Pisgah National Forest

Why, why did we ever have to come back. The riding is just so good and the views of the mountains and waterfalls/streams were magnificent. To bad reality has struck and so has Michigan weather. Give me a break, low 30's and 29 degrees on Friday. WTF? Why can't we just have 80 degree temps like the last few weekends down south? Okay, so this is how it went.

-Drove down to NC on Friday and got to the campground around 8 pm. Put the tent up, moved it, moved it again, and then took it down. All thanks to Ranger "stormin' Normin'" Somehow, he had a problem with all of our tents and decided to change his mind in the 15 minutes that he was gone. Oh well, it all worked out...except for the zipper on the other tent!!!

-Rode some dirt road to Candy Bottom, then hit up Daniel's Ridge. Some good techy climbing and some good efforts thrown in. We rode by a really neat waterfall and it seemed like we were riding through the jungle. Leaves were on the trees and the rivers were flowing at full stream.

-Finished up the day with some screaming fast downhill sections that were super fast and flowy. It sure did get the adrenaline flowing. Temps were in the high 70's and it was a picture perfect day. Cleaned up and then went shopping before hanging out at everyone's favorite store(Sprawl-mart.)

-Day 2 had a nice long ride in store. It poured on us the night before, but seemed to stop in order for us to get some time in the saddle. We rode up Laurel Mt and had lunch at the top. It turned into an epic ride with a good solid rain after a long hike-a-bike section. It cooled off and the wind set in. The rain made it for some fun times cruzin' down the downhills with wet roots and rocks. The downhill section was a blast. Some tough switchbacks and then narly rock gardens and some drops.

-Rode up to Pilot Rock and saw the view. It was much better than the 10ft view of haze from Laurel Mt. The weather had turned around and the trail was in good shape. Closed off the ride with a fast and fun downhill then a road climb back.

-Day 3 turned into a beautiful day. Around 80F and sunny skies. The ride of choice was Black Mt. It was a really fun fire-road climb to the top at a good clip. It then turned into singletrack and some hike-a-bike sections. We stopped at a great view of the mountain valley with a scope on the road that we had climbed. Once we got the the top, the fun notch was kicked up. The downhill was the best I have ever ridden. We screamed down it and rolled off water bars that seemed to never end. Flying over rocks and roots and flowing through the corners made the entire trip worth it. We descened for a while until we hit some other trail that flew down the rest of the Mt. with whoop type jumps and fast wide corners. It was my favorite ride of the weekend and I wish we had that stuff around here.

-Then...we had to leave. Randy, Amanda, and I took the 10hr trip back to poor old Michigan. It was a great trip and well worth the time and money invested. I only wish I had an entire week to ride there. The trails really seem to help the technical skills and overall handling of the bike. I was home about 2am this morning and had to get up just past 6 for school. Time to make up that lost sleep.

Now, what shall the weather do? I hope it stays dry tomorrow so I can ride down to the Poto and get a quick lap in and back home. I am assuming it will take somehwere around 3.5hrs for the loop. We shall see...

Out-running the Storm

It was a beautiful spring day when I left on my ride at 1:30. I new the meteorologists had called for T-storms, but I didn't really care. I just wanted to ride. I opted for a gravel grinder today and the roads were in prime shape. Even the road grader was loosening up the road and smoothing the potholes out. After my interval session, I rode north over to Highland Rec. Typically known for its quickness in drying out, I decided to try the trail. Dry. No mud at all. I wasn't syrprised since I have heard other trails in the area are ready to roll. I was planning on riding A and B loops, but when the thunder was booming and rain was coming down, I decided I should shorten the ride. I chose the D loop, so I could pop out onto the road and cruise the 17 miles home. The skies to the north were really dark, but to the south it was still sunny. Just before I got to the road, the light rain went to heavy downpour. I threw on some armwarmers and hammered it down into Milford. Once I was at Wixom Rd, I had outrun the rain. Good, because it was coming hard. On the way home, I only encountered some rain once, but it wasn't too bad. It was a nice ride though. A few hours with no cars and rural back roads is something I enjoy.

Chickasaw Trace AMBC Recap

What a weekend. We left Friday morning at 6am and pulled into the park in Tennessee around 2:45 TN time (1 hr behind). Set up the camping stuff and then went for a ride. The trail was fast and flowy, just what my body needed. My adrenaline was flowing and endorphins were popping out like crazy. The first trail ride of the year, and it was a good one. The loop starts on a gravel road with a loose gravel switchback onto the paved road. Once on the road, you ride down a little bit before you shoot down a screaming fast downhill, into an open field and then on the singletrack. The trail had a good amount of rocks and root strewn throughout, but was very manageable. Later on in the trail was where most of the climbing was. You would climb, then decend on very fast, long, curving downhills. It was a fun loop and just what I needed after a long winter.

Saturday was more of the same. Took a pre-ride, but at a quicker pace than the day before. Hung out at the tent for most of the day relaxing and enjoying the 85 degree weather. Made a nice chicken linguine dinner and called it a night around 9pm.

Sunday was race day. My race was not until 12:30, so I had to sit around all morning. It felt like forever, but finally the time came. We lined up and 26 of us started in the Expert 19-29 group. The pace was extremely fast off the line to say the least. The group safely got down the steep dowhill without any crashes (there were nasty ones w/ multiple people in Sport). Since there has not been any rain in TN in 3 weeks, the clay base was very dry and dusty. My mouth was coated, and my lungs were burning. I had a quick lap, and knew I wouldn't be able to keep that pace. I was riding good, but felt like I couldn't carry much speed through the downhill corners. By lap 3, I was able to go through them better without as much braking. Just more trail riding and that should be taken care of. At the end of lap 1, I was feeling pretty good, but fairly hot.

Lap 2 came and went uneventfully. The lap was a few minutes slower, but I was still keeping a good pace. With a mile and a half to go in the 9 mile lap, I started getting some chills. I quickly drank the rest of my GU20 to try and stay hydrated and replenish the salt. It was hard telling where I was in the race, because there are so many people and other groups right after.

On lap 3, my body started to slow down. In the first half of the course where the trail is not as hilly, I could not keep my heart rate up. I was pushing hard, and my legs weren't even burning, but I could not keep a higher pace. I think it was a mixture of chasing too hard on lap 1 and most of lap 2, the 90 degree heat, and some dehydration. I drank my bottles, but it wasn't enough. The bottles were also warm, so I was not getting the cooling factor there. I am a hot weather guy, but going from 40 to 90 and full effort taxed my body a bit. My savior came in the middle of a scorching hot field where a guy was handing off cold waterbottles. I chugged the entire 16oz bottle and felt better. My pace picked up a bit there and I was riding better once i got to the hills. That was just at the right time, because I was craving a cold bottle and a cold pear to eat. Yeah, I am strange. By the end, I still had a bit in the tank. I passed a guy by outsprinting him on the final grassy climb into the finish. At the end I was hot and tired. The legs felt great, but riding 3 laps of the much rougher than MI course put much more demand on the entire body. I ended up 12th out of 26 and got a huge payout of $6.00!!! Hey, it payed for my waffle on the way home:-)

The new Kona Hei Hei Supreme bike worked good. It rides really well am I am still shocked at how well the Fox RP23 rear shock works. That rear travel sure did help down there. I could tell on day one that having the extra 2.5" of travel made the bike hook up much better.

