Owl Rock - Aches National Park

Below is on of the climbs that I did in Moab, years ago. Enjoy

Rock Climbing

Athletic career: 2001

My first year at college (creighton university) was a exercise in undoing all the athleticism and fitness I had built up over the last 19 year. College calbre wrestler, undone. 2:02 half-mile, undone. Didn't drink beer in high school, fine. Now I will drink ten. Didn't eat mac-and-cheese or ramen noodles, fine. Now, three servings for late night. It was a exercise in glutny, and I was getting great marks. Interestingly enough, I some how managed some great grades that year. It probably had something to do with all the extra calories... or brain food that was going around.

I came home following my first year and decided that I no longer wanted the extra 20 lbs. It was unsightly, and I looked like a fat hippie, in my college tie-dye, flip flops, and shoulder length hair. I first got a job at an animal pharmicuticals company in charles city. One upside of the 6 am start time was that I could no longer go out and drink, at all. I tried it once, and things did not go well. Trust me. Standing up helping to produce drugs for barnyard animals in a moon suit does not lend itself to feeling hung over.

Another perk of the company was that the CEO had some kind of dispute with the local YMCA. Apparently, the Y wanted too much for membership for the 1000 employees, so in striking Mike Ball fashion(get it...) he said,"Fine..I guess I'll just build our own gym." And he did. 80-90k worth of fitness equipment... probably two years worth of what the YMCA wanted for membership. I started work in mid-may, and more importantly, I started workouts as well. Run and lift was the extent of my exercise, just did that 1-2 hours a day to start the path back to fitness. Apparently, I was the only one in the company that know that the gym existed. I would go weeks without seeing a soul.

One of the aspirations of a 19 year old returning to physical activity is to have the pecs, abs, and shoulders that is achievable with dilligence in the weight room and at the dinner table. Although I don't have any body for life pics, I assure you I was succeeding.

It was at this dinner table that my close friend and old wrestling coach posed the question,"Why do you want to get that way, anyone can do that. Why not do something challenging with your life, like climb a mountain." Brilliant. With that one statement, I know what was going to happen. I would start climbing. But how? I lived in Iowa...

Some quick recon shed some valuable information. The was a climbing gym at UNI in Cedar Falls. However, they charged 10 dollars per climb for non-students. Problem solved. Adam , my friend from high school purchased a summer long climbing pass for me... he was a university student. I was on my way to being a rock climber.

Another perk of my job was I only worked 4 days per week. This lent itself to more working out and some travel time on weekends as well. My schedule allowed me to go down twice a week and climb at their gym. There, I met some fellow climbers that offered a spot in their car that weekend to redwing minnesota to climb and camp... I accepted, learned how to climb out doors and the rest is history.

I came back to Creighton, started a rock climbing club that was financed by the university, took trips to minnesota, missouri, moab, and competed in the flat lands rock climbing competition in lincoln where I placed second. In all actuality, climbing may be my favorite sport. You don't have to do anything but climb and you body magically chisels itself under its own weight. Every climber I know, male or female has the ideal body, not too bulky not to lean, just right. Including the red-head that was imbarasingly good at UNO yesterday.

The reason I remember this stint, I because I went for the first time in 4 years, yesterday. I arrived to meet my friend from dental school, Nic. Right when I arrived to the UNO gym, I saw Nic working a bouldering problem. It was evident that Nic had traded in some winter weight, for the climbers physique, much like I had 7 years ago.

Climbing goes along with any other principles of physiology, use it or loose it. When I stopped climbing in 2004, I could sport climb 5.11-5.12 routes. In layman terms, I would have had to start climbing daily to see any greater gains if I were to continue with the sport. Or much like a good cat 3 cyclist trying to chase upgrade points in cycling. Everyday climbing workouts maybe hard, however, lifting my fingers(like right now) following my "every 4 years" climbing session trumps all of that business.

