No Chain, No Chain.

The joking term on the Postal team for feeling good on the bike is "no chain," meaning, pedaling feels effortless. Two years ago, in the midst of a rather tense Tour stage, Armstrong got on his radio and called Bruyneel.

"Uh, Johan, I need to check something on my bike," he said.

Bruyneel began barking out orders, organizing the other riders and mechanics to go to Armstrong's aid.

"No, no, I don't need all that," Armstrong said. "I just need confirmation of something."

"What?"

"I need to know if there's a chain on this bike," Armstrong said. "Because I can't feel it."

There was a pause, and then Johan's voice replied, crackling in the radio.

"You [expletive] . . .," he said, as the team broke up in laughter.
-Taken from an article by Sally Jenkins


I finally had a "no chain" day. I've been in a dedicated training pattern for a couple of months, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointed with my progress. Yeah I can get on the bike and spin for the recommended time, but I often am just left feeling like my legs have lead in them. I even took a week or so off as I felt my legs just getting heavier and never feeling that snap that I expected.

So last night, against my thoughts of just curling up in bed to watch TV I decided to tough it out and put in some trainer time. My ride last night was just a base conditioning ride, but its a ride I've been expecting to happen for a month or so now.

I had Tivo'd the Oklahoma State vs Pittsburgh basketball game (an instant classic if you missed it), so I had good motivation to spin. I've found that if I ride the trainer while watching Oklahoma State games my fingernails suffer less and I remain more calm as I don't have as much energy to burn.

I start the ride nice and easy, but quickly found myself snapping up a couple gears higher and adding a little more resistance on the handlebar remote just to get my heart rate to the bottom of the range I needed to be spinning within. 15 minutes clicked by quickly. Another 15 minutes passed and before I knew it it was halftime and I had knocked out almost an hour and for once I felt good. Really good.

I kept spinning, cadence staying high at 95+ rpms and heart rate staying rock solid in the 140 beats per minute range. The game tightened up, as neither team could get more than one possession ahead, but I just kept going feeling like I could ride all night. Little did I know that I just might have to ride all night if I expected to keep churning out miles while this slug-fest of a game rolled on.

The final minutes of the game wound down, with each team having a chance to steal a win but neither being able to do so. Overtime. Legs feeling incredible, heart somehow staying in control even though my emotions are up and down constantly with every possession in this game. The first 5 minute overtime comes and goes with no change, and it heads to the 2nd OT period.

Finally in the 2nd OT period, OState breaks out a little breathing room after an intentional foul on Pittsburgh and I start to think they will pull this one out. At this point my legs feel as fresh as can be, even after almost 2 hours of pushing 95 revolutions of the cranks every minute.

Today is a good day.

Pokes win, and I've got no chain.