Yesterday we were supposed to have a group training ride along the Delaware River from Lambertville, New Jersey to Frenchtown and back for a total of 35 miles.

But Mother Nature had other ideas; namely torrential rain and hurricane force winds.

As an alternative Tommy and I decided to go to Knapps and try out the CompuTrainer.

Pete, the owner of Knapps, told me that we could simulate our ride up the Tourmalet in July on the CompuTrainer and this would be a way to benchmark our fitness and measure progress.

When we get to the shop, Chris, a personal trainer, is there to get us set up. He explains that rather than do the whole Tourmalet ride, which would be 80 miles, he has programmed in a 24 mile ride that has an undulating terrain ranging from downhills to 1.9% grade all the way up to 9.9% grade that would be comparable to the final climb.

The literature on the Etape for this year says the Tourmalet averages 7.5% grade so Tommy and I thought this would be a good test.

We are all plugged in and the iPod is in the docking station and off we go.

The Computrainer is connected to a PC which is connected to a flat screen TV which is connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone's connected to the hip bone. You know the rest.

Up to 8 people can be training and competing against each other simultaneously. It displays your heart rate, cadence, percent of the climb, distance, watts, mothers maiden name, you name it. It can show you the profile of the climb or a scenic 3-D view like your Garmin GPS. It can even do a colonoscopy.

We are on this thing for about 10 minutes and Tommy is already ahead by a mile so I program in the shortcut on the trainer and Tommy doesn't notice until too late that I am ahead in points for the King of the Mountain jersey.

It is fun and hard and keeps getting harder and harder. Tommy finishes in 1:41. Even though I struggle on for another 40 minutes I am encouraged because I am leaving my bike at the shop for some equipment changes. I tell Tommy that I had to circle back because I didn't get a musette at the simulated feed zone. He believes me.

Tommy's bike was something he found in his barn which looked like it had a 21 cog and no front derailleur. He shifts from the small chainring to the large chainring using just his finger to guide the chain. This is what it must have been like in the old days before derailleurs were invented. It also explains why Tommy has a shorter, dirty index finger on his right hand.

I have standard gearing on my bike: 175 mm cranks, 42/52 chainring and a 25 cog in the rear.

During the ride I had a hard time when the climb was 9 or 9.9% grade and I was maxed out on heart rate at 154 (just at my threshold). Alex at Knapps is putting a compact crankset on my bike this week which will have a 34/50 chainring. They are also ordering me a larger, younger heart from Specialized. They told me it is the same model that the Astana team is using this year.

I will go back next Saturday to compare and I am hoping that this will help me with the steeper parts and raise my average speed.

At yesterdays rate I expect to spend over 6 hours climbing the 3 mountains at the Etape du Tour.

SIX HOURS OF CLIMBING. Holy crap batman!!!

Yesterday I was fresh when I got on the bike and it took me 2:20. It may take me much longer after two mountains and 75-80 miles under my belt.

I was telling someone in work about the Etape du Tour. They said it sounded like fun and asked me how many days it would take. Maybe they know something that I don't.

This workout on the Computrainer was the hardest I have had since Army basic training. I haven't suffered this much since racing in the hot summer heat in my wool jersey and shorts.

It seems odd but after this excruciating workout I insisted on buying my very own Computrainer so I could suffer in the comfort of my own home.

This blogging exercise is harder than training on the bike. Here are some important tips I picked up since starting a blog.

1) Know where your blog is. This is essential if you hope to have any chance of blogging more than once.
2) Know the password to your blog. Surprise, you created it, now what the heck is it. I can't find the paper I wrote it on. Maybe if I go for a ride it will come to me.
3) Have a purpose or theme for your blog. Mine seems to be to add extra administrative tasks to a schedule that is already overflowing with important work.

Take last Sunday for example:

Get up and let dogs out and retrieve the newspaper (dogs refuse to do tricks this early in the morning). Let dogs in and feed them while making coffee. Give dogs leftover foam from the morning cappuccinos. (Is it me or do these damned dogs seemed to be getting an extraordinary amount of attention.) Take cappuccinos and paper into bedroom where Robin and I and the dogs lounge around for about an hour.

Get up and walk the dogs four miles, have some breakfast then perhaps a nap because even though it is only 11:00 the dogs and I are too tuckered out and confused to find my blog and remember my password.

Holy cow, where did the time go. I just dozed off reading the paper and now it is already time to watch cycling on Versus with Phil and Paul and Bobke while I have a lite snack. It has to be lite because I still hold out the possibility that I may get on the indoor trainer after I fix whatever that thing was the Robin asked me about last year.

But first, walk the dogs and then feed them.

It seems to me after reading this that these dogs are holding me back. I could have been way more successful in just about every one of my life's endeavors had it not been for them. And, well, all of the naps, etc.

So, in retrospect it seems that the dogs and I are just lazy and focus on eating and none of us wants to go out in the cold, snowy, icy weather to train.

Whew, I feel so much better.