Monday

The close call for today was not five seconds after I stepped of my bike following my ride... rain. Like every other cyclist in Nebraska, I took advantage of the 55 degree weather by riding outside. The roads were great, and it was nice to get reacquainted with the local truck driving blowhards. As previously stated, I am at the end of a training block so today is a recovery week. It would have been nice to ride for 3-4 hours, but my idea is when you ride, you ride lots and when you rest you rest lots. I finished my recovery ride and as luck would have it, it started to rain immediately after I returned from my ride. Moral of the story - stick to the plan and you don't get wet.

Team Picture of Kaos riders.

Sunday take two

Preseason meetings - ah yes. we met at the upstream, had pizza and veggies, and heard about sponsors, jerseys, races, etcera, etcera. It was great to see everyone at this time of year, and my initial impression about the upcoming season is that Kaos has developed into a team of sinew climbers. John -thin, James -thin, Bryan -thin, Landen -thin, Dave -thin. Next years prediction - Dave Rogers and John Vondrocek rip stuff in the 3's and in master. John weighed 168 lbs. I could hardly keep his wheel in LPSR when he weighed 180 lbs. He is going to be fast.

In other news, I just finished up a training block. Three weeks X 17 hours. Now it is time to rest. when I mean rest, I mean 10.5 hours. Not off the bike like some local endurance guru's would have us do. And that is what I just did got in... a 90 min nap. Ready to go spin the legs out and gum up my bike some more in this 55 degree weather...yeah!

Ride well,
Pav

Sunday take one

While I make a last minute attempt at writing the sunday night coorespondence, I casually glance over at my bike. I wish that someone would clean that thing! It is amazing what accumulates on a bike after 4 hours. I started a long day by going over to Lindsey's house for some breakfast. I met Lindsey, Bob, Andy, and Nic for Coffee, Cinnimon rolls, salmon/bell pepper scramble, fruit, homemade granola, and yogurt this morning. If you couldn't guess, that girl know how to do breakfast! It was great to connect with everyone, and see how their winter seclusion was going.

"One roadie and four triathlete do breakfast." would have been the headline in Omaha. Luckily there is no anomosity between these two unique animals(in omaha). My plan was to roll out of town in the group, and following a warmup, get my zone 2 work in. This worked out perfect because everyone else was riding different lengths(2-4.5hrs) so it allowed for the group to break up and people to do their own thing. Whether it be for five minutes or five hours, riding with company after bat cave type winter seclusion is always a plus.

note: I would like to get a large weekly ride( ~4 hours) going at this early part of the season. I talked to a friend in Des Moines the other day and he sad that this is how their wednesday ride goes. No racing, just riding. I told him I did not know that such a thing existed. We will see how it works. Perhaps next Sunday (weather permitting), we can do my place for the caffeine and pancakes, and then a nice group ride?

Dispite the cold front, Pavlovich is hard at it, training for RABGRAI with Hawiian shorts and Miller Light.

In the news: Ragbrai

In recent global happenings, the Registrars annual great bike ride across Iowa's 2008 route has been announced. The overnight stops include Missouri Valley, Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama, North Liberty, TIpton, and LeClere. With only 177 days until the start of this bike festival, coupled with sever cabin fever due to this year blistering cold, riders are already getting ancy over the announcement.

As a three time ragbrai veteran, Kristin Pavlovich was so elated by the announcement, she texted every cycling enthusiast she knew with the route...Leading to a monster cellular phone bill and an angry mother. When asked to comment regarding the enormous bill Kristin incurred,Kristin stated "Listen Matt, I just wanted to help the economy. I think Premier Bush has a good idea with the tax rebate. I am just doing what I can to help out with the recession. I spent some money today, and will spent my tax rebate on a new saddle and sunscreen."

Local cycling historian, Kim West was unavaliable for comment regarding this years route. West was on sebatical from the orphanage awarding area legend, GPickle with the coveted gravel road award, the Cup o' Dirt. Kenny Vegas was also not available to comment on the upcoming event.

