debutte

holy !#%@

Gonzalo Calveira — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:36:57 +0000

I fell off the wagon again it seems… blame Florida International for that one. I have been cycling though and I’ll post some streams of updates leading into spring break as I stomp out some tests and paper assignments through the week. Big news is twitter, I actually signed up… which would have been ridiculous to me a year ago but seems right and overdue today.

Well I am seriously never home so unless I get a hold of the laptop in class and post up a lengthy post (unlikely), debutte goes blank. So I’ll use twitter as an aid and pipe the feed onto debutte’s home page or you can just check it out over on twitter; it has a simple name: http://twitter.com/calveira and don’t feel like you have to follow it, its just another conduit for posts. I might start racing real soon but thats for another post…

200 km istanbul to malkara

Gonzalo Calveira — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:14:00 +0000

I am halfway through my U.S. Labor class right now but I got to thinking on the drive over that this Thursday I should attempt a 200 km dash. I need to focus on the base miles (I wont neglect climbs or tabatta training though). 200 kilometers are 124 miles give or take. It would essentially consist of high cadence pedaling (120 rpm) for 5 hours. If I accomplish 200 km at or under 5 hours I’ll celebrate for a week straight, no joke. What I’d like to do and start charting is the distance on a map using Google Maps. Every time I ride I’ll add up the miles and chart them to a theoretical route. I’ll start in Istanbul, Turkey and cover the distance to Malkara, Turkey. I won’t be in Turkey but I’d like to put the distances in perspective and push myself to get to a certain city or country. Of course I don’t take into account altitudes and traffic or other trivial simulations as I’ll mostly use this as a way to keep track of my base miles.

I will also set a greater goal; Paris, France by the 20th of March 2010 (of course) which is roughly one month after Thursday’s 200 km. It is ambitious but this is a sport based on such ambitions. Istanbul, Turkey to Paris, France is 2,828.4 km depending on the route. Google’s default route would take us through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and finally the East of France. 2,828 km looks like a lot and to an extent it is but its an amount I think will challenge me but not burn me out for racing at some point this year. Now 2,828 miles… thats another story.

song of the day

Gonzalo Calveira — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:34:32 +0000

Good workout as I got a lot done and really pushed myself by pedaling a good while at ~ 300 watts. I could feel the acid sloshing around the thighs and hips really making me bite down on my lip to keep pushing. I got off the saddle too and lost 50 watts (less rpm) but the constant strain starts to test you. Whats really exciting is that I feel the explosiveness and speed I will need for the crits. I just need to keep pedaling and hope I don’t get injured. Today’s Song Of The Day was Debra Dolce’s infectious ‘Goodies’

I opted for the remix used in that Bruce Willis movie ‘Surrogates’ – Goodies (ZC’s Dolce Mix), Its only been on my iPod for a few days and its already one of my most played, its catchy so be careful following that link.

Well I’m off to my date with an ice bath and the rest of this tepid NBA All Star Game. Midterms loom so updates could be light.

chilled valentine’s day

Gonzalo Calveira — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:44:34 +0000

So far I’ve been watching the Olympics & drinking coffee out of this ceramic beauty I got from the MoMa store way back when

Snazzy eh? I went to N.Y. a few years back and fell in love with the city and its many details, this always reminds me of the trip. I’d live there if I could even though the taxes are brutal but until then I have the cup. Watching the Winter Olympics (which I never thought I would until a week ago) I got to thinking about just how great these athletes are. The Luge discipline is unbelievable, it reminds me a lot of those blazing descends in the TdF, but they are truly on a whole other level and deserve better.

A couple of loose ends to tie up:

Thank you Kat for the invite today. I appreciate it and hope everything goes well for you and your’s tonight.

I am not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day but a happy one from me to you. Hope you’re doing what makes you happy.

To those in Argentina, whom I cherish and will make a mission to see in ’10, we’ll soon have our days.

This is rare, but my thoughts go out to Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family and country. I’ve never met him, but when death lurks in your profession you earn my eternal respect. I took the loss personally and it shook me to see someone my age lose his life for his sport.

On cycling:

I’ll try to get an hour of climbing done so I can put some iron in these spinning legs. If I don’t get derailed, I’ll throw up a post or two about it tonight.

album of the day

Gonzalo Calveira — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:42:54 +0000

Sometimes I load a whole album into my iPod and stick to it. For those times we’ve got… the A.O.T.D. Todays Album Of The Day is:

Thievery Corporation – A Cosmic Gate

I had a busy day and decided it’d be a good idea to do a long recovery ride. I usually keep the cadence at around 100 rpm or more for these sessions just focusing on getting loose for tomorrow. The speed was at 23 miles an hour which is fine for a simple recovery with low resistance. My inner thighs and calves felt really sore beforehand and I had a stiff knee which felt weird pedaling back to normal.

