Back Home

I confess that I do not discriminate in my choice of two-wheeled transportation.  For the last several years, I've enjoyed the companionship of a dual-sport motorcycle.   It is actually a KLR650, a budget level adventure bike.  I've taken it down numerous dirt roads, across creeks, over dirt mounds, and explored countless backroads.   I must admit it is very fun.  Different than a bicycle, but still enormously important in my repertoire of stress-reducers.  I haven't ridden my motorbike much this past year as I've been focussing on bicycles, and there are only so many hours in the day.  When I have a few free hours to spare, the pedaling kind of bike has been winning out.  

Back in November, I dropped GreenZilla (my name for it) off at the shop to get serviced.  It needed a new rear tire and the fork-oil changed ... familiar territory in bicycle maintenance.  It was a chilly 25 degrees when I rode it home.  If you know what windchill feels like at 15-20 mph on a bicycle, you can guess how that feels at 55mph.   But it is now safely back in the shed with battery tender in place waiting for warmer days.

It's the Weight, Stupid

My race calendar has four of the NUE series; four 100 mile mountain bike events that all feature 10,000 ft of climbing or more: Cohutta, W101, SM100 and the killer, Breck.  I completed the W101 last year and want to be faster this year.  Since much of time savings is to be found on the climbs, one very important principal to keep in mind is

“If I want to go uphill faster, weigh less”. 

Obviously there is lots and lots of riding and training which is important too.  That’s a given.   But when I’ve done all that training and am still looking for those extra 15 minutes to shave off, it comes down to simple physics; I want to tote as little bulk up that big friggin’ mountain as possible.   

Time To Get Moving

This is the part of winter which is getting old.   We are now about two months into having snow on the ground and this weekend was the coldest yet with temps that never got above 20 and were as low as -15 with the windchill.   I have a good selection of winter gear but it doesn't cover me for those temps.   Worse I am heading out on a series of business trips that will consume the next three weekends and some days on either side -- I'll go a month before I see a day off.   My winter fat reserves are just a bit too plentiful.  And every one of those 12,000 feet of Cohutta are looming ever closer.

At 7am on April 30 I will be sitting on the start line at Cohutta, looking at the mountains looming in the distance.  At that point I will have either logged a serious training effort to be sharp or I will have given it a half-assed effort and be ready for a day of suffering and regrets.  Now is the time I make that decision.   In all my years of marathon training, my key mantra was that marathons are won or lost on all the Sunday mornings leading up to the event.   That principal doesn't change if you swap your running shoes for cycling cleats.

I realized I needed some good, old-fashioned recommitment.  I logged 2 hours in the weight room and on the trainer Sunday (football games help) and another 90 minutes outside last night on the mountain bike SS climbing hills and pushing snow.  Now is a good time to start paying a little closer attention to those extra snacks I've been sneaking too.

Last night's ride was great.  The snow was perfect (packed and fast).   I had good legs for the hill repeats.  I pushed 90 minutes in the dark solitude and enjoyed the tranquility.  When I got home, my bike badly needed a bath to keep it from collapsing in a heap of corrosion.  Then I dug into my parka shell and found out that one of the mitts I had stashed mid-ride there was missing.  Ughh.  I sat there for a dejected moment contemplating my options.  I could just leave it and drop $50 on a replacement pair.  Nah, that sounds too lazy.  I should go out and retrieve it from where it lay in the darkness.  I was letting it get to me and ruin my great, post-workout euphoria.   I didn't want to take the bike back out again (another washing).  Next I thought I might go out running, but I would have needed to cover too many miles and I was already cold from the cool down and bike washing.  So I hopped in the car and hoped for the best even though that gave me the least ability to recover my tracks.   25 minutes later I had my mitt back in hand.  I can't believe I let it get to me so much.  There is a zipper on my parka pocket for a reason ... idiot!

Winter Outing

After working most of the weekend, I was finally ready to spend some quality time on Sunday to get a long, quiet ride in.   I was planning a solo trip along the gently rolling, country roads.  A few minutes before I head out, my friend J.G. calls me and tells me some of the local fast guys are riding at 11am.  I am always conflicted about riding with these guys.  Most of them are in better shape than me and so I have to really gas it the whole way to stay with them, especially in midwinter when I am riding 1/4 their mileage.   That and I don't have my winter pedals on my road bike (which are compatible with my spd winter boots) so it is the cross bike.   It should have been a pretty simple decision.  Don't show up to a road ride with faster guys, who are in better shape than you on your cross bike.  So I went with them anyway.