Overall, it was a good weekend of riding, racing, and enjoying the weather. It was a late night coming home, but well worth it. I had a good time and it is fun to see the other competition nationwide and compare. I felt pretty good for March.

Its that time

Time to race! The winter has finally passed, and the races are on the horizen. Race number one is this weekend down in Tennessee. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning early for the trip down. Streets and Maps says 9.5 hours, so that should leave us some good time to get a lap in before we cook and settle in. I am pumped to ride singletrack for the first time since November. I am looking foreward to working out the rust on Friday and Saturday before the Chickasaw Trace Classic on Sunday. It's going to be a long day Sunday. I expect to get back in the wee hours of Monday. Then up for classes. Four days of sitting through lectures and then I am free for North Carolina for 4 days. Woo hoo. A travelin' and ridin' man. It's gonna be fun. Oh yeah, something about temps in the low to mid 80's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the new bike side, I fixed the brake problem. I got a nice hour forty five ride in on it yesterday. I felt like a fool riding on the dirt roads. I was hitting all of the bumps and holes I could find to see how the rear suspension works. I have been riding hardtail for a while, but I think this bike might just work quite well. I give a better review of it after the weekend. I suppose some riding in TN and Pisgah, NC will show the true strenghs of the bike.

Out until Monday. Look back for a race review. Until then, I'll be enjoying the singletrack and counting Waffle Houses!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, haven't updated in a bit. I have had a bunch to do lately. Last week I got some good riding in. The weather was nice for a few days, then got cold again. At least it was sunny out. I closed off the week wrapping up 300 miles. This week is active recovery with a race this Sunday. I was riding a bunch, had to work a bunch this weekend at the rink, then on top of that I had to finish a BIO project, write a paper on Foreign Policy(ugh), write a psych paper, and study for a BIO, Psych, and History test. On top of that, I had to plan and get ready for the trip to TN this weekend. Dang, thats a lot of time and work.

On the interesting side of things, I picked up my new Kona Hei Hei Supreme Frame today. It is sweet. I built it up, but have a little disc brake problem in the rear. Hopefully I can get that fixed for good tomorrow. I took all of the parts off of the Yeti, but I do have a new chainring, chain, and cassette that needed to be replaced. It does ride nice around the yard! The Fox RP23 rear shock works just like the Terralogic X forks. You can pound on it and it surprisingly doesn't move. Here is the built bike. All I need is for my new wheels to come in and it will be complete.

Gloomy with Humidity

That was what it turned out to be today. I swear I checked the weather doppler at least 5 times in 3 different sites before I ended up riding. It was so damn dark and cloudy that I was sure it was going to downpour at any moment. The air was also thick and made it feel really muggy out. I was still able to get away with only wearing shorts and a jeresy. Not bad for March 14th. Now time for reality and 40 degrees.

I tried some dirt roads today to see how they were. Good news is that some are dry, some are a little wet, but overall, a little more warm weather and they'll be perfect. I see some gravel grinders in the very near future.

I saw this bike leaning up against a pole yesterday, but today it was laying in the water.

Thank You Mr. Weatherman

Well, that was nice. Really, really, nice. A good taste of whats to come. Too bad the warm weather is going to leave us and go back to the 30's and 40's. With the temps in the 70's today, I opted for a nice long ride. I spent the first little bit working on some intensity, then rode tempo for the rest of the ride. Total ride time was 4:40, and I was in the sun the entire time!!! I almost felt naked when I started riding with only shorts and a jeresy. Can't get much better than that.
A work in progress...


Time to get back to reality and bundle up! Low 60's tomorrow, but it looks like it is going to rain. If it hold off until evening, I should be able to squeeze a ride in before the showers come down.

Wait for It

Here we go, out first taste of spring. Highs tomorrow of 68F and it might reach 70 in some places. I am going out after class and will likely see at least 4 hours. It might become more since there is a group going out a 6pm that I might catch up with. Time to work on those tan lines. It's no fun showing up at the first race looking albino. MTB is the choice for tomorrow. I rode in the drop for 60 miles today, wet, cloudy, then a glimpse of the sun when I was finishing. It turned out to be a better day than it looked. Can't wait for tomorrow, except for that 15-25mph wind!

Active Recovery

After 4 strong days of riding, I decided the best choice for today was to do an easy ride to flush the acid out of the legs. I spent an hour and a half riding around the more urban part of Brighton. Normally I ride towards Milford and the parks which is very rural and not much traffic or people. Today was something different. I had actually never ridden into d-town Brighton and around there. 10 minutes into the ride I was already down town. I did a few loops around the rich people's oversized houses and around Brighton Lake. I just spent the time taking in the views and seeing what people are up to. I was surprised to see 3 families taking a stroll through the neighborhood, but not surprised to see 2 suburbans, 1 escalade, and 2 Hummers drive by me! I only had one person honk and they were on the other side of the road. Hmm?

I found another reason why children are obese in these days. As I passed the railroad tracks in d-town Brighton, I noticed a mother and her son taking a walk on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the son-about 5-6yrs ol-was driving a big wheels 4x4 vehicle. This was no normal big wheels, it was like double the size. Are they too lazy to walk, ride a scooter, or ride a bike. I know I have a much better time riding a bike than driving a car.

70 in a 40

Obviously this is bike related. I ended up riding 70 miles on the mountain bike today. That was my plan, but sometimes that gets nixed when the weather is cold, crappy and cloudy. Today was the exact opposite. Temps in the low-40's and bright, sunny skies. I felt like I hadn't been able to ride in this environment for years. I did weat tights, because it was in the 30's when I left, but tomorrow is another story.

I am looking a doing a good recovery ride in the pm since it is supposed to rain in the morining. Tomorrow is the start to working on the tan lines. I should be sporting the knee warmers and NO booties!!! I'll still have a base layer up top w/ a jeresy, but I am hoping that soon the clothing will be dwindled down. I love the days when all it takes is throwing on a jeresy and shorts and heading off. I'm sure tomorrow I will go over everything I am wearing 10 times because it will feel so weird. Sunday is upper 40's and should get a good ride in early before I have to go to work in the pm. All of you dormant bikers should come outside, it's really nice.

XXXXXX is in the air

I am not going to jinx it, but I think "it" is on its way. The temps today were still in the 30's, but we are going to hit 40F tomorrow and keep on creeping up into the mid-50's next week. Oh, yeah. Can someone say jeresy and arm warmers. Wooooooooo hooooooooo. Another clue that "it" is in the air is that I saw 4 other cyclists today. Sure, I was in the highly populated ILRA, but I have not seen another rider all winter long since November. Sure, I saw two in January, but 50F is not winter. I was looking off into the woods when I looked back at the road and saw a rider zip by the other way. I was so shocked that I literally jumped. After a few laughs later I felt like an ass for not waving. Yeah, the title is Brent's MTB Life not Roadie Life.

So this better hold out. A couple more good weeks of riding and I'll be able to test my skills. My overall fitness feels great, but once all of the extra clothing and booties are off, I will have a better clue. All I can say is that so far I am happy with it.

