Mar 5, 2022
Our guest this week Larry Grossman is an Event Announcer calling Cyclocross and other cycling events. I'm curious to know how he got into announcing events, what other events he does and more. Bill how are you and what are you hoping to learn from Larry?
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In Today's Show
8020 Endurance Sports Trivia
Last week was the second of three rounds of the 8020 Endurance Sports Trivia with host David Warden and fellow contestants Bill Garrels, Bill Plock (Hippie) and me. In Round 1 Bill Garrels got out to a strong lead with getting 2 of the 3 questions correct and set the bar with 2 points. In Round 2 Hippie got 1 point. In round three David Warden will ask me three questions with multiple choice answers. I need 3 points to take the lead. With that, let's get into round 3.
Thanks David Warden 8020 Endurance.
Feature Interview: Larry Grossman
Larry Grossman is a Professional Event Announcer and lover of all things sports and outdoors, Larry Grossman I did some stalking on Facebook and I found this quote on his page - "It's not just a race, it's an event, with as many great stories as there are participants....."
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Endurance News:
Ukrainian cycling coach and father of recent national champion killed in war. The Russian invasion in Ukraine has claimed the life of Alexander Kuly, one of the country's national cycling coaches, who was also the father of 2019 National Road Race Championships Andriy Kulyk. Cycling Weekly
Fitbit Recalls Fitbit Ionic Smartwatches due to burn hazard, offers refund. Fitbit has announced a recall of their older Ionic GPS smartwatch, due to situations where the battery can overheat and cause burn injuries. DC Rainmaker.
What's New in the 303:
My New Old Bike, Do You Really Need a New Bike?
And there it was, my old Madone happily sitting on on my Saris smart trainer just begging for attention. I thought, “why not fix this one up, take the wheels off my never ridden triathlon bike and use that?” (My original Ultregra wheels needed replacing).
I knew it needed some love, some parts and a few tweaks, so I wondered if my top notch, service course bike mechanic friend Andy could fix it up. I told him just use the minimum parts and get it rideable for my 285 mile trip and then I would still consider a new road bike. Now I won’t for a long time hopefully thanks to him.
He wanted no part of “sort of fixing it up.” He is a perfectionist and insisted we do it right; take everything off the frame, repack and replace bearings, all new drive train, shifters, cranks, cables, etc etc… He scrounged for good used parts, even parts off a bike a friend gave him to use “for a good home” after she was hit by a motorist and needed a new bike.
I felt like the kids in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang watching their dad dismantle part of the house to bring back the old race car saved from the scrap heap. Andy would call or text almost daily with some tantalizing update or request approval to spend just a little more for this or that.
My Madone was pretty special to me as it replaced another Madone broken when a driver hit me riding down Lookout. Luckily my body prevailed much better than my bike. Fast forward 40,000 miles and the need to replace the wheels and a tiny crack in the frame expertly fixed by Broken Carbon in Boulder when I decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy a discounted R5. Hindsight 20/20, still not a bad decision, but this one was better.
Trek seems to be in love with the combination of letters that name their road bikes; Madone, Domane and Emonda. So I will affectionately rename my Madone to “Nomad”e with an E. Like a nomad, my bike is on the move again. Andy put two pages of parts, materials and tremendous time to get it rolling again. But it rides so well!
Andy is my friend and wanted to help, but he also believes in repurposing and sustainability and put a lot of love into this project. With the insurance money I could’ve easily bought a very nice new road bike, but why? Sure the new 12 speed Dura-Ace is nice. I guess disc brakes are good, although I’m not a 100% on them, but I did toy with the idea of one bike and two sets of wheels; road and gravel. But the heart of the bike, the frame, hasn’t really changed much in the last decade—at least in process.
I picked up my bike two days before I left and because of snow I couldn’t test it. I packed it and off I went. Simply put. It was serendipitous. To feel the love of biking again on a trusted and reliable bike with so many conquered mountains and stories lived; to be on it once again thanks to a friend next to the ocean on my way to Key West on a new adventure with new friends felt amazingly sublime.
The moment I hit the road keeping up with Dave and Deiter, pushing kind of hard to meet the others, I felt so good about this decision. Like, so proud to have kept this bike alive. And if felt better than ever. Tight, responsive, comfortable and the Zipp wheels with the bearings completely re-lubricated rolled so nice. It literally felt like a brand new bike and at a fraction of the cost. Now there is a new bike out there for someone else and I made less impact on the environment.
In light of feeling bike burnout last fall with not such great health over the winter, I have never felt so grateful to be on a bike. As I stared in the calming surf washing ashore, the sound of the water retreating across the sand back to the ocean reminded me of the whirring of the wheels on smooth Florida pavement in the heart of the Everglades.
Rich - I think we need a Part 3 - "When there's nothing to salvage and you decide to go new!". Here's the process I'm going through and the bike that Andy is building for me.
Shout out to last week's guests Dina Griffin (nutrition mechanic) and Bob Seebohar (enrg performance) and their expertise on my ongoing pursuit of trying to figure out endurance nutrition.
I've always struggled with my nutrition and hydration in long course races. After years of trying to figure out a formula that works for me. A couple of years ago I thought I finally figured it out, having one of the best 70.3 races ever. Last year at Boulder 70.3 I found myself struggling to gulp down my sports drink on the bike and felt like I was behind on my hydration. By mile 7 on the run, I was starting to feel nauseous and only found relief in slowing down. With a little more than a mile to go I found myself with dry heaves and fellow athletes offering everything from well wishes to Rolaids (thanks, Guy Sigley). I felt trashed at the finish line with continuing bouts of dry heaves. That was how I ended my last long course race.
In five weeks I'll be on the start line of IRONMAN 70.3 Galveston. I want this race to go perfectly and avoid the hydration mistakes of the past. I also decided to write this article because I don't want anyone else to have races like that. We all train too hard and sacrifice too much to have race day go sideways.
Committed to getting my hydration right at Galveston 70.3, I have been regularly testing my sweat rate in my cycling and running workouts. At 34-38oz (33oz = 1 liter). per hour - more on that later. I also wanted to make sure I knew how much sodium I lose per liter of sweat. Wanting to don't want to find myself My training has been consistent and even my long rides and runs feel great Fast forward this coming April will be my next race at that distance.
Upcoming Guests
3/10: TO and Rinny about the Couples Championship
3/25: A’nna Sewall of Athlete Blood Test and Jordan Jones of Powder7
Closing:
Thanks again for listening in this week. Please be sure to follow us @303endurance and of course go to iTunes and give us a rating and a comment. We'd really appreciate it!
Stay tuned, train informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!