Cast of Characters (and then some)

I got an e-mail the other day from a fellow cyclist in Texas, who has been reading my Blob for some time, and of course, thinks it's great. I don't know this person, and I guess he was out surfing one day, and found me. He went on to say how awesome my Blob is, how cool I am, how fast I must be on the bike, how I look like a combination of Tom Cruise & Anderson Cooper. But he was confused. He asked, who are the people you refer to in your Blob? I guess it's difficult matching the names & faces, and he was getting a little lost. Now, I usually don't use real names per se, to protect the guilty, and almost everyone I know gets a nick-name from me at some point. So I told him for the new year, I will introduce the cast of characters, so everyone knows whos-who.



Me, aka Steve Driscoll, aka The Turtle

Edgar the Turtle, president of my fan club and my alter ego, like Tyler Durden in Fight Club

My beautiful wife, G. The stuff she has put up with from me for the past 11 years of marriage makes her qualify for sainthood.

Sam. My Dog.

Darby, G's dog

The Grover

Car that hit me

Dr. Maxey, aka Mad Max, my Orthopedic Surgeon, and "leg-saver"

Dr. Watson, orthopedic specialist, bone-graft expert and "leg-saver" as well

Nurse Barb, The BEST nurse in the world. I stalk her

Coach Stan-O. Fearless leader of the Bloomington Ratz, our VQ Coaching Group. Stan-O is the glue that hold us riff-raff together, and win races

The Badger, attorney by trade, ruthless masters racer, and all around nice guy. We trade jabs at each other every chance we get, and has not beaten me for a "Stop Ahead" sign sprint as of yet

Sweetie, newbie to the VQ Ratz, does the swim, bike, run thing. He does the "Big Race" in Hawaii

Dr. Reid. Highly skilled plastic surgeon, does the swim, bike, run thing as well. Married to the Yoga Nazi

The Young One. Fast Junior cyclist. Eats a box of Twinkies before a ride, and still pounds us in the pavement

Miss Karen, attorney by trade, married to The Badger, also qualifies for sainthood (refer back to "married to The Badger")

Little Mikey. Great friend & cyclist, currently vacationing in Spain, for 6 months



Uncle Gary, Director of Team Mack Racking, a professionally managed amateur racing team

J-LO, attorney by trade, great friend & cyclist. Nicest guy you'll meet. Have no idea why he hangs with The Turtle

You Cannot Shake Hands with a Clenched Fist

My friend Pain was here to stay. I tried everything to get rid of him. After a while, he was becoming, well, kind of a pain. So, the lightbulb went off in my cranium Friday afternoon, as there is a LOT of space in there. I will entice Pain with an incentive to leave. You see, Pain is a sucker for a cold beer. So, Friday afternoon, I told Pain that I had a coupon for two free drafts at the local watering hole, Erma & Joe's. It's a pretty seedy place, with 8 oz. drafts for 50 cents, free peanuts and all of the second hand smoke two lungs can handle per hour.

So I gave him the coupon, and off he went. What he didn't realize is that I made the coupons up, on my computer, but he bought it anyway, and I waved him goodbye. When he came back later that evening, he saw that there was NO Vacancy at the Turtle's aquarium. He sent me a text message later on, saying it was cold outside, and he was hungry, and all he had with him was his ho-bo bag etc. I ignored it, and went off on my own. Pain, Pain go away, and don't come back another day. Although I know he will, I have a soft spot in my heart for him.......We have become good friends, like peanut butter & jelly.

Back to the great indoors w/ VQ. Saturday, tough indoor workout, lots of VO2's and strength building stuff on the bike. Two hours later, I was cooked, well-done, filleted and broiled.The Badger, Coach Stan-O & Sweetie were all part of the game. Sweetie, although a newbie to our group is doing quite well. He is a solid talent, and now I know why he can compete in the "Big Race in Hawaii". He grinds away on the bike, maxing out the wattage's, and doesn't even sweat. He has caught on quick though, that we are a WEIRD bunch of guys, training, having fun, and poking fun at each other. I think he also realizes that we love to see each other do 110% in our training. We are the best, because we are winners!