Sun?

It came out today! Even though it was 25F when I rode, it felt much warmer due to the fact that the yellow ball of fire came out for the first time in a while. The legs were quite snappy today. I felt good and am looking foreward to my legs feeling good again tomorrow. Spring is at the end of the tunnel. All we have to do is get through this cold spell for a few days and then we should be good to go. Temps in the 40's and maybe 50F for early next week! Unfortunately I think it is a little too late. I am leaning to believe that my first singletrack riding will be on my pre-ride down in TN in a couple weeks. Hopefully I'm not too rusty on my tech skills, or the course is tame.

If the sun shines again tomorrow I think I will be able to get some more time in than expected. With an open sky, the days seem a little longer so more time for me to ride. I have a long day at school tomorrow=more time cramming to get a ride in.

Windy

Dang, is it gusting out there or what. This morning we had pockets of snow, strong winds, and blizzard-like white-out conditions. Luckily by around noon when I was heading out for my ride, the snow stopped and it was clear. That was a good thing because I sure as hell didn't want to get hit today and I really didn't want to ride the trainer. The snow was gone, but the wind never died. The good thing about that though was the awesome tailwind. I would be slowly moving while trying to keep a high cadence, and then I would turn around and zooooooooom. I felt like a Mazda...zoom, zoom, zoom! The hardest part about the ride was trying to stay on the road. Some of the wind gusts had me all over the place. There were at least 5 times where I was leaning real hard just to stay upright while turning the wheel inward. It was quite a good full body workout.

Hopefully the wind dies down a bit tonight so I don't have to suffer in it too much tomorrow. Okay, one last rant. We are in March now and the avg temp should be like 40F. It's 32F here today and a high of 31F tomorrow. Come on, just give me 40F, it would feel sooooooo nice. I also find it easier to ride in warmer temps and I feel much more motivated to ride harder and longer when the temps are up. The sun would be nice too!

Spring Break!

Well, that doesn't look too promising. It's been snowing/sleeting/raining all morning long. It has been coming down extremely hard and the wind has been whipping good too. It looks like a trainer ride is in store for today. I sure as hell am not riding in that type of crap outside.

Since I haven't had school this week, I have been able to get a few rides in. I put in a good ride on Tuesday around Northville, South Lyon, Brighton and Milford. The roads were a bit wet, but nothing a fender and fair of AmFibs couldn't fix. Yesterday I took a trip out to a much more metropolis area to ride with Randy. It is much different out there than it is around here. After crusing around there for a while, I have a greater appreciation for where I live. I can cruise out my driveway and ride rural roads with few stops signs, lights, or cars. The pavement is all smooth and you can pedal for hours on a road bike. A half mile down the road, I can hit dirt which will take me to many different areas of singletrack. It's a pretty nice central and rural location.

I'm looking for this rain and other precipitation type stuff to leave so I can go ride outside. Riding a trainer is not what I want to do during my spring break. And why is Spring Break at the end of February-that's just dumb. Give me a week off in April so I can go shred some singletrack!

Testing, 1-2-3

After doing a nice easy ride on Friday to spin the legs and skating a couple games yesterday, I went on and did a test. A bike test that is. I headed down to my uncle's house and brought my mountain bike so I could see what my LT is and how much power I am exerting. My legs felt pretty fresh and I was able to get my HR up to 184. The highest I have ever gotten was 189, so 184 on a trainer inside without standing was pretty good. My LT showed up right where I thought it was, which is good. At least I know exactly what numbers to ride around. This test was done on a CompuTrainer set up with my mountain bike with a slick tire on the rear. I warmed up easily for 10 minutes then started. The program started at 50 watts and bumped up 20 watts every minute. I kept my cadence around 90-95 and left my bike in the same gear. No shifting and no standing. The CompuTrainer does the work by setting the resistance higher and using sensors to determine the wattage.

The cool thing was that I have seen some great gains. I did this test 15 months ago for the first time. Today, my wattage was 90 watts higher than the previous time. The first time my legs were not as fresh, but I sure have seen some great gains. I am thinking of testing again a few times throughout the year to see my progress. It's pretty cool to see all of the stats and see the hard work pay off. Now it's time to ride. T-28 days until race #1!

Sunny

The temps have dropped down again, but not too bad. The nice part is that the sun has been shining lately thanks to the lack of cloud cover. I was able to get the road bike out for a while on Wednesday. I rolled out of my driveway in much less clothing. A base layer, long sleeve jeresy and vest was all I needed. It felt great not to have to put 5 layers on. I rode an out and back from Brighton out to Fenton. Wind was out of the southwest, so the ride back was a little more resistant.

Sunny skies were also in store for today. I took the fixie out for the last ride in a while. I am switching over to geared bikes since I am closing in on 4 weeks until my first race. Time to get used to shifting and timing again. On my jaunt through ILRA today I saw a deer and an owl. The owl actually swept over me and landed on top of a tree. It was strange that it was an owl, but I did a doubletake and I am sure it was. It was nice and chucnky too. I guess the sun is bringing out the animals. You don't see that sitting on your ass watching TV. Yeah, well I don't have cable, therefore no Discovery channel for me!

Monkey Butt

As I ventured out on my ride today, the roads were quite wet and slushy on the side. There was surely enough salt to melt a glacier too. Well, after about two hours, the chaffing I had going on was horrible. I finished up my ride another hour later and it was pretty uncomfortable. Imagine rubbing coarse salt into you skin. That was what it felt like. All of the wet road slop ended up seeping through my tights and into my chamios where it wasted no time getting to work. By the end of my ride, the roads were starting to dry up, but that does not undo previous damage. All this means is I have to lather up with more butta' tommorrow! Projected high looks to be 30F and a big 40F is showing for the end of the week. Just in time for me to start busting out the geared bikes. After riding a fixed gear for the past three months, it should be weird to float through the gears. I can't wait.

Turning Around

With the snow dumped on us, I was able to get out for a 2hr cross country ski before I hit the trainer for an hour. Snow was deep enough that the park rangers actually groomed the trail, whcih made for some good gliding. After two hours, it just gets boring staring at the two tracks to follow in the snow. I woke up the next day with a sharp pain in my back. It is really annoying, but feels much better in riding position than when sitting or standing. Hopefully it will go away quick. It is likely a result of not putting inserts in my boots before skiing. I have a high arch and using a flat sole in the boots gives me no support. That also explains why my feet get sore after I ski.

The good news is that the weather is starting to turn around. With windchills below zero today and bitter temps yesterday, I am really ready for a change. It looks like it will be in the 30's next week and maybe, just maybe hit 40. Sweet. Just in time for some good outdoor training with more intensity. I have only 5 weeks until my first race down in Tennessee. It will likely be my first trail riding of the year too!

Get ready, 'cause were gonna have a heatwave!

The Best Winter Bike Name

Really, it can't get much better than this. S.A.S.S. fits into all winter categories.

It starts as...

Shiny Ass Single Speed

then moves to...

Snowy Ass Single Speed

and after a day it becomes...

Slushy Ass Single Speed

and lastly after evaporation comes...

