The Pedal Log

You see a tunnel of darkness, feel it closing in pain, shrieking with acceleration, and plummeting towards exhaustion. You rise against weakness, find peace in simple purpose, and your mind fills with a frenzy of speed. Going fast on a bicycle. Visting Charlotte North Carolina last weekend, I had the opportunity to join a group ride on Saturday morning. I stood out like a sore thumb for a number of reasons, chiefly, I was showing a lot of skin. The day was forecasted to hit a high of around 60 degrees, and the cloudless sky promised not to interrupt any of the sun’s warm transmissions. I dressed accordingly, at least, I dressed appropriately for a Michigander. The ten other riders were clad in head to toe winter apparel, the kind I typically save for those days laced with snow. My bare arms and exposed legs made introductions obvious “this is Jesse, he’s not from around here”. I was invited to the ride by Kyle Knott, and he introduced me to everyone in the group before we g...

A dark roast coffee with a good friend, that is the ideal way to start a day. This morning I met with Derek Dalzell, owner and head coach at  Dallzell Coaching . A friend, and fellow appreciator of the magical coffee bean. We met this morning for a typical purpose, it's a new year, and we wanted to discuss our resolutions. However, as cyclists, we express this purpose very differently. Our resolutions are specific, and often called terms such as functional threshold power, power to weight ratio, goal races, and peak fitness.  These resolutions represent our hopes for the upcoming season. As my coach, Derek had scheduled this meeting to review the plans and trajectory we will take to achieve them. As the head wizard of fitness data interpretation, Derek had transmogrified an entire season's worth of heart rate and power data to pinpoint my talents as a rider. Graphs and charts in hand, he identified my strengths and weaknesses, and shared his plan for my development. ...