Ramble on...

Got an e-mail from Bob Chase, a guide from the "Colorado Mountain School", he was a guide we had during a climbing trip in Boulder up the Flatirons, you could tell he loves what he does. Spends the summers in the northern hemispere in Estes Park, and the summers in the southern hemisphere in New Zealand...ENDLESS summer??? Going to have to find a way to do that too. Still riding a little on weeknights, during an interval session on Snake alley, I was attacked by these guys and did a fast trip around Boringtown, I think this is Dominics super secret training route for building power and speed, this is a FAST group, I took my usual place as the "lantern rouge" and held on. This weekend includes a couple hours of trail work in Dehns, all I need is .3 miles for an even five down there...

Back in the saddle again...

Busy weekend, Dr. Feelgood found not one but TWO nasties behind my ear, but due to the SIZE of the things he only sliced and diced one, left it OPEN, yuk, packed it with god knows what so it could drain... sweet. Going back in monday for some more cutting. On a lighter note I was jealous of everybody going to race in the Ouachita challenge I decided to have my own, did 50 miles of gravel on saturday almost a 4 hour ride, found a new route that follows the river bluff for awhile above Oakville, nothing but hills, then rode the wind home on the river bottoms, speaking of rivers spent Sunday morning "chilling" (pun intended) out on the Mississippi with the Mrs. and the Mutts, Sunny but a little cold, we sat on the sand and watched; PELICANS yup, big honking white pelicans by the hundreds, so many flying around that Mrs. Brakeville was worried they might poop on us (not the first time this sort of thing has happened). Did a couple laps down in Dehns afterwords, no mud, but REALLY spongy, made me work for every mile. Am I ready for Sylvan Island? NO...

Ouch

Getting a bit of surgery tomorrow, I might be growing a third ear, but the Dr. insists its a cyst. All I know is that its painful and has turned into an ugly(er) part of my head in the last week. I need to get a little digital camera. Photo's make the blog IMO. I'm hoping Geode is ridable this weekend, cause its either there or massive gravel miles. Wow what a medical month eh?

And now, for something completely different

Just didn't feel like riding, first day of spring, 4" of slush, too tired, i don't know. Thought, maybe do something different. How about running up and down the stairs at home while carrying my wifes "Denise Austin" padded dumbbells for an hour? Improvised some polymetrics by reducing the number of steps needed to get up the two flights of stairs from 20 to 5? Drive my two dogs absolutely friggin bonkers at the same time? Sounds great!! I was happy to outlast the mutts as they decided to lay down and watch after 20 minutes. I can still feel the effort today...I was thinking what a great downhill FREERIDE i could do from the attic to the basement but I'd catch some hell for that.

What am I DOING???

Stop the presses, Machine gun Midz has called me out and I've made my decision (gasp) I am going to (gulp) race in the EXPERT class this year. Let me tell you about the first MTB race I did. Year 2001, event Sugarbottom scramble, class SPORT. At the time I knew diddly about XC racing, it just sounded fun and never having done it before I thought, hell, I've been riding for three whole months now, I'm not really a beginner so I better sign up for the sport class (dumbass). 100 racers, 20 miles, exactly 1 lap on this course before I raced it. I finished 98th place, if I had drank any water during the race I would have puked, I had never experienced anything as difficult before (however 2004 farmdale frenzy race was a close second, buts thats another story) but the hook was in. There is ALWAYS a lot of hushed talk about who's sandbaggin or who should move up and whats fair, yada, yada, yada, thats always open to debate. But after reading some other postings around the web and being "on the fence" all winter in regards to sport/expert this year, I feel I've got to do whats right for me. And if that means I'm suckin wind behind the grand poobahs in the midwest so be it, like thats never happened before!! I've watched and compared lap times with guy's like PAMBA's Tony T. or Iowa's Cam K. and I'm giving up 4 minutes a lap in some cases, but I guess if you don't push yourself you won't improve, and when you get right down to it, when racing a MTB your "on your own", and your biggest competition is YOU. Thanks Midz, I needed something to light the fire this year.

Racing...again

Did the first DICE race of the season in the Quads sunday, its the Cody series. Mass start, which I kinda like anyway, at least I get to see the race until the first break! My burlington friends did very well, I noticed while checking my "stats" on the computer that I had finished pretty close to what I did this same race in last year, after going thru my training log, it was EXACTLY the same, same time, same ave. speed, everything.. don't know if that is good or bad. I guess I'm happy I didn't do worse this year, and once again ended up racing with my teamate and buddy $5 dollar Phil Curran. I don't know the proper roadie edicate but we worked together for a lap but on the last mile or so I kicked it up a notch on the last series of hills and pulled away...love ya Phil!! BACK to THE TRAINING SLACKER.

They're BAAAACK

Well what can I say, if at first you don't succeed...All that glitters is not...naw, at the very least i got to spend a couple of days at elevation, almost 14,000 ft. to be exact! How awesome are the Rockies? I didn't need a heart rate monitor as i figured it would pop out of my chest while hiking up Longs peak in RMP, i'm guessing I was at LT and max HR for about four hours Sunday, how 'bout that training lingo HUH. I won't use this forum to knock a state but DAMN, Nebraska is about 300 miles too wide, I think I may have the bird flu, cause the turds flew, and i'm still not feeling 100%, and that is the excuse I'll use this weekend at the races!!!!