Salty Ass Single Speed

The name seems to fit for all of our lovely winter conditions.

Pugsly...Anyone?

Middle of February and we are getting our first big snowfall of the year. I guess it's a good thing that the winter has been pretty kind so far. It started off being temps way above normal and then they dipped below normal. Do you think we have ever had an average temperature. Example: If January avg temp is 30F, we had 50F and then 20F. Have we ever truely had a month where the temps were always right around 30? So the flurries were flying today and accumulated to 1-2". I was able to get out on the bike and hit up the dirt roads. There was enough loose gravel that has come up in the past week that there was a little traction. The ride was pretty good and I even saw a nice little accident right after it happened. I guess a garbage truck came down a decent sized hill and started sliding which made some lady swerve and land in a deep ditch. The garbage truck also got stuck on the other side of the road and had to have it pulled out also. I rode by up the hill as the cop slowly dorve down and gave me the "why" look.

Besides that, it was a pretty calm weekend of ridng a bit Sat and hitting up the MMBA expo on Sunday. Acustics were better this year, so we were actually able to hear Gary Fisher. 29er what? Turned out to be a decent day all around.

Next up-who knows. Forecast shows 3-8" of snow in our area and 6-10 further south towards Ann Arbor(aka school). Sounds like some major fun. A little snow and I'll be a ridin', a lotta white stuff and the XC skies will be a glidin'

Warm!

My new tights came in the mail yesterday, so that meant that I had to give them a good chance to see how they worked. I chickened out on the weather yesterday and did my ride indoors where it was toasty. I got what I needed to get done, so that is all that matters.

The new tights are the Pearl Izumi AmFibs. Well worth the money. I have been wearing a 3yr old pair of Sugoi thin tights that I bought because they were the cheapest ones. Now that I ride outside 5-6 days a week outside in the low 20's, I needed something better. A nice warm fleece lining and a thick windproof front kept my blood flowing throughout the entire ride. I can't freakin' wait to ride again tommorrow knowing that my legs will not be freezing. Before I was wearing knee warmers under my tights, but still that was cold.

Today's ride had me climbing over 3,030ft. Pretty darn good for SE Michigan. I think it is easier climbing than going down 3,030 ft spinning at 180rpm on the fixie!

Oh boy, I never thought I would ever get excited about buying a pair of tights. What has happened to me:-)

Cool

No, not the weather. I just read on the MMBA board that Robert from Tailwind is having the NORBA stage race at Brighton Rec. Schweet. That's a quick pedalstroke away. Good trails and camping for people coming from out of town. I read the TT might be on Torn Shirt, and the XC would be laps of murray lake. I guess I'll have to start logging some miles over there once the trails thaw out. I assume the short track will be on the dirt roads and through the campground area out there. There is tons of land, so who know. All I know is that it is close and not neeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarly as sandy as Whiskey Creek. Should be a fun time of racing.

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday!

That's when it looks like I will be able to ride outside again. Hit the trainer again today and it will see more action tommorrow. It will be almost a full week without riding my bike outside. That hasn't happened in a long time.

Inspiration Point, Leelanau County, MI-September 2006

Coldest day of the year and again I had to work...at the ice rink. Tonight I was at the local rink and the frost was so bad on the brick walls all around the arean that it was hard to see the blue paint of the bricks! Looking like Thursday will be around 20F, which means I will be out riding. Ah crap, just remembered I have BIO lab on Thursdays and don't get home til later. Hmm, maybe lights? Well, it is staying lighter longer, so I might be okay. Time will tell.

Special 2 for 1 today. Yes, that's 2 pictures since it is so friggen' cold. You can tell not much is going on lately since the only thing to talk/rant about is the weather!!!

My mom decending on knife-blade downhills in Fruita, CO.

That's me navigating the rock drops on Moore Fun, Kokopelli Trails, Loma, CO

Slow Times

Not much has been going on as of late. With the temps near zero, the last thing anyone wants to do is to go somewhere cold, but that is what I had to do. It is district playoff time in hockey, and work calls. I was reffing this weekend in freezing cold ice rinks. Hands frozen and all. At least I get some cross-training in while being paid. The weird thing this weekend was that te brick walls of the rink were all frosted over from being so cold. Once over with, I warmed up and was able to think normally again. It was nippy, but the skill level was much higher so it made it more exciting to ref.

Since the temps are below my requirements (above 15 with windchills above 0) I have been working on psychological training. Yes, the trainer. The scary thing is that after my session this morning, I am not seeing the trainer as being so bad. Maybe I am getting used to it, or maybe watching the wind gust and howl at high rates of speed reminds me that I am warm and riding. Even with extremely warm temps, my lungs would die in the first 5 minutes with the cold air.

I did read in the paper that our(Livingston County) woodchuck, Woody(redneck for groundhog) predicted an early spring. Spring better come soon or the shot gun is coming out. Darn rodents!

Today's ride gave me a chance to bask in the warm temperatures!!! It was 25F during my ride and the windchills were not too bad. Just some gusts here and there. Tommorrow looks like mid-twenties when I'll be riding, but winds are supposed to be 15-25mph. FUN. The weather people bumped the temps up on Saturday to 20 as a high, so a ride might be in my future then. Sunday still looks cold-time for physical and mental sufferage on the trainer. I am just looking foreward to my first race which is only two months away! It will be a good test to see how the winter training paid off (since I am actually training this year) and to hopefully experience some warm weather in TN.





The picture of the day is from more hot summer conditions in MI.

Your's truly coming through the pits at the 12H of Boyne, May 2006

I finished that race first with 11 laps and stopped racing at 10:40-My first off road century!

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!

...and while I rode my bike, I saw people

Yes, people were actually outside today. Tons and tons of people. Normally on my rides, I see a few warriors who brave the Michigan weather and go for a run or walk on the bike path. Today, with 40 degree temps, people came out of the woodwork. It must be boring sitting inside all day watching TV and eating cookies. Don't get me wrong, I like cookies (don't watch much TV at all) but I also like to get outside and breathe-sometimes really hard! As I rode through Island Lake, I saw more people than normal and the trailhead was half full. Hopefully the trail is dry. As I got into Kensington, I could not beleive my eyes. There were cars everywhere. Parking lots were filled with cars. The paved path was full of outdoor seekers. And the nature trail and it's parking lot were loaded with people. Now, wait until the temps drop a few degrees and you'll be wondering whrere everybody is...praying to DTE energy for a heated house!

I have decided to start riding my road bike after a month of straight of riding the fixed gear. I figure if there is no snow, I might as well. It was nice to be able to float through the gears again. The weird thing was coasting. I found myself trying to slow down at a stop sign with my feet. Yeah, it doesn't work with a freewheel. It was a good ride and I am looking foreward to more time in the saddle with it.
I was able to wear gloves light enough to be used with a camera today. I took a few pics before the battery died. I always seem to see stuff, and not have to camera ready. Today, some of the interesting objects were...some young kids racing go-cart like machines around a school parking lot(I should have asked if they wanted to race...it would have been fun), a specialized bike frame laying by a gaurdrail by I-96, and an old VW hippie bus. All cool things I was unable to get a picture of. Maybe I should get a mount for the camera on the handlebars. Helmet cams are too expensive.