This am, we went to the Badger Den. We had a surprise visitor, Dr. Larry who has been in hibernation for the past several months. He used to be part of our group, but between a wife, 19 kids, performing 8 surgeries per day, 9 days per week, and sleeping the third Sunday of every other month, something had to give. So, he got rid of 16 of the kids, and now only does 7 surgeries per day. (OK, kidding, about the surgeries, that's a little far fetched, don't you think?)

I had a double workout to do, as I have to be off tomorrow. So, I did 2 sets of plyo's and 6 maximum sprints, then spent an additional 1.5 hours riding on the compu-trainer w/ The Badger & Dr. Larry. It was a blast. Even though we were riding a computer simulated course, and I had already done a complete days workout before I even got on the bike, I STILL beat The Badger for every "Stop Ahead" sign sprint! He gave me some lame excuse that he could not see them, because he didn't have his reading glasses on, and his dog was barking, and he didnt brush his teeth, and his fur was not combed in the right way. Whatever.

Two Buck Chuck

Did an outdoor ride last Saturday & Sunday. Dr. Mike & I hit the road on Saturday, and The Badger, Dr. Reid, Rob J. & myself braved the 24 degrees, overcast, 20+ mph. winds on Sunday, because we could. Two hours of frozen, and we earned bragging rights.

We learned very quickly that only the few, the brave & the stupid ride outdoors in that weather, unless we have a gun to our head. That being said, we shall do it again, and soon. I shall also beat The Badger for every "stop ahead" sign sprint, as this seems to be a reoccurring theme.

Back to the indoor grind last night w/ The Badger, Sweetie & The Young One. I, being the lazy one of the bunch had to do some detention work, and complete part of my squats, jump boxes, lunges and maximum sprints that I should have done on Monday night, but did not. Why didn't I do them Monday? Well, laziness is what it comes down to, and the fact that they are difficult to do, while asleep on the chair, watching a movie.

So, we grind on, doing interval after interval. My friend Big Rob came by to cheer us on, and share our pain. I remember these from the winter of 03/04, and cannot believe how my mind was flashing back & forth. The others were wincing in pain with every pedal stroke. I was singing, clapping, sharing war stories from back in Nam. Once the 7th, 5 minute interval was complete, I asked Coach Stan-O when the workout starts, now that we have warm up completed? Just then, my friend Pain came by, and tapped my on the shoulder, just to say HI! I invited him to come over last night, and stay for the evening. I politely asked him to leave this am, and he did not. He's still here, and I think he's going to be here for a little while longer. Light spin tonight should be a clue for Pain to hit the road for a while, maybe not. Either way, I am the best, because I am a winner.

This Just In!

My New "Team Mack" Issue R-33 for 2008. 42cm w/ SRAM Force Kit & SRM Power Setup
15.5 lbs. of FAST














Little Ade's Bike Shop Owner, Mike Antonini & Chief Mechanic, Dione

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

I've been busy. Sorry for the lack of updates. Between a wonderful Christmas & New Year, I have found my "sweet spot" of laziness. Back to business now I guess. I said that once the new year came, and I could still train as I wanted, then I would. Kind of a small benchmark, but it came, went, and no problemo's to speak of as of yet.

Back to training. Our VQ Coaching group, ie: The VQ Ratz as we have been named has been meeting regularly for training. Coach Stan-O, The Badger, Dr. Reid, The Young One, Myself (The Turtle) and a newbie as of last Saturday, Sweetie. Sweetie is a nice guy who is a semi-pro triathlete & higher education learning material manager for a large learning institution in Central Illinois. He competes in some big race in Hawaii once per year, I think it is called The Ironman? Maybe you have heard of it. It's some grueling million hour death march where you swim like 50 miles, bike 3000 miles, then run 4 marathons, back to back, or something like that. It seems that you have to be pretty tough to do this race, or at least be able to walk 18 holes of a golf course with a 12- handicap.

The turtle has no mental endurance for more than 50 minutes of 30+ miles per hour plus 3 laps, so this Ironman thing does not work. Plus, turtles can swim fast, but run really slow. Just ask Mr. Hare.

Dr. Reid took a bunch of great shot's last night w/ the sophisticated camera, but are way too large to post on the Blob, so here are some for your entertainment purposes.

Badger & Miss Karen w/ their fur children

Pre-Surgery w/ Dr. Maxey

Sock Monkey, Uncle Gary & Me!

Winter ride late last year in Springfield