‘The Cosmic Gate’, ‘A Gentle Dissolve’, and ‘Warning Shots’ are the highlights of this album. I have every Thievery Corporation CD and their compilations are great ways of exploring the international music scene. For relaxed rides you can’t do better than this CD.

if greece falls

Gonzalo Calveira — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:35:18 +0000

This is the rare moment where my athletic passion intersects with the political.

Lately there is serious momentum behind the possibility of a Greek default which could, and I stress could, unravel the Euro as a currency and the E.U. as a cohesive block. What does this have to do with cycling? Well one begins to worry that with cycling being a sport already on its knees financially (TdF winner Alberto Contador had to buy his own TT wheels for an ’09 TdF stage) what becomes of the sport if Europe starts to come unglued as Spain, Portugal, and Ireland follow Greece? It is truly soul crushing to contemplate. Could the balance of the sport’s power shift to the States? Hardly (wait until California and New Jersey’s knees start knocking under their debts).

Where does the sport go? China? Maybe. I dislike the prospect of racing Chinese cyclists more than the idea of racing in China. It all boils down to who can train the most and we all watched China’s athletes dominate the last Olympics. But I digress, the collapse of Greece could have serious repercussions for cycling’s future. Dread the fall and hope it doesn’t destroy the sport with it.

playlist of the day

Gonzalo Calveira — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:29:58 +0000

Its been a while since I’ve done one of these. I’ve noticed that the albums are a sizeable source of the daily hits on here, I gotta say I am both surprised and happy by that. To share the playlists and album covers is a joy for me. I’ll just reiterate that if you want any of the album covers in a higher resolution just hit me up with a request and I’ll accommodate. The reason one posts them in 350×350 is due to the site’s thin borders which I can’t change until I pay for upgrades. ‘Till I do that, I keep them smaller than I’d like.

Todays training was 2 hours. I got caught in a monsoon going to the gym. I covered 51 miles and felt Herculean when I drove home (I am such a child). The playlist worked itself out with little input on my part thanks to the ‘Genius’ setting. I pretty much let Genius work from two songs and worried about pedaling my ass off. Without further ado… our mighty, glorious, Playlist Of The Day:

‘Milk Man’ is one of those songs I cant imagine taking off the iPod but don’t run into a whole lot. I love the cover but try finding a good one online, its a damn mess of thumbnails and faded junk. If you are unfamiliar with the song heres a link, check it out.

I am neither a Bon Scott or Brian Johnson man (Van Halen is a whole different matter) but ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ is the best AC/DC song no matter who sings it. Genius put it on and I piled on the distance.

One of the best bands ever, seriously. I have every CD they’ve released and I run into their stuff everyday on shuffle. I first heard one of their songs back in the days watching ‘Boiler Room‘, you know… that old Giovanni Ribisi (spelled it right on the first try… what?) movie about being a stock broker and buying yellow Ferraris. It had a killer soundtrack and while ‘Wall Street’ it aint, it’s very underrated. Well whatever, once I heard ‘Award Tour’ I was hooked and got all their stuff. ‘The Anthology’ was all over this workout.

Simply uplifting during today’s workout especially with ‘Theme From New York, New York’, ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’, and ‘Bad Bad Leroy Brown’. I did a good amount of driving today and was in the mood for Sinatra so I got my fix then but when I finally got around to training I had to hear more because I had forgotten just how much I like his music ’till today.

The very first time I heard a Bob Dylan song in a gym oddly enough but it didn’t seem out of place at all. Genius chose ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ (His best songs outside of Lay Lady Lay). It gave the workout a fun vibe and while you follow the lyrics you forget how hard you pedaled.

Jethro Tull, another first. Gee my experience with Jethro Tull is odd. I find that people love this band or absolutely hate it (Its always that damn Ian Anderson flute work dontcha know). For me this was an acquired taste, like whiskey, at first you’re like eh… but if you stick with it you start to appreciate its finer qualities. Same deal with Jethro Tull. So I can’t really endorse this or say its great workout music, it just sort of popped in because of Dylan and it blended nicely enough that I didn’t change it. Not really a highlight.

I could write a separate (maybe even more exciting) blog on The Beatles. I’ll just say this about ‘Love’; I think this is the best Beatles album you can buy. I know, I know… and I really love the mono set (it’s neatly nestled in my bloated iTunes) but really, they remixed the songs in a way that gives them a subtle but distinct feel. A lot of people I know never gave this album a shot and I think they are missing out on some great Beatles here. Genius took it upon itself to stack the playlist with this CD and the next and it gave the workout some pop. If that makes any sense.

