home for my ride I decided that the exclamation point to this ride would be a delicious chocolate croissant. I stopped in to a donut shop on the way home that I’ve passed a million times to see if they had the fix I was looking for, I was in luck. I stuff my croissant in my jersey pocket and headed for home with only one thing on my mind. Yummy Chocolate Croissant with an ice cold glass of milk.

A perfect ride with a post ride chocolate croissant and ice cold milk… I almost felt naughty!

Ride Stats

• Milage: 41.17
• Elevation: 2460 ft / -2445 ft
• Calories: 3071
• Moving Time: 02:42′03
• View full ride stats

View Larger Map

This morning I decided to put my rest plan on hold and go for a ride with the knee straps. My plan was to turn around at the first sign of issues. I also decided that I wouldn’t restrict myself with how hard I rode or hammered on the pedals. My goal was to really test the knee straps to see how well they worked. 

It was amazing! After my warm up miles I stepped on the gas and hammer it. NO PAIN! So I kept on the pressure, I figured that eventually my knees would start hurting after a few minutes of pushing hard. It didn’t, the only pain I felt was the burning of my thigh muscles. It was a good pain! I had a smile from ear to ear as my thighs where on fire and my knees had no pain. NO PAIN! NO PAIN! 

I did a few short small climbs. NO PAIN! Well my lungs were on fire, I guess not doing 150 miles a week for a couple of months had it’s toll on aerobic my conditioning.

Once the ride was over I was concerned that my knees would continue to hurt after I took the straps off. I’ve been having issue with post ride knee pain and weakness in my IT bands. NONE OF THAT! My knees felt the same after the ride as they normally do when I sit around and do nothing all day. I didn’t even need to ice them like usual. 

The only concern I have now is if the knee straps will be come a crutch that prevent my full recovery. My friend at work said he used his knee strap for a year. I figure if I continue doing the strength conditioning from my physical therapy then I should be good. Regardless, if they become a crutch I’m sure the benefits of riding (weight control, cardio, stress relief, etc) out weight the risk of having to use the straps.

Ride Stats

• Mileage: 25.54 miles
• Elevation: 1107 ft / -1126 ft
• Calories: 1952
• Moving Time: 01:34′22
• View full ride stats

View Larger Map

For the last couple of rides I’ve been struggling to work back into riding. I was sticking to riding flat routes and not pushing it too hard, it really sucks when you have to soft pedal the entire time. I feel like I’m barely getting a workout. When i put the gas on I get sharp pains in my knee.  It’s like my knees are too weak to handle the massive amounts of power in my thighs.

Climbing is even worse. Since I haven’t really climbed in two months my fitness has suffered a bit. But even worse is my knees hurt more then anything else on my body. I can’t even push myself long enough to get an aerobic high because I’m in too much pain. I’ve yet to ride hard enough to get any burn in my thighs.

I think my plan now is to go back on my diet and stop riding for a couple of months. I need to wait till I’m totall pain free. I also think I need to loose my fitness so that a 10 mile ride is actually fun because I’m so out of shape that it becomes a challenge. I might still go to the gym and do my exercises from physical therapy.

As far as the bike, I think I’m done for a while…

• I find it strange that after I get done swimming and dry off I still sweat… it’s a strange sensation.
• When I bend over after I swim water leaks out of my nose (this happened tonight).
• Swimming is pretty cool because you can fart without anyone knowing.
• I’ve thought about peeing while I swim but then I realize that I would be swimming in my own urine. yuk!
• Tonight I changed up my breathing pattern from every third stroke to every forth stroke. It really felt more natural.
• I’ve finally found my rhythm where I can swim back to back laps for at least 25 minutes straight.
• I strangely like swimming at night with the pool lights on.
• Swimming is not as relaxing as riding a bike. I miss the wind in my hair and the escape from civilization.
• Instead of being called Lance at work people now jokingly refer to me as Phelps.
• When you forget to breath it really fucks things up.

I think I swam for about 30-40 minutes, I didn’t officially track the time or count the number of laps I did. My goal was just to try to swim some and focus on my form. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of swimming. It’s quite a bit different then what I remember as a kid.

I had to re-learn how to breath, my first lap I held my breath while my face was under water and then tried to exhale and take a breath, I about died. Then I remembered I need to exhale while my face was under water. It also took me a while to get the timing just right. I had to slow my strokes down and get the rhythm down to where I took three strokes and then a breath then three strokes then a breath.

Once I got that figured out I tried to do a flip turn and ended up ramming right into the bottom. It’s pretty hard to do a flip turn in 3 feet of water when your 6′3″. So I used a slightly different technique I saw on YouTube where you touch the wall then do a quick turn and push off the wall to get the same effect.

The important part of the push off is to stay under water and do a few dolphin kicks so you can get a chance to rest. Once I put that all together I could actually do about 3 laps consecutively before I had to stop to catch my breath.

Near the end I was spent but it was that good spent the type that energizes you. The type of spent where you are ready to refuel. I released some of my pent up frustration and stress that I usually release during my morning rides. I got the endorphin rush I was craving, it felt good!