Please, Drive That H2

This weekend and into next week is going to hurt. Bitter cold temperatures are going to be in town. Thank you Canada. I was starting to beleive Al Gore's hype about global warming. Looks like the brave souls who are going to be riding outside this weekend are going to be racking up some WRCS points. I was thinking today as part of my body was a little chilled, that for next winter, I am going to invest in some better cold weather gear...and fenders. At least we still have a few days where I can get some more miles in outside before it gets real cold.

And to brighten everyone's spirit, here is a sunny picture!

Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO-April 2006

If your looking for warm temps and have no way of heading south, put a call out to your neighbor with the Hummer or Escalade. Maybe it will become warmer. Time to go clear the driveway, I have put it off for riding the past week!

After todays ride, I had some spiffy "snero" dynamic wheels. Temp was a manageable 23F with a decent wind out of the west making it feel single digits at times.And for the sunny picture of the day...

Mi padre montando su bicicleta en el Lion's Loop, Loma, CO-April 2006

90F at the LJ100, Big M, Manistee, MI-June 2006...250oz. of fluids consumed!

Minnesota rider behind on lap 2 rollin' on a 29er

I beat him on a 26er:-)

My Goal this year...8hrs-thats 32:10 faster than last year

I Love this Picture

It is much better there than what is was like during my ride today.

Zippety-Do-Da, 18 Rd., Fruita, CO-April, 2006

Cooling off via a river crossing on the Amasa Back. A sunny 80F day in Moab, UT. April 2006

Ain't No Biking Like Snow-Biking

Yup. That's right...except for climbing mountains out west in 80 degreee weather. Ahh, that would be nice! But on the other hand, it is winter and we have to deal with it. I am. I was able to get in a few rides on singletrack this week. It was the first time I rode a trail in over a month. ILRA was Monday after riding some dirt roads on the fixie. It turned out to be in great condition and was fast for a snow covered trail. Tuesday was a good long afternoon in the saddle riding from home out to Hickory Glen in Commerce Twp. The dirt roads and horse trails getting out there were in primo shape. The trail is tight and twisty, so it gave me some good leg work speeding up and slowing down the fixie. On the ride back, the temp had dropped into the low teens and the dirt roads had turned to ice. I tried to add in some more paved roads and undisclosed trails, but the last 5 miles home are all dirt. I stayed on the rubber the entire time, but it was not an easy task, considering there is no coasting!

Anyway, some fresh white stuff came down on Wednesday, so after class on Thursday I went to Kensington to do some x-country skiing. Trails had enough snow and the 2hour ski felt pretty good. Skiing definelty works some different muscles that are not encorporated as much in cycling. By the hour mark, I could surely feel my hip flexors up front. Luckily, I woke up this morning and felt good. So, I went out again today and did another ski after the gym workout. I was going to do another snow ride, but we got another 2 inches, so I went for a ski.

This weekend should be some bike time, but a ski is not ruled out. Probably a couple double workout days. Should be fun.

Since the 10-day shows more cold and snow, I think I am going to start posting warm weather biking pictures. It will give me something to look foreward to!

Whats Better than This?

Ride in the morning.
Ride in the evening.
Snow packed dirt roads.
Fixed gear.
HID's.
23 degrees.
Snow/sleet/ice chip mix.
Frozen Helmet.
Frozen glasses.
Crinkly Ice covered jacket.
No one on the roads.

What a great day!

Frozen Chamois

That was cold. I headed out for a 3.5 hour ride about 11:30 this morning. It was hovering around 20F with a 7w/c factor. Not bad, I just dressed for the weather with my normal of tights and booties down low and an underarmor, l/s jeresy and wind jacket up top. My ride was on paved roads which all turned out to be really wet or slushy. The cold melted snow/ice immediately sprayed off the tires and coated me. My ass was very wet, cold, and in the freezing process. I would stand up and pedal to try and keep blood flow going. After a while it seemed to get better as I got on more highly traveled roads. I cut the ride short to just over 2 hours as my entire lower body was soaked. My booties were covered with a salty water mixture that went down to my shoes. Even my toe warmers were wet! My tights were soaked, but the knee warmers underneath kept the water from reaching my skin.

As I came in the house, I pulled my jacket off as globs of ice fell out. I guess I was working hard and sweating, which correlated to water sitting on the jacket and freezing. I took everything off and threw it in the washer right away. My tights and bike shorts were drenched up high. I have only seen my chamois wetter than that twice. That would be riding in heavy downpoors this summer. Even after the 90F temps at Lumberjack or 12H of Boyne didn't get it nearly as wet. When I would stand up and then sit back on my seat, it felt like a layer of ice had formed over the leather. Brrr.

So, the lessons learned...do one of two things

1. Use fenders on the front and rear to keep the road spray to a minimal since it was also all over my face and glasses

or

2. Wear waterproof pants to keep the water from soaking the base layer, but that keeps the sweat in and will make me colder if I happen to sweat a lot or stop.