I stayed with them for about 25 of the 35 miles; for most of them I was pegged at my redline.   Pretty good considering the circumstances.  They had to slow down in two places to let me catch back on, but I survived.  About 7 miles from home, I cross Lafayette Rd -- a local dirt/gravel hillfest that is now packed with firm snow.  So I thank the group for keeping me on the back, peel off and head down the back road to catch my breadth and wind down.

It was a lovely way to end a hard, fast ride.  Lafayette always puts a smile on my face and this time was no different.  The surface was winter-perfect with packed snow and a strip of exposed dirt.  I could suit my fancy by choosing any number of lines.   There is something that just feels right about riding a cross bike on wintery, snowy, dirt.

Cross Ride Jan 16 on Vimeo.

To Ride or Not to Ride: The Winter Question.

Winter is a good test of a cyclist's soul.  We are faced with that important question -- should I go outside and ride or not -- which says a lot about who we are as people.  And I don't mean to create a hierarchy of toughness.  I fully respect other people's decisions to be a three season cyclist.   I am more interested in what it says about me.

It is 8pm.   I've just put the kids to bed.  I've had a long day at work and have more work I need to do tonight.  It is 17 degrees outside with a windchill that is closer to 10.  It is pitch black dark.  There are 5 inches of snow on the ground.   As I flip on the porch light and stare out into the snowy cold void, my every instinct is telling me to plow through a sleeve of cookies and then pseudo-hibernate under the warm covers.  Should I go out?  I know I'll feel better if I do.  

We've had an unusually cold and snowy winter in Ohio.  December, typically a warmish month punctuated with days hitting the 50s, was, this year, a snowy chilly arctic abyss.   We've had snow on the ground since Dec 1 and nary a day above freezing.  The first snowy month is easy.  It is novel.  Riding in the snow and cold is fun once again.  Winter would be great if it lasted a month.   But now we are in the middle of the second month of bitter cold and the novelty is long gone.   I have a lot of appreciation for folks in, say Wisconsin, who basically have a month more of winter than do we.  

On this evening, my desire for exercise wins out and I put on my gear, strap on my lights and hit the trails.   And I have a blast as I almost always do.  

One bike path is untouched except for the pioneering footfalls of a few intrepid joggers.   The going is hard here and I tell myself this is building character.  I have visions of Pugsleys and Mukluks dancing in my head as I strain to keep the bike upright and moving forward in the slippery conditions.   I jump off the path onto residential side streets.  These are the best.  They are "scrapped" but not clear so it is a nice snowy surface with enough traction to move along but enough slip to add excitement.  I am riding my faux single speed (fss) -- a 16 year old bike that I don't shift anymore though I could probably coax it into another gear with enough torque on the grip shift.   I head up and down a variety of hills to get some burn in the thighs and some warmth in the finger tips.   Otherwise I enjoy the tranquility of a snowy evening as I seem to have the world mostly to myself.   I decided to ride and I am glad for it.

New Year's Resolutions

Welcome to my blog.   I hope to track my progress and share my thoughts while I tackle my cycling goals for 2011.

I've always been a bit cautious and skeptical to embrace the whole New Year's resolution thing.  Probably because there is so much negativity associated with them.   How many thousands of pledges are made each Jan 1 for people to lose weight, get in shape, drink less, stop smoking, read more, etc?   And how many thousands of them are laid waste before Feb 1 comes around?  Whole industries are supported by people creating New Year's resolutions ... and failing to meet them.

I propose my own with some hesitancy, partly because of how people might respond (insert rolling eyes here) and because just associating my own plans with a New Year's resolution might predispose them to failure or at least, less importance.

But I am a planner by nature.  So I'll call this an athletic plan for 2011.  I am not new at this.  For about 12 years of my life, I was a serious competitive marathon runner logging upwards of 100 miles per week, flying around the country to compete, toeing the line against Kenya's finest at Boston and such.  Mind you I didn't beat them.  But that level of commitment requires a great deal of planing and intentionality.  I bring that same framework with me for my athletic goals of 2011.  Without further ado ...

1) Have fun!  Cycling in 2011 has to be fun.  Running was fun too but you reach a point when you take things so seriously that it becomes a vocation more than a hobby.  You simply don't get to be very good unless you push it past this point.   I don't want to do that with my cycling.  First and foremost, my cycling will be fun.

2) Race fast!   And I still want to be competitive in a handful of races.  My targets are 100 mile mountain bike races that are part of the NUE series.  I want to be competitive in 3 races and survive another (I have no pretensions about heading to 10k ft at Breckenridge and riding as fast as those guys who live up there).   Competitive, for me, means finishing somewhere in the top third ... Bishop and JHK have nothing to worry about.

I have a number of secondary goals such as do more cross, participate in a few other races or events and such.  But those two are my main objectives.   Happy 2011!