Additions to the Fixie

How much can you really add to a fix year you're wondering. Not much. I just replaced a few parts. First off, I took off my cheapo Selle Italia blowoff saddle and put on my SLR which was sitting on the winterized YETI. The cheapo saddle was good for around 2 hrs then it was painful and annoying. The SLR is the best saddle ever made for my butt style!
Another addition is a sweet NSYNC fork. I took off my Skareb to send it in for service since the rebound endcap blew a while ago and was hydrolocked. I took this fork off of an old T-rek bike. It is likely worth 30-40 bucks new for the greased suspension. It weighs a boatload, has rusted uppers, and does not work. It is a SOLID fork!
I was able to get out for a ncie gravel grinder today for 3.5 hours. I kept on the dirt roads (which is hard to do in this metropolis area) and found some new gravel. Was able to stimulate a few brain cells riding some never before seen terrain. There was even a decent hill on one of the new roads. Covered a good distance(I still have to map it out) and my HR monitor clocked 2200ft of climbing/ascent. It was a good ride all around. I was fresh after my weights and recovery day from the bike yesterday. Phil Ligget would have been all over his "dancing on the pedals" quote. The weather was also nice. Cooler than the past week, but still very warm for December. And that yellow thing in the sky was also out. I cannot remember what it is called since it is a rarity, but it was nice today!

Where did this Weather come from?

This is awesome. The past few days I have worn a few less layers and it has been awesome. I remember just last week I was riding in 0, 2, 9, degree temps with the wind chill. Tommorrow is looking to be 55 and maybe some rain. With all of this heat in December, it got me thinking about that global warming thing everyone is talking about. I rented An Innconvenient Truth, a movie which features Al Gore explaining global warming and his theory and predictions on it. It was interesting to say the least.

In other news, I just finished up a 12.5 hour ride week. I did a 2.5 hour ride with my dad yesterday on the fixed gear. Pretty much did the same ride as Thursday, but skipped the whole rail trail and Whitmore Lake section. A little windy in a few spots, but all was good. I just got back from a nice little hour forty five ride on the dirt roads. Since it is so warm, the road commission was able to grade the roads. This makes them better and worse. Better in the fact that the potholes are mostly gone, and worse that the top layer is really loose gravel. The loose gravel likes to swing the rear end of the bike around when I am pedaling 150-175 cadence on some larger downhills. Overall, I'll take the graded roads any day of the week. Off to work tonight, then depending on the precipitation tommorrow, I might do a 3hr ride, or an indoor trainer ride.

In MTB news, it looks like all the crazys who sent in a postcard are going to be riding in TransIowa! Hope for dry conditions.

Cranking out 4 More

I hit the gym yesterday after class and then decided to ride the trainer at night. I wanted to give my body and lungs one more day of riding inside before I went for some fresh air. I was able to put in 2hr while watching the Biggest Loser. The guy who won lost 214lbs. That is a rediculous amount of weight to loose in somewhere around a year time frame.

Today turned out to be another unseasonably mild December day. I took my last final-macroeconomics(Aced it) and came home to get ready to crank. I stuck to the pavement today to keep the bike free from the nasty muddy roads. I headed out on the fixed gear around 11am and rode into the driveway 4 hours and 61.25 miles later. Not bad. With my little cooldown, I made a metric century on the fixie-that is with fat tires! I cranked out the 36-16 gearing around the GM proving grounds, through Milford and Wixom, rail trail in South Lyon, and eventually rode around Whitmore Lake before heading back home. The legs are a little tired no after 8.5hrs and 2 days of weight training in the last 3 days. The route is mapped out HERE.

Looking at hitting the gym in the morning and then going out for a 40mile fat tire fixie ride with my dad later on. My legs should recover enough to put in a hard effort at the gym. Saturday is also shaping up to be a nice day. Maybe a dirt road rampage if it dries out.

Now all I have to worry about is training; riding, weights and pilates. I am done with the semester and don't start up again until Jan 8th. That leaves me 24 days to have some fun on one!
(Maybe I should major in poetry!)NOT.

The weather is nice, get out and RIDE. There are no excuses withe temps in the high 40's and low 50's.

2.5 Hours of Monotony

My cold seems to be getting a little better day by day. My lungs were burning on Sunday, so I decided to take a recovery day and hit the bike again on Monday. Monday came and my cold was worse. I changed from a chest cold to a head cold. My nose ran all day. After my finals in the morning, I headed over to the gym and hit the weights. I got home and still felt like crap. I wasn't tired at all but my body needed some rest. Instead of a 2.5 hour ride, I took that time for a nap.

Finally, yesterday I was feeling much better. Well, I took the past couple days off and it has been warm (high 40's up to 50) and dry. Yesterday turned into an all day rain, drizzle, and downpour type of day. I jumped on the trainer in the afternoon and started to ride. I threw in a Carmichael Training Systems climbing tape, then went and rode to the sprinting tape. I took the last 45 minutes and just rode keeping the HR in zone 2. 2.5 Hours on the trainer was not mentally too bad until I was 1:45 in and the only thing on TV was either Ellen, Oprah, or Judge Judy. Woo Hoo. Not. I put my head down, pedaled, and kept on listening to the music running through my headphones. I have to say that the trainer seems to work out the legs harder than the road. More tension and friction seems to need more effort and instill more leg burning.

Finished the evening off with a 30 minute Pilates session. Didn't burn too bad either. Now I am sitting at school waiting for 4:15 so I can go take a pointless BIO Lab exam. I have a 100% in my BIO class, and this test is worth 50 points. I guess I don't have to take it and still get an A, but I will. After that, it is off to the gym. Usually it is just over an hour workout, then I am off to grab the bike. Hopefully the rain holds off so I can put in 2.5-3hrs on the fixie. Lights are charged up and ready to go.

New Milestone...for me

With my 2hr jaunt this morning, I reached a new high mileage. I went over 6,000 miles. For me that is pretty good. I started riding three years ago and put in under 2,000 miles the first year and 3400 miles last year. With simple math, that's 2,600 miles more than last year. Not too bad. I am sure next year will be more as I become a better and more experienced rider. We still have another three weeks, so I should be able to get at least 500 more miles in.

I put in 3 days at the gym and 11.5 hours on the fixed gear outside this week. With some warmer temps coming next week and a higher volume week for me, I should be able to get around 200 miles in. Last week, the total temp of wind chills added up of my four rides is only 35. Now, tommorrow and the next few days will be in the 40's. Huh.

When I was going to write this, and then searched around some blogs for a few minutes. 6,000 was pretty good for me, but when I clicked on Robert's Blog, damn. Almost 14,000 miles and still riding strong! That is remarkable...and maybe a little crazy!

I work again in the middle of the day tommorrow. Those just suck. It screws up my whole riding schedule. Today I had to ride at 8am so I could get my ride in and then go skate for 3 hrs before going to a Christmas party. I was looking at at least 3hrs tommorrow, so I might have to take my light with me and finish in the dark. The warmer temps should also be better on my lungs than the cold morning air. Once I get over this little cold the air shouldn't be as much of a problem.

More LSD Please!!!