When Matt Pavlovich was driving to Dental School on thursday in Omaha, NE, we noticed his Iowa "native" bumpersticker and flagged him to the side of the road for an interview. When asked about this years RAGBRAI, Pavlovich's response was unique. "Let's put it this way, most people speak of fitness in terms of watts and kilos, I talk about fitness in term of RAGBRAI's. The more base RAGBRAI's you have under your belt, the better your cycling progression will be. Look at Lance, he got one RAGBRAI under his legs and he was able to parlay that fitness into a 2:45 marathon. This will be a great year. I haven't done a RAGBRAI since 2005. I am including some specific training for this year, like pulling for 10 or 20 miles, and costume laden indoor trainer rides for the Turkey cook."

All and all, this RAGBRAI will be one for the books, folks. Enjoy and be well.

The Managment

Not-Cycling

For the sake of writing about something non-cycling related, I turn my attention to my too other favorite things; beer and coffee.
I am an avid consumer of both these two liquids; both are delicious in their own way.

I have scaled back my beer consumption(much to my dismay) for racing and athletic related fitness, but on monday I had a delicious new beer, Maudite.
This beer is was a great find for me, with it perks being its taste, quality, and 8% alcohol. Cost benifit would say this beer is a great buy. We call that "dos para uno."

In the land of coffee, I have been an Zanzibar drinker for some time. On a recent trip to costco, I purchased a duffle bag full of Dunkin Donuts coffee to see what the kids are talking about. Pretty good, but I have yet to find Joe that tops 27th and Ingersoll.

If anyone was wondering about the picture, that is the label for Maudite beer. As legend would have it, five canadian lumberjacks sold their souls to satin to get home for christmas eve. He transported them in a canoe.

Mid-Roller Season Update

All is well this indoor season. Much like a track athlete/cross country runner, one needs to be aware that there are two distinct seasons in cycling. No not road and mountain...Indoor and outdoor.

For a variety of reasons, one must distinguish this time of year from the race season.

With the different season requiring different mental focus, different fitness levels, and different ideal body morphologies, I try not to mix the two. That means no outdoor riding in outdoor season, no indoor riding in indoor season.

Often I like to take a couple weeks and transition from the seasons by riding my trainer outdoors, or ride indoors with my outdoor gear on. The key here is not to much to fast. Progressive, specific, achievable.

To measure peak fitness, outdoor athlete tend to stick to tried and true benchmarks such as TNWC/WNWC/race performance. The indoor athlete loves to quantify his fitness by a watt-O-meter. The number that is achieved following a test with said-meter then defines the indoor athletes fitness, his season, and his life. The higher the number, the better form he must have.

The outdoor athlete needs a low percentage of body fat, needs to be able to suffer, needs to be on their bike all the time, and foremost needs races.

Indoor athletes need excess body weight in the haunches for saddle comfort, TEVO to record special "programs", and most of all, other activities to occupy their time. It would be a hasty decision to ride TOO much in the indoor season; large hours on the bike should be reserved for the outdoor season only.

Remember: the key to indoor season is to ride when you want, find other ways to occupy you time, and for god sakes... don't ride outside. Be well and enjoy the rest of the indoor season!

In my opinion, the best part of the best day of the week.
Friday is my recovery day on(off) the bike, I sleep in late, I wake up and laze around, surf the internet, drink coffee, etc. Essentally, a day in the art of being lazy.

One interesting thing I came across this morning on slowtwitch.com was a interview with a chap name Greg Bennett. As I recall, he and his wife both won the HY-VEE triathlon in Des Moines. He said something that was kind of disturbing. He said that he though that the training he and his wife were doing was infact so special, that he perfered not to share it during an interview, or with anyone for that matter. That is probably the most nieve statement that I have ever heard. Apparently, he and his wife have come across the ancient training methods of shao linn monks, or something.

Although I don't share this fact with anyone, I have a degree in exercise science. Usually, people are content in doing their "own thing" or "benching 300lbs" and that is fine. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. Sometimes, people come to me for exercise and training advise, and I am happy to share with them. In fact, I have even written year long training programs. And as Grandpa Kim once said,"There is not special plan. It is all right there on two sheets of paper. If anyone wants it I would be happy to share it with them. The closer they come to completing the plan, the closer you get to success in the sport."