Tommorrow I will try the waterproof pant thing since I have a pair and do not own fenders. Or if the roads dry up, I will not need either. I need to be on the roads tommorrow for my ride, but I am thinking next week will be good for the back roads, especially if there is more snow. Off to ride the trainer for another 2hrs.

Back to Normal

School. Buy book. PT. Home at 3. Ride at 3:30. Strap on lights. Get ready to roll. Thought it was 30F. Actually 19F. Home 2.5 hours later. Frozen water. Frozen hands. 15F with 5F w/c. Good Times.

Sick

This week plain out sucked. I had a great week of riding the previous week, getting in 14.5hours just by riding when I felt like it since it was so nice. This week was different. I took my recovery day Monday and things went down hill from there. I came home from work early after an early disposal of my lunch and dinner. I had got that nasty intestinal flu that has been attacking the entire country. It hit me like a truck. I was told that most take 12-24 hours to get out of your system. Went to bed and didn't get to sleep until 3 o'clock. Woke up after puking all night almost evry hour. I felt like total crap and decided I should stay home. Slept for a while then tried to get fluids in me. Yup, I was even throwing up plain water, and that was all that was coming out. Tuesday's calories included 2 popsicles at night, a few spoonfuls of J-ELLO and a few ounces of water. Got up Wednesday and felt better. I ate some toast, but still looked like hell and couldn't function right after no nourishment for days. Got better as the day went on. I drank a 7-Up and that was the first time I had drank a pop in over a year. Ended up having an egg and bagel for a meal and was able to keep it in my system. Thursday came and I was ready to actually go to school. That was until I was unable to sleep most of the night due to a painful stomach. Thursday morning I was back at step 1-could not even drink water. Yippie! Got better later in the afternoon. Friday, felt better, but I had no energy again and no appetite. Food just wasn't anything I wanted to deal with. Saturday was almost normal. I had some stomach pains, but they went away as the day wore on. I was able to get in a spin on the bike for a bit inside. Boy did my knees and legs hurt. After days of sitting/laying around and used to being active, my body hated me. Stiff is a good word. Sunday I was finally able to get in a decent ride. I kept it inside as it was cold and rainy/drizzly/icy. I was also able to skate later in the day.

Today I woke up to a nice ice storm. The trees, cars, houses, roads, and anything outside is covered in ice. 1/4 inch of ice to be exact. It looks cool, but with temperatures in the 20's all week, it is not going anywhere. Power is out in many areas and I assume it will keep going out as the weight starts taking down poles and trees. I was able to get to the gym mid-day and my body was a little sore/weaker after that nasty cold. Doing nothing for almost a week kills you physically and mentally. Hopefully after school tommorrow I will be able to get in 3 hours on the SS. I geared it up to make it a little harder. Can't wait to taste the salty spray off of the roads. It will taste so good to be outside pedalling after sitting inside for waaaaaaay to long. No cable TV, no new magazines, crappy weather equalled staring at the table or the same picture for an hour last week. School is actually looking good to get to, something to do and learn...productivity.

Hopefully no one gets that nasty strain of the flu because it SUCKS. BAD.

I Love Global Warming

The past few days have been awesome. The sun has been out and shining, it has been dry, and I don't have school until next week. I did the Trails-Edge New Years Day ride on Monday. A nice easy 13.5 mile ride on the fixie with a bunch of other people. I had no idea where the hell I was, but that is part of the fun. That ride turned out to be a good rest/recovery ride for me.

With this warm high 40's low 50's weather, I have certainly enjoyed it. The past three days I put in 10 hours just because I could. It felt great and my legs are feeling good too. I found a few more routes to ride and some nice roads.

Off to the gym today after Pilates. I can't wait to see how many people are there now after making their new years resolution to lose weight. Those are the people who show up a few times for a few weeks in January and then disapear. They are also the ones who wear sweat pants and sweat shirts in the hot gym and sweat like pigs. I guess when they step on the scale after their workout it shows them that they lost weight...yeah, water that needs to be replenished. These are often the people who I see come in and use the weight machines and nothing else. Weights are good for building strength and toning, but they should at least be doing some cardio workout to burn some calories. And they probably believe the machines too. When I ride the stationary bike to warmup 10 minutes, I usually burn 200-300 calories. That is usually 1/2 hour riding at a zone 3 pace, not 80bpm. The other day at the high point, I was burning 2000 calories/hour rate. That is friggen impossible. While I am ranting about the gym, I guess I should point out the #1 thing that bothers me besides people looking for the closest parking spot....people running on the treadmills for an hour when it is sunny and 50 degrees out. Get outside. Well, maybe they are working on the mental aspect, becasue I would fail that part.
/rant

Okay, time for some core strengthening!