I know a lot of people who dread going out in the cold to ride long slow distance. I have not seemed to mind it a bit. It is a nice change up from intervals, hill climbs, and hammerfests. I would not mind some nice HOT weather, but at least it is not 33F and raining! I was able to get out again today for a 2.5hr ride on a little bit or gravel, paved roads, and snow covered rail trail. The sun was out for half of the ride, melting the slight layer of powder. Once the sun went down, the melted snow started turning to ice in some spots. It was a bit nippy out today, but my garb worked out pretty well. For the 20F and 2W/C temps, I layered up with knee warmers under the tights, a base layer underarmor, long sleeve jeresy, wind/rain jacket, and a balaclava to warm the face. My fingers stayed nice and warm with my new Moose Mitts. They work really well and all I wear is a wind glove underneath, which I tend to sweat in due to the heat.

Did some Pilates tonight as well. Off to the gym, then a hike later in the day tommorrow.

Good Times Riding

I got out on Sunday morning for a ride, hit the gym and skated on Monday, and was able to get some more spinning in yesterday. The rides were pretty similar, but some changes.
Sunday-----------------Tuesday
2 hrs--------------------3hrs
snow covered roads-----snow-ice roads/bare white salt colored roads
ride on road------------road and snow covered trails
fixie--------------------fixie, and I cleared ILRA b/y without brakes
22F, 9W/C------------25F, 14 W/C

This cold weather riding is not bothering me at all. It is actually quite enjoyable when the entire body is warm. I am going to the gym again today, do some core workout with pilates afterward, then a nice 1hr spin with speed skills. Looks like tommorrow will be a high of 24F and really windy. Looks like I'll have to bundle up again for another 2.5-3hr ride.

Get off that trainer and gert outside!

It's Been A While...

Because it has been nice outside. The end of November and sixty degree temps. It was almost two weeks straight of fifty and sixty degree days. Now we are back to reality, but its life. It was nice to get a nice burst of warm wether for a bit. Now only if we could get warm weeks once a month in the winter! I was able to get some good riding in with shorts and a jeresy and often some arm warmers. I did the Thanksgiving Day ride at PLRA and then ended the 14 hour weel off with a night ride at Brighton Rec. I have been riding quite a bit at a low zone 1/2 on the fixed gear. The gym has been going well and I am about to move onto my next stage. Now that winter is finally here, it is time to bundle up and hit the road for some long hours in the saddle. A month into the off-season, and I am still keeping my weight constant at 142, even after a Thanksgiving feast! School will be over in two weeks(for the semester), so that will leave me evn more time for weights, riding, pilates, and maybe X-C skiing if there is snow.

Bundle up and go RIDE!

Saddle Time

Did some more weights early this morning at the gym. The body is starting to get used to pushing iron, therefore, I am not nearly as sore as I was earlier in the week. After the gym, I headed over to d-town Brighton to check out the new bike shop in town. It is called Ride Botique and it is really nice. It has a nice vibe and atmosphere to it. Chad, the owner, is stocking high end stuff from Seven, Guru, Bianchi, Felt, C-dale, and he is also a Zipp dealer. He has a fully built Seven Ti/Carbon 29er on the floor that is his. Pretty cool looking stuff.

This afternoon I took the SS out for a 2:20 venture. Just spinning a high cadence and keeping the HR in zone 2 for the most part. My goal today seemed to go the whole time without bonking. It worked, but by the time I got home, I really felt like I needed some sugar. Toast with Jam worked pretty good for that! This ride taught me about winter riding on the road and rail trail...carry an mp3 player when riding solo. That straight and flat rail trail becomes very monotonous.

A nice staircase I found to ride off of the rail trail-it lead to paved singletrack into a neighborhood. Narrow asphalt winding around trees?

Off to do some skating at the ice rink tonight, and tommorrow afternoon after my ride. I am thinking of riding around and eventually riding over to the new Milford trail and putting in some miles there!

=

Riding for Fun

I got out of bed and my body was STIFF and SORE. That's what happens when you lift weights after 9 months of riding and no gym work. My plan was to go out to Highland and do a night ride, and that is exactly what I did. It was an awesome ride. We headed out backwards on the A loop, then hooked up with D and rode it backwards until the road. We cut out on the road and turned in on the horse trail (shhhh) to get to the B/C intersection. Rode B backwards and that was a rush. I don't know what got into me, but I was zipping through the corners and cruzing right up the hills. Maybe it was the fact that B suits my 36-16 gearing much better. I succesfully finished the trail with no crashes and no bured out lights. Along with the helmet mounted HID, I strapped on a halogen on the bars for some better depth perception for the drops. Fun ride.

Today after going to a natural science museum at the U of M fo BIO lab, I headed back over to the gym. Once I got pushing the weights, it didn't hurt too bad. I am doing 25-30 reps of each exercise at least 3 times. MTBing doesn't work the upper body terribley much because I am only pushing 50-75lbs on the row and lat pulldown! A day off of riding for me, but I'll be back on it tommorrow.

While looking around today, I went to the LJ 100 site and found some cool info. Rick is thinking about changing up the course and going backwards next year. It'll be fun, but that hill coming down to the parking lot will suck going up. Good news is that it will only have to be done 4 times. I also found a few pictures of me during the race under the photos section on pg. 10/11. I would post them but pics are hard to get up here with dialup.

A Week Off

To start the off season off right, I too the past week off from riding. My last ride was Monday at ILRA when I rode the fixie off road for the first time. What a blast! It was much easier than expected and I still managed a 55 minute lap.

It was hard not to ride on the nice 65 degree day, but I have a plan, and it says recovery. I barely rode beofre Iceman, so it is almost like a 2 week recovery with a race thrown in the mix. This will all end tommorrow when I hit the gym for the first time since last March. I am planning on hitting weights 3 times a week and starting some base training in December. I am actually try to focus on a training plan this year and see how it works instead of just riding like I normally do! For the next few weeks, I am just going to have fun doing night rides and other easy social rides in the cold and snow.

I did not sit on the couch all week though. I got in some ice skating (work-hockey referee) on Wed, Thurs, Fri, and 3 hrs today. It is good cross training and keeping the legs moving. I also started Pilates back up again. It didn't hurt too bad after the first 2 minute warmup. Maybe a little snow in December will help me get some cross training in with cross country skiing.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

1:55

Not my best race, but I still ended up 4th in Expert 15-18. Start line was 29 degrees and I was dressed for it. I started 5 or so rows back and made up some spots early on through the grass and moving side to side for a while. I was feeling good, hammering it out and the legs didn't even burn at all. I was in third place about 8 miles in and then a little later, I was riding with Mike Anderson(who got 2nd) for a while. We could see the lead group ahead of us, and were working on pulling them in. I got caught in a few sand pits throughout the race and cost me some time getting off and running through them. It is amazing how much harder the sand is to ride through when there have not been 1000 races packing it down and making a line for you. About mile 14 we were riding through a long stretch of deep sand with more on the sides. Mike was in front and slid to the side and corrected, but I did the same thing plus more and ended up putting a knee down. Then I had to yank a branch out of my wheel and try to get going. I jumped on and my chain had fallen into the largest gear (11T). I tried to pedal but it went clunk, clunck, clunk. I got back off and ran throught the sand until I could get moving again. I never saw Mike after that, but I guess he caught the 3rd place rider in the last few miles. Right after that point, it got colder and started snowing. The colder air started to burn my asthmatic lungs from my chest cold and killed me. My legs never hurt though. The first 16 miles of the race I averaged 172bpm, but the last 12 I only averaged 164. I would go hard, no burning legs and not get my HR over 169. I felt like I could not get going fast on theflats like I had been. The last few miles I pushed as hard as I could go and said screw the lungs and just got up the last couple climbs. After the race, I coughed my lungs up for a half an hour and througout the evening. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed them so hard at the end, but I can just try to get healthier this week. I finished a little faster than last year and there was an extra mile or more added of singletrack,so there is progress, but not as much as I have shown before. In the Boyne race, I beat my time by 21 minutes compared to the year before. Not what I was looking for, but there is always next year!