I hate snot

STILL feeling poorly after a week, can't seem to shake this off. I don't know why we take antibiotics that don't work on viral infections, hell I'd settle for a placebo if i thought it would help MENTALLY, oh well, The MRS. and I have BIG doings this weekend, 1800 miles worth, we are both getting to that age when its time to decide if your going to work for the "man" till death or take a risk and strike out on your own, after reading Mike Howards blog, brought me back to just how much time over the course of my life I've spent in Dehn's woods doing the same type of kid stuff up to now doing the same type of "older kid" stuff. I'm not going to get into too much detail about our trip but i'll offer this "teaser", if you LOVE what your doing and your making money doing it, is it really work? I'd say its a once in a lifetime chance...nuff said. Wish us luck!!

Its Christmas in March

I'm going to buy one of these. Its basically an upgraded version of the Psylo fork I'm running now with a few new twists. The first is 32mm legs, the next is "motion control", I looked at buying a FOX F100x but after reading the reviews I am less than impressed, no need to spend almost $800.00 if there is another option available. When I have a few rides on it I'll give a review of my own...

The WEAPON

s'cuse me I'm sick

Was feelin purdy bad saturday, managed 16 miles around geode anyway, one lap with the dogs in hot pursuit and one without, trail was not "muddy" and I wasn't sinkin in but still felt like riding on sponge cake. Stayed home most of the day sunday I felt like poop, but later on I got better so i put an hour on the trainer instead of watching the oscars...

Tidbits

30 miles in 60 minutes, on rollers. First half hour avg. heart rate at 153, aerobic breathing, no problems. Last ten minutes trying to maintain 31.5 mph started pedaling in "squares" heart rate close to max. at 185, cadence down to 90 rpm, its funny to watch how your body reacts when you hit the "wall", finished at 30.3 mph avg. over the 60 minutes, washed all the lactic acid out with some POM, recommended by Jeff Kerkove, it aint too bad...tonight, back outside

Slice?

Whats a good name for slimy mud over ice? Slice or mice? First lap around Geode yesterday 10:00am Frozen solid and perfect, second lap 1 hour later, about 1/4 inch of really slick goo on top of the frozen ground. Fun but dangerous, had to bug out after that because I didn't want to ride on the trails as they thawed, I'm comin up short on actual miles for this month but the effort has been up, think I'll put some serious roller miles on tonight...

Keep rollin-rollin-rollin-rollin-WHAT?

Roller racing with the Ahmish in Kalona Iowa.

How Many???

How many laps around the brand NEW BEE's baseball parking lot does it take to get to 20 miles? 80! I OVER-estimated its length a bit, its only 1/4 mile around. Thats OK, I'd rather do a real "road" than spend an hour on the trainer any day, I was able to keep my ave. above 18 mph without pushing too hard, now I need about 20 more sessions like that before my first roadie event which is March 19th, put on by the DICE team. Gonna ride a boatload at Geode this weekend, trail should be in good condition too. Anyone ever notice that when you have a local trail "dialed in" its hard to pace yourself? I gotta FORCE myself to stay aerobic while riding there, I just seem to keep pushing the speed up until I realize that I DON"T want race pace today, I want time in the saddle to burn some FAT. Tax money WAHOO, time for a REBA team fork, my PSYLO's bushings are HISTORY, its getting so loose it feels like my headsets fallin out.

Think Spring

Not much other than training going on right now, during a snow ride two weeks ago I took a header while going downhill and jammed my seat into my right kidney. OW! Took a couple of days to heal, never bothered me while riding, only when I tried to sleep. Sunday the Mrs. and I hiked the 8 miles around Geode, the trail was still covered with ice from that last storm but othwerwise were in good shape, so I got done with a three hour hike, drove home got my bike and drove back out to Geode and did two laps, legs felt worked but endorfins are FREE. Also been doing some intervals on Snake Alley at night, I don't mind the cold as the trainer is BORING me to tears. Think tonight I'm going to try riding around the parking lot for the BEE's baseball diamond here in town, possibly a half mile? but deserted after dark. could be interesting...

Random crappola

Didn't get to my race afterall the hoopla, I was not feelin it sunday, wound up hiking with the Mrs. and the mutts, I'm thinking that too many races too soon were givin me the red-ass so i backed off a bit. I've got 4 hours training time in this week so far between inside and outside rides, I love the rollers-unfortunatly they DO NOT work you at all like the trainer does, I think i'll back WAY off on roller time and just use them as cool down/warm up for the fluid trainer...c'mon daylight savings time, I need some outdoor rides bad, dropped below 180lbs headed to 170 but its a struggle this year. got a flat already on my GRRacer, bummer! i hate friggin tubes, tonight-i'm going to try parking lot racing

Motivation

I'll tell you what motivation is all about, I read somebody's rant about Bush and biking, not that I care about either, but there seems to be a group who no matter what can't help raggin on what PARTICULAR bike someone is riding. God, nothing fires me up more than that, the very LAST thing I'd do is disrespect anyone's bicycle of choice on a public forum. I don't care if its huffy, next, or Eddy Merkx as long as your bustin your ass to pedal the damn thing. Maybe "elite" riders have nothing else to gain but an ego trip by thumbing their nose at the rest of every wannabee out there, and turn around and cry about how no one is interested in the sport. THAT motivates me every time I get too tired to turn another pedal or gut it up the last hill, cause someday, somebody's gonna whup their ass with a bike that "sucks", and I hope I'm there to see it...

shopping trip

Weekend

Two races this weekend, a roller race and a gravel road race. I'm gonna do the gravel RR on sunday, should be cold and FAST. Not too many cat 5's show up so I am the proverbial "lantern rouge" at these races, although this will be the debut of my super secret GRR bike, maybe I'll be able to finish with the pack, maybe. Did 30 miles on rollers last night just for aerobics, but I maintained 30mph for an hour and felt really smooth doing it, rollers really improve your spin, and force you to be smooth even reaching for your water bottle. Saturday its outside for some chilly miles...