Blood

I did a lactic test this past weekend to check the numbers and see where my fitness stands. For those of you who don't know how the test works, I attach my bike to a machine that reads wattage and start pedaling at 100 watts. Every 3 minutes the wattage increases by 50 watts and a small blood sample is taken from my ear to measure the lactic acid concentration. Basically it's a kamikaze mission crossed with a night out with a vampire. You keep pedaling until you blow up and end with a little less blood than you started with. I was pleased to see the improvement in my lactic curve from the last test I did. I'm getting to the point where I can pedal as easily as I can sit on the couch. In fact my new training program incorporates couch lounging intervals... not quite. Anyway, after an excellent Easter brunch with the family on Sunday I headed out to put those calories to use. After a few miles I turned my head to expel some mucus from my running nose. I have this down to science and don't even use my hand for assistance. I blew like I've done thousands of times and out came my precious endurance liquid: Blood. Great. So I pedal with my head cocked up and breathe heavily through my nose for a while but the blood keeps a coming. This was the nose bleed from hell on Easter day itself. I eventually came across a sheriff parked in a lot along my training route and inquired about paper products. I was in luck. Inside a paper towel, he stored some magic cookies... not quite as powerful as magic beans, but pretty darn close. He didn't give me any of the cookies but the paper towel was mine and guess what: it smelled like cookies! So I jammed a piece up my nose and was teased by the scent of magic cookies for the rest of my ride. True story.

Other than that, not too much is going on here in Michigan. Same old, same old. Training is going good, got a new chain, Detroit's mayor has been charged with a few felonies, and I'm getting ready to race this weekend. Yep, I guess the chain is the highlight of the week. So I'm going to try to hang on to my blood for the next few days and then try to win some bike races this weekend.