For now, I am just planning on cooling it off and letting the body recover before I start hitting the gym hard in a couple of weeks. I am looking at having some enjoyable group nightrides in the next month or so and have some fun casually riding. Come December, I will start some Base training on the fixie!!!

Looking back at the season, I accomlished quite a lot, more than I thought.
-3rd at Yankee TT-my first expert race
-2nd at Fort Custer(starting with the wrong group, not chasing anyone and losing by 1 minute)
-1st 12 Hours of Boyne Solo-my first endurance race...quit at 10:45 with 11 laps
-3rd Hanson Hills-learning to let the body recover after a endurance race no matter how good you feel the next day, and do not go hammer out 2 lpas of PLRA after the endurnace race=bad
-12th Overall Lumberjack 100-I battled the heat and did much better then expected with a time of 8:32:10
-2nd Boyne Marathon-cutting out 14 miles killed the marathon part and truned it into a XC, but I still managed 2nd
-Riding the WAM 300 with my dad-it was a great time and some nice roads to ride on with hundreds of other cyclists
-2nd Addison Oaks-got attacked on the last hill and couldn't counter fast enough, it was a fun 1 vs 1 race
-1st Boyne-good course and some fast racing. I had a good day and some good training before hand.
-4th Iceman
Not bad for 2nd year racing and only 3rd year riding MTBs. Next year I am looking for more competition and people to race against. The 15-18 class is usually faster than the expert other expert classes, but with minimal people.

A True Iceman?

After last years Niceman, I think we are going to have an Iceman this year. A few inches of snow maybe? I am the first group to go off at 9:30 am, so we might have some fresh powder to ride on. Thank God for semi-slick tires!!! It should be a fun event with the expo, race, and all other festivities! Hopefully I can get over this cold quick and be able to let it all out:-)
-Keep the Rubber side DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

So here is the creation. I carved the Kokopelli. If you haven't seen him, I strongly reccomend taking a trip out to Grand Junction, CO or Moab, UT-and don't forget your bike while your at it.

And this is what I call lighting a pumpkin. Screw those little candles, here is an HID lighted Pumpkin. A little bright, huh? You can see it shining through the left side. When I took the picture, the entire pumpkin was glowing from the light. For the best interest of trick-or-treater's eyes, I took it out and replaced it with a night-light.

Now go get some candy. I hear it is great powerfood and carboloading for some snowy and cold race this weekend! BTW, 36 degrees high SAT in TC!

Recovery

My legs were really feeling it the past few weeks. The legs started to burn on a constant basis last week and I decided to answer the call. I took Friday, Saturday and Sunday all off the bike and guess what? I am still alive. I did it! It wasn't too bad because of the crummy weather on Friday and Saturday. Sunday turned out decent but WINDY. Saturday even showed some nice big wet snowflakes when I was truing up the wheels for all of the MTBs in the household.


I was able to get an axle and some cones to put my rear wheel of the Yeti back together on Saturday. It is now spinning nice and smooth, ready for this weekend. I did a little Pumpkin carving on Friday night so that we have a orange circle on the porch for Halloween. I will show off my creation tommorrow as I don't want those hoologans smashing it tonight. I am thinking screw the candle inside and the normal nightlights that we normally use. I am thinking of going all out-HID inside the pumpkin to light it up! Hopefully it won't blind anyone.

I did a ride over to ILRA today and put in a little over 20 miles on singletrack and another 10 on my way over and back. I took the trail out the backside of blue and rode over to the new Green Oak Village Mall at Lee Rd. I am not a mall guy at all, but I decided it would be cool to check it out. I read in the paper that it had a huge oudoor fireplace that I wanted to see. Yeah, I rode around there and never saw it. The place does look nice and had some good restaurants in there. I forgot to mention, it was 70 degrees today.

T-10 Days

Holy Cow! Iceman is only 10 days away. I was sure that it was at least 2 weeks. Time seems to be flying by. It has been a fairly easy week at school, but I have not been terribly motivated to ride. I am always giddy and exciting to rush home and jump on the bike for 2-3 hours. This shock of cold weather and Michigan clouds is killing me. I am sure the end of the season thing isn't helping either, as well as wet conditions. I pushed myself to go outside on Monday as I rode the fixie on the backroads and through the hills at Kensington. I took a little different route and found some new roads. Riding the same dirt roads over and over just gets monotanous. Yesterday was another gloomy day. I decided that I would flip the wheel over on the SS and run a 44-18 with the freewheel(the off-road fixie ride will happen AFTER Iceman!). I rode over to ILRA and rode a lap before hooking up with the group and riding a pretty good pace most of the time. On lap 1, I had some chain slipping issues, as the chain kept falling off on standing climbs. I stopped and added some tension to the chain which seemed to work. The second yellow loop required lights. I cut out at Kensington Rd and took the roads home. With a rear blinky light and a HID up front, the cars could easily see me and moved much further over than during the day. It seemed like at night people are more cautious and actually care than in the daytime. Hmm, centuries at night? Start at 6pm and finish before 11 for a dark 100 miles. Might need 2 lights though, doh! Today I was actually hyped to go put in a hard road ride with intervals and hill repeats. After I got out of school late, I had to eat, needed to get some things done, and had to work at 6pm...there was not enough time. At least tommorrow looks like 50degrees and maybe, just maybe a peak of sun for a nice 60 mile road ride. I can't wait. Get a little more riding in this weekedn before tapering for Iceman.

