Where am I? That's right, Maple Laughs fans. Couple-a-days of bidness at our labs here in the Great White North. All day travel....mostly trapped in the aluminum tube on the tarmac after a toddler ralphed like Linda Blaire in the Exorcist. Awesome. Literally nails the people in the row in front some how. Chaos erupts and it is decided we must turn the aluminum tube around and return to the gate to dump off Linda, her parents and wait for them to extract their luggage and have the cleaning crew in white chemical suits come in and sterilize.

I love my job.

Yesterday though was some nice sweet suffering on za bike. I finally got out on the roadie after way too much inside and on the 'cross bike. I had some badness with my PowerSnap as well:

If you see this on the PowerTap's CPU unit: APIdr ....you are humped. The PowerTap was flickering and needed a battery change like I've done like 10 times since getting this thing last year (that;s another story). I swapped out the CPU's 2032 battery and literally that APIdr message pops up. Uh, oh. Sphincter pucker. I call Saris and I've got to admit, the support was decent to get this specific issue resolved. The guys says nonchalantly: Oh, yeah. Um it looks like your CPU crapped out and you need to reinstall the firmware. I had to:

• Install the USB drivers on my lap top
• Download the new version of the CPU's firmware
• Connect the USB doc to the PC
• Configure the right port for the USB
  
• Load the firmware.

Now I get to use the thing again, but I can't connect it to CyclingPeaks or PowerAgent. Awesome. And I'm a software guy....

So I took to the roads with the fixed PowerSnap yesterday and it was fun. For those of you in the Boulder Denver area, you are intimate....maybe bored....with the "Fruit Loops." It is the perfect training ground in normal conditions for coaches to dose specific plans to have flatland/rolling power bench marks set and monitored. Doing this in good weather is fun and fast. But do this on snow and with skinny 23c tires. Crazy. SO I just buried myself and the watts were flying though and being able to sustain them was a good thing as I am still working hard to focus on January. It is MONUMENTALLY hard to stay monk-ish but I am trying. Calories in must not exceed calories used...or so I try to hold on to. Super hard.

But at least I am not vomiting....

That is precisely what za plan prescribed today and za plan wasn't joking. NCAR, Flag/Amphitheater, Lee Hill/Deer Trail finish up with the humiliator of Olde Stage. Then home. I literally ran out of liquids. 90 degrees by the time I was rolling into my garage. The sensations were good. 2 minutes and 46 seconds faster than I've ever done Flag/Amp. All by watching the Tap. Finished up the day 3 pounds down from what I woke up at and am already 10 + pounds total body weight lost since initiating za plan. Amazing. Who'd've thunk it: eat more, ride 'less' yielding weight loss and becoming demonstrably faster. I likee.

It's fun again.

Done with the first big block of za plan. I am well into the 20K feet of climbing mark. Some of it slow at certain watts, other portions at vomit inducing intensity. 10 lbs of body weight shaved since the start a month ago. Now begins a nice break.

The powertap has been good. Mechanically it has worked perfectly (knock on wood), and psychologically it has helped me immeasurably. I can see and know precisely when to chill, and when to get it on, full gas. Courses I trained on will never be looked at the same. Before it was: "Oh shit, here's that steep pitch. Just keep spinning the legs fast and don't blow up.", Now it's: "...ramp it up to 450 watts, hold, back it to 350, hold..." and before I know it, I'm out of that section spinning faster coming out of it than I'd ever had before. Fresher...and faster.

Travel this week but it's perfect timing for it. Gonna stay off the bike, maybe run but za plan is kind to me this week. Good food is at the core of my week to keep the body humming.

Note Erik's SRM. ET is a tank of a powerhouse. Great photos of interesting things from this photographer can me found at P. Edward Squidersons Flikr site here.

So "Za Plan" (please say this with a Hogan's Hero-esque German accent) requires a little watt meterage. So I get the SL 2.4, and have it built by my sinsei Dwayne BCS (of COURSE with ceramic Open Pro's and black spoke...c'mon!) and mount the whole thing up. Nothing. The display lights up all pretty and such, but NOTHING is being read from the 500lb hub (NOTE: there's no doubt Landis won his 'testosterone stage' hauling up all that PowerTap weight). So, I get in the family truckster and go and get some new batteries for this thing at 9PM. Safeway...no go. Walgreens: Golden! The ever rare EXP76 batteries are found on their expansive selection.

I get home, install said batteries. Nothing. I lose it. Kicking stuff, ranting, swearing like a truck driver. I pull off the display piece, clean the heads and re slide back into the mount. Spin the wheel. The shit works. I ride a bit. Flickers on and off. Semi lose it again. Clean it again. Works...and this time (fingers crossed) it is staying on. Going to try it out tomorrow. This thing better work!