Sporting career: 2000. In my former years, I was a wrestler. Good, not great. but a wrestler none the less. I once wrestled a 152lb wrestler from Emmetsburg. He was rated #1 in the state and had place 2nd the year previous. I was rated #5. I had seperated two ribs and had to wrestle with a series of tapings and wraps around my sternum, as any straign was excruciating. It was also reported that he had a slipped disc in his back. We wrestled, I won in overtime by one point.

We again met in the state tournament, and he beat me 6-4 en route to another 2nd place finish that year and a 1st place finish then next year. That was the toughest athletic competition in my life. We both hobbled off the mat, and when we saw each other below Vets auditorium, to give each other our acolades, neither of us could stand upright. The competition was a benchmark for me for this reason; we were both mended from our injuries and did not want to concede that we had been bested/or had beaten a limp opponent.

The point of this anicdote Greg, is that you can keep you secret training plan. We don't want it. If you and your wife are so insecure with your fitness that you have to hide your plan from people so your competition doesn't get fast, fine. However, I personally, always want the most fit opponent to show up, because if is it really a chess match if your opponent doesn't have a queen with which to start.

Friday Morinings

A different Jason

the world mourns the loss of another fellow cyclist, Jason McIntyre. He was struck down on a training ride in his native Scotland this week.

McIntyre prowess in the chrono ranged from the 2006 British TT championships to the Scottish 10 25 and 50 mile time trial record. What made him more special was that he was an amateur cyclist, like you and me. He had two girls, his job, and his wife, and a will to compete against the clock and compete against himself.

I have followed Mcintyre and his chrono prowess for the last year and a half. He nearly dethroned David Millar in the BTTC In a classic dave/goliath story. A great inspiration for the little guy competing against insurmountable odds.

Marmalade

The were not too many attendees at the fast factory (my house) on saturday/sunday.
Ian was sick, Landen road at his house with Marco and Dave, and Mary Anne was a no show.
Just Lindsey and me. She brought over fresh mixed berry scones and Marmalade.

Now I love marmalade, but I never buy it. Just like I love mandarin oranges in a can, but I never get them. Come to think, I haven't purchased marmalade since I was in the Paddington bear play in grade school. F I am getting old. Anyway, I can't stop eating the stuff. I don't know which British factory produces the stuff, but they have a stranglehold on me. Help.

Please send Ideas of addictions that I may substitute for this delicious tar. Perhaps smoking and drinking, or cutting. Or maybe ice cream by the gallon. Let me know.

The Rider

My day started by waking up late and drinking ~2000mg of caffeine. Typical Sundays - I start with breakfast, then I coffee up, and then I go on the bike. Instead of immediately getting on the bike, I decided to finish a book that Landen let me borrow, The Rider. I could not put this book down. In fact, I read 30 pages during my ride.

The Rider, by Tim Krabbe is a book that chronicles an ameatur European road racer during a 150 km race. My tolerance for reading is at an all time low (what with d-school). Somehow, I finished it in ~ 4 hours. It is a great read. Highly recommended.

After my ride and a two hour nap, I watched the national wrestling duals. One area of note was the nistalgia throwback videos in between semis and finals session. More specifically, Dan Gables 70’s hairdo and mustache in said videos.

It is great to see the Iowa Wrestling team solid after all these years(of being mediocre).

And remember, with great mustache, come great responsibility. ~ Peter Griffen “Family Guy” 2008.

My new piece of titanium. Not much to look at, but has great ride quality.

Plop, Plop, fiz..

I have no idea what made me think of that title. I may have been the Elixir that I have been taking. Stuff is basically salt and calcium. I started taking this on long rides/races to self medicate/ward of cramping. Works pretty well.

Anyway, some thoughts:

1. Who the F eats a whole thing of iced cream. Even if it is reduced fat. I though only pregnant women, the obese, bulimics, and high school wrestlers binged this bad. IF you are an athlete, act like one. Eat like one. Sleep like one. Don't be the 80% guy.

2. People are always quick to tell you how much weight the have lost. Some people I know will say,"10 pounds less of me" five times per year. It's like, stop. Only tell us if it is off and off perminately.