And the workout ends with ‘Hey Bulldog’ which is a great song to workout to. Overall the playlist doesn’t look all that cohesive but halfway through I switched the Genius source and trained on a whole different rail of music. All told those 51 miles flew by thanks to the music.

a half day a half cyclist

Gonzalo Calveira — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:45:38 +0000

Well I just got done with the usual ice bath routine (hot cold hot cold) and I gotta say that it was one flawless little workout today. It wasnt the whole day as I hoped it would be. Apparently there is an economics midterm next week so I took a few hours to finish some linear equations and sets… wonderfull.

So I went to the gym a bit late and churned out an hour at 24 mph or so, which isn’t bad but I should start focusing on doing intervals because the crits are races of peaks. But I’ve always enjoyed that kind of training hitting ~900+ watts with ease. It sounds technical but its basically revving an engine over and over.

After that “TT” I slid into low resistance pedaling for 15 minutes to cool down. I followed it by working out my tired hamstrings on some torture machine they have set up there, I’d rather hug a cactus but its the “job” no?

To stretch those muscles or as some say “reprogram” them I finished the day riding 50 minutes at ~180 watts or so (don’t really know because I missed the average # when I finished but I rode it steady and had my eye on the watts the whole way).

A productive but nondescript day I guess, nothing out of the ordinary. I have to step it up. I feel guilty… and sore.

baby steps

Gonzalo Calveira — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:39:38 +0000

To build on the previous entry, I got some training done today (my 4th straight day) and it went well.

I rode with the ankle brace to keep me from incidentally “ankling”. I didn’t go longer than 20 miles but it was all quality. I focused more on toning and strengthening my back, shoulders, traps, and hips with light weights (~40 pounds). Some say its counterintuitive to put on muscle mass – it makes you heavier, bulkier, and therefore slower. I personally enjoy the tightness of it all and its not a whole lot of added weight for the perceived benefits. Plus if it hinders me when I race I’ll do less weights. The concept of efficiency is not lost on me, the thinnest and fittest conquer the mountains.

The time training with the bike consisted of heavy off the saddle climbing at 190-300 watts for 12 minutes… I know, its nothing, but seeing as the watts were high I felt OK with it. The rest of the time was spent spinning at ~140 rpm.

One thing I always loved about spinning at 120+ rpm is how composed and refined I feel doing it. I don’t bounce up and down like I’m on fire, my shoulders are still but relaxed while the legs glide underneath. These are the moments I know I can really be good at this, it looks and feels as if I’ve been doing it my whole life (and I haven’t of course).

I came away satisfied. I think I’ll spend most of the day at the gym tomorrow seeing as I got a lot of reading out of the way, well see. No matter what, I’ll post about it.

deus ex machina

Gonzalo Calveira — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:34:37 +0000

And after a busy month, a reboot of sorts. I announce triumphantly that I’ve gotten my regular training schedule back together this week.

To the updates? To the updates!

Any bad things? Well the worst thing about the time off the saddle is finding myself with too much time to dwell on painful things. I wish I could say I was in a sex induced trance the whole time but you really just sit around and let ridiculous things get under your skin. It had nothing to do directly with the bike but the inability to get any sustained sense of accomplishment chiseled away at my ego, It hurt more than the ankle ever did. But thats all and it wasn’t that big of a deal anyway, I’d just rather feel pain pedaling than spiraling around introspection.

Involuntary introspection makes you believe the absurdest things and once it traps you, you’re screwed.

The ankle, the crap one, is feeling good these days. The time off definitely helped, I can climb without pain but I haven’t tested it beyond one random 25 mile attempt weeks ago so who knows. I keep it constantly wrapped tight with a brace everywhere I go and thats that.

Throughout the month I had gone days without pedaling at a time and I have really only clocked about 5 hours worth of riding in January. Feels like a waste I guess. But I get back to speed quicker than ever; It only took me 3 days to put in a 27 mph – 15 mile jaunt after one of the longer layoffs (faster than I could hope for). My legs still look strong, the definition and size is still there just as it was December 31st. I worried about strains and pulls but every muscle has responded perfectly. I didn’t gain any weight overall, but there were times I’d look at myself and wonder… How the hell did I get here and where are my abs?

And where did that month go? Well, assessing things honestly I don’t have anything but my classes to take care of but the schedules are really long and the reading, longer. I didn’t mean to take the month “off”, it kind of just worked this way, you get home late – the gym is closed. 6 classes and its many books (9 for U.S. Labor History alone) wiped me out financially so the cost of a new (good) bike got sunk into tuition (75% academic scholarship notwithstanding) and literature. But no complaints. I’ll race.

The dream still lives.

debutte is back.