End of the Season Training

2 weeks until Iceman; the last race of the season. I have been getting in some good rides lately to get reasy for the race. Another good week of riding coming up, then a nice taper will hopefully get me into the race shape I need. Last Sunday, I put in a good 52 mile ride from my house and 3 loops of ILRA. The weather turned out to be decent, as I only wore arm and knee warmers. I have noticed lately that once te sun goes down(if it ever comes out) it gets much colder. Monday was another nasty day, and Tuesday showed some good hopes of an all day rain/mist/wet-fest. I decided to jump on the trainer and get in some good intervals with the Carmichael DVD's. Wednesday finally turned into a nice day with temps in the low 60's. I did a 60 mile road ride through ILRA and Kensington. I put in 5 loops of the hills in the park, then rode back over to ILRA and headed home via Kensington Rd to hit the last hill. My legs were a little sore at first, but seemed to feel better as time went on. Thursday was yet another damp day and I took it as rest. Frida was going to be another 60+ mile road ride, but after my knee had a little pain in it, I called it a day and rode home for a weak 22 miles. I just need to keep up on my knee exercises and I'll be fine! Saturday was going to be a dirt road ride on the fixie in the morning before work, but guess what? Rain!!! I went to work from 1-3, but ended up filling in for another game, so I didn't leave until 4:15. I got home and that yellow ball in the sky was peeking through. I came home and immediately got dressed. I grabbed the SS and headed out. I did dirt roads with 2 loops of Kensington Park hill loops, and a ride up the Kensington Hill standing up the whole time. There were a few good leg burning hills with the 44-16 gearing. By the tie I got back at 6:50, the sun had been swept away, and the temp had dropped. I mapped out my ride HERE and had just over 40 miles with about 2000 feet of climbing.

My Yeti is down right now. I was going to change the disc brake rotor when I noticed that the rear hub bearings were rough. With over 2200 miles on them, I figured I should probably grease them since I hadn't done that since winter. I took the axle and bearings out, cleaned them, re-greases verything, slid the axle in, and threaded everything back on. I had the cone at perfect tension, and was trying to tightend the end nut against it. Well, the end nut was turning the entire axle and not tightening against the cone. So I took it off, and found out that the axle is stripped, or has some bad threads about a centimeter in. I tried to take the cone off, but it got stuck and would not come off at all once it got to the bad spot. Luckily, it was far enough out that I could take the nut and cone off from the freehub side and slide the axle out. Now I just need to order a new axle and put the wheel back together before Iceman. I have 2 weeks, hopefully I can get a few rides on it before the race.

Cold? Snow? October?...Oh, Michigan!!!

WHAT?

I was pretty sure that I was wearing shorts and a jeresy on Sunday as it about hit 80 degrees. Then on Tuesday I wore the same, but with the choice of some arm warmers for the 60 degree temps. Yesterday it started snowing and din't let up my whole drive into school. I did not ride yesterday, as I took it off for recovery, but dang-it was snowing A LOT.

I was ready for the cold today, so away with the shorts and jeresy. I wore all of my COLD WINTER riding gear. Yup, booties, tights, under armor, wind proof jacket, winter gloves, and a balaclava to keep the blood in my cheeks. I headed out around 10am to brave the nasty winds(but not quite as bad as yesterday) and cold temps. When I left, it was 34 out with a wind chill in the low 20's. Ain't nothing better to train in for the ICEMAN!!! I rode the fixie again on the dirt roads out to Wixom, and through Milford. I came back a little different way to mix it up a bit. I was pretty comfortable for most of the ride. I least I get to wear a bunch of clothes unlike the Tigers(YEAH, Go Tigers). Closed off the morning with 33 miles of dirt. It was enough for today, but I am planning on heading out early again tommorrow and riding the 16 miles over to Highland and riding the A and B loop. I am hoping it will be a tad bit warmer with no wind so I can wear less clothes. The ride today just felt waaaay to much like January base training miles=cold, snow flakes, bone-chilling wind, and of course...gray skies. Only in Michigan. Has anyone found the door out of here yet. When you do, let me know!!!

The fixed cog

Fixed on Dirt

I have officially gone FIXIE! I ordered a Boone Titanium fixed gear cog for my single speed a few weeks ago. It showed up the other day and I installed it and rode around the neighborhood to check it out. The cog bolts onto the 6-bolt pattern where the disc brake rotor usually is attached... you flip the wheel around on your SS and "wallah". Yesterday was the maiden voyage for the never-stop-spinning bike. I took it on the dirt roads around Brighton, Milford, and Wixom to see how it was to ride fixie. I went for some hills and was standing up pushing through them to get a good ride in. To my surprise, it is much easier to ride than I would have thought. One of the hardest parts is spinning very FAST on long steep downhills. I is a constant workout because once you have hamemred to the top of a climb, you must keep pedaling and then spin wildly down. I was running a 44-16 and it worked out really well; being able to sit down on long grades and hammering out of the saddle on steeper pitches. I got in 34 miles on the fixie and had a great time. I am going to keep riding that on the dirt roads as it is good training to keep pedaling ad no coasting, as well as powering up the climbs. I originally bought it for off-season base training miles, but I think it will be used a little more than anticipated. I have the route mapped out with distance and elevation HERE on Route Slip.

After that ride, I came home and grabbed a few twizzlers as my lunch before changing clothes and heading off to ILRA. I grabbed the gearie (I didn't want to kill myslef riding fixed gear on the MTB trails on Day 1) and rode the five miles to ILRA and rode the second half of yellow. I hooke dup with my dad to ride with him as he put in a good B/Y and then another half of yellow before I headed off for home. Another 30+ miles in the saddle was necessary since the weather wasn't looking too promising for future days. Good thing I just watched the weather and it looks dry for the next 5 days. Cool, I don't mind cooler temps as long as I can ride. I don't know about others, but I get grouchy if I don't ride for a few days!

Pictures from Boyne

My Dad coming down the final hill

The B-E-A-UTIFUL fall colored leaves on the earth's floor

Boyne XC Race Recap

The past week was getting ready for Boyne and enjoying myself. Friday, we left on mission "to boyne." I threw down a nice pre-ride in sunny 50 degree weather. I rode a lap with my dad and then went and rode the first 2.5 miles, then crossed the road and spun up the mountain (well, MI ski hill) and finished the backside of the trail off. Saturday was a nice recovery day to watch the Tigers BEAT those Yankees! I am not a baseball fan, but ya have to show some love for dem Tigers. I rode a trail called Aspen Pak in the middle of Gaylord to move my legs for 5 miles.

Sunday was race day. I got there nice and early to be able to get a good pre-ride in. I rode around for a while, then rode the first 2ish miles of the trail to get my HR up and ready for the climbs in the race. As the race started, I realized that there were only 2 of us in 19-under. We lined up with the 20-29's and took off. That was the best start ever! The pace wasn't pushed really high-my HR was only 150, when usually it is high 170's. After the first few climbs, I broke away from the group with a guy from Breakaway Bicycles (how ironic). About 5 miles in, I started picking off Elite riders. After the first lap, I had passed 4 Elite riders and was way ahead of my competition.

Lap 2-I kept on chugging and moving foreward. I passed another Elite rider early on, then another one later on. The hills were feeling good even though I couldn't get my HR as high as I normally can. There was no back and forth, but I just had to try and stay focused.

Lap 3-The guy from B-Bicycles zoomed by me after the last downhill at the end of lap 2, so I just let him go. I was going, but not sure how hard since I had no gauge with anyone. There was no one in front or behind me, but eventually I got into a good rhythm on the hills and caught the BB guy at the top of the ski hill.

I ended up getting first place by 25 minutes, which wasn't too big a deal. I would have managed to get 7th in Elite if I would have raced that (about middle of the pack). I figured race Expert in this and Iceman, then move up to Elite next year. A fun weekend with a beautiful countryside of red and orange leaves. Next up, ICEMAN...I have 4 weeks to figure out what tires to run!!!