3. Rest weeks? take a whole week off? Sound advice. Sorry to ruin your ideas of training, but science tells us that the bodies cardivascular system, muscular system detrains after 72 hours. It is a fact. Yes. Rest weeks are good. They are important to erase fatigue. You can erase fatigue by cutting your 26.5 hours, to 10.5... Ask me if you need the literature. I have it right in front of me. Use it/loose it.

4. Love this one. I am not riding/racing this year because....(fill in the blank).

One last thing. My cousin in St. Petersburg is the newest member of our biking community. He just purchased a cross bike yesterday. Three days a week is his target goal. Good luck to him. Hopefully, he gets the bug...like all of us.

With that I will leave you to your thoughts. I am going to go for a 3 hour ride.

Weekend riding, politics, etc.

A lot of interesting things transired over the weekend.

First, my sister came to town(zanzibar coffee in tow) things were great, mexican food, margaritas, hanging out at my friend marco's house, until saturday morning when she lost/wast robbed of her wallet. Talk about a pain. 2 hours of phone conversations with credit card companies and things got taken care of. She was rather perturbed, and asked,"Matt, have you ever lost your wallet before. I feel like a dumb ass." My response,"Kristin, the question is not have I lost my wallet before, the better question is how many times has this occured." I think 6 is a good rough estimate.

I went on a great outdoor ride with the likes of Ryan, Roxie, Marco, Bryan, Munson et al. It is great to see everyone doing the necessary "off" season riding to stay in shape, gain fitness. Alas, I did not make it to Des Moines for the 2 mile roller races. It is a pity also, because I actually fancy myself as sort of a two mile-indoor roller race-early season specialist. Wonder who won?

Third, I watched the republican/democrat duals, or I mean debates yesterday. Some observations:

GOP
The republican debate was ridiculous, they throughly solidified the fact that none of them will become president.
No one wants a president that has weak kneed policy, but can sling smart assed quips all night
John McCain loves slinging smart assed quips.
I think Mitt Romney came out of the debate looking the most presidental saying things like "It would be nice if we could stick to policy and not personal attacks."
Unfortunately, we did not hear much for Ron Paul. When he speaks with a back drop of politicians that love war mongering and spending the US peoples he sounds crazy. What is crazy, is is that this war cost one Trillion dollars(277,000 per us citizen?), most of the GOP want to send more troops, build more ships and extent the sphere of influence of the USE(United States Empire). His ideas only sound because his are rooted in constitutionalism, liberty seeking for the american people, and deficite spending, and why would we all want to focus on these things?

Democrat
john Edward and Barack Obama come out looking like it is a two way race for the Democratic nomination.
Hillary Clinton Talks all the time about here 35 year history of making change, well forgive me Hilary, but I don't remember any of this so why not talk about your platform now.
then they asked about Pakistan...F.

Human Powered Trails

Human Powered Trails

Check this video out below on youtube.com
My old roommate now goes to college in LaCrosse, Wi
and made this video for a college class.
Nice.

New Years Eve

I drove to Des Moines to spend NYE with my sister, Kristin, and some of here friends. The night started great and took a quick turn for the worse. I am not sure where this turn came from. Please help me identify the critical point in the evening where things went sour.
1. Ate Big Tomato Pizza
2 Had one Miller High Life Light
3 Went to pre-party at friend of friends house
4 Realized that pre-party was a Obama supporter caucus party, decided that it might not be a good idea to talk about Ron Paul
5 Stopped drinking alcohol under the assumption that I would drive the team around the rest of the night
6 Arrived at the final destination for the evening, El Bait Shop. Realized that I was sans identification.
7 Spent NYE with two security guards in the lobby of El Bait Shop. Discovered insight on security guards political affiliation, beliefs system, and why they hated their job.
8 Stood outside for a cab in -10 degree weather for 1 1/2 hours
9. Had a friendly game of lets race up the stairs with fellow cab patron to keep warm. Pretty and nice as she was, she was a sore looser.
10 Was punched in the ear by sore looser
11 Stayed at a Hampton Inn, awoke late, missed breakfast