Weekend tune up

With spring in the air, the snow melting off quickly, and the first TNWC firing up this week, some hard efforts were in store for the weekend. My original plan was to get a 2-3 hour ride outside on both days. The lovely weather people screwed that call up though and I awoke to overcast, threatening skies, wet streets, and winds out of the NW at 17 mph. Yup, I wasn't headed out for a morning ride. Luckily teammate Steve D has been gracious enough over the winter to open his garage up as our training studio on the weekends. Most of the usual suspects gathered at 7:30 for a spin session. We ran the gammut from building interval on top of interval all the way to 5 minutes of puke threshold (zone 5), before backing off to a mix of Z2/Z3 intervals for the remaining hour. With some proper motivation I managed to up my highest indoor heart rate by another beat or two up to 194 during the last little bit of our Z5 joyride. 2 hours and 20 minutes banked and I was cooked.

Sunday had people itching to get outside. I wanted to get a long steady ride in and spent some time Saturday evening trying to get things ironed out. We finally decided on 11 AM leaving Grounds for Celebration and rolling the proposed reroute for the TNWC. I stayed committed to my ride to the ride plan and rolled from home around 10:15. A solid group of 10-15 riders from Rassy's, PRC, and a few others showed up to enjoy what would turn out to be a gorgeous ride in the sunshine. The new routing left a bit to be desired as we rolled through too many stoplights and residential sections before we hit roads where we could really open it up. The group stayed pretty tight until we made the turn north on east 29th. Then the hammers did what they do best and opened up the engines. 6 of us rolled slowly off the front and began a well oiled rotating paceline into the wind out of the NNW at 13+.

We rolled into the residential section and then found ourselves stuck at a gravel crossroads.

Looking north:

Looking east (with Pete flooding the ditch):

One person doubled back to the other group as gravel wasn't in his cards for the day while the rest of us pondered which direction to go. Squirrel pointed out that 1 mile east was a north/south pavement so we opted for that route. The gravel was in perfect condition for road bikes and we didn't have any troubles zipping through that section. Once back on the pavement, the wind reared its head again as we found our form back in the paceline. When we finally hit the west turn to Sheldahl, the crosswind showed us how much we'd been pushing against. We upped the pace now that we weren't fighting the headwind anymore and worked back towards the connection with the original TNWC route.

As soon as we hit familiar stomping grounds, it was game on. Lou, Squirrel, and I had been rotating while the others got their legs back under them for a bit. Lou announced it was time for fun with longer pulls. I made it through 1 rotation before firmly affixing myself to his wheel for the next few miles. We opted out of the north turn to Slater feeling that the extra routing had all ready taken plenty of extra time. From their, Lou laid it out and left us off the back until we regrouped on the south turn. Now it was time for the real fun. We got a small paceline rolling with easy pulls as the tailwind pushed us nearly effortlessly along in the mid to upper 20's. We hit Polk City and stopped for a quick water refill before rolling the last section.

At this point, Pete suggested we roll nice and easy all the way back. We kept that up on the hill out of town, but once again the pace got CRANKED by Lou as we hit the mile long bridge. He kept turning up the wick until I was in the bottom of zone 5 while still in the draft and doing everything I could to not lose it off the back. We shelled one of the guys at this point, but got him back on as we hit the stop sign on Beaver. The only real jerk in a motor vehicle gave us some exhaust action as he buzzed us on the right in a big diesel. Rolling south again, we kept the pace a little more friendly with Lou doing most of the long pulls as we were all pretty fried. I took the last pull as we hit Camp Dodge and the final sprint. I was cooked at this point and watched the guys walk away from me.

One final regroup as we rolled down Merle Hay and we banked 50 solid miles for the day on that loop. Squirrel and I opted for some liquid refreshment at AK's and were joined by the second group that had rolled backwards down through Ankeny.

Liquid refresher:

I got my legs slightly back under control and made the most of the tailwind headed back south to home. In all a really productive ride of just under 4 hours that left me with some very tired legs when topped off with Saturday's suffering. I can definitely tell I'm pretty far ahead of last year at this time. I'm not sure if I'm ahead of my high point of last season yet or not, but I feel like I'm at least pretty close which should mean I'm in for some good things as my fitness builds through the summer.

Bowl me over

I feel like I'm getting in a rut here just reporting the weekend news, but suffice it to say, other than just being generally busy, not much notable seems to have gone on during the week for a little bit. I haven't been able to get my outside riding in and that has contributed to my blah attitude as well. At least the weekends have been full of some good times.

Friday in the midst of the snowstorm I opted to hold our plans to get together with Pete and his daughter for a fun evening. We hit Hu-Hot for dinner and Miranda decided she'd like to tag a long since it's one of her favorites. Who was I to say no. Plus, it gave her the opportunity to get to know Pete just a bit as well since they really hadn't met. The food was good as always. Really though, if it isn't very good, you've just about got to blame yourself for making up some weird combo of meat, noodles, veggies, and sauces since it's all up to you. Pete and I each polished off close to two plates full before we decided enough was enough and closed out the tab.

You'd have thought the hour and fifteen minutes it took me to get from the east side to dinner on the west side would have been the eventful part of the evening. Or maybe it was hopping up on the median island to go around two cars stuck side by side going up a hill. Nope, the real fun began when we tried to hit our planned after dinner activity. We were going to take the girls to Glazed Expressions to try to get some craft time in and maybe have them make something neat for mom's for Valentine's day. Alas, we pulled up and a nice sign informed us they were closed due to weather conditions. Bummer. We floated the idea of hitting the inflatable indoor kids park called Jumpin Jacks and headed that direction. It was equally vacant. Finally, we settled in on bowling. Funny enough, that probably was the best fun we could have had. The girls had a ball, Pete got scolded for walking down the lanes after a dead ball, and we both laughed like madmen watching the girls.

The girls contemplating a split

Corley waiting for a 3 MPH ball to ease its way down the lane

Part of her victory dance when any pin was knocked down

Pete giving Ava a pointer or three

I can't quite tell if she like bowling or not...

Saturday was the return of Valentines. We opted to stay pretty low key this year. Sometimes we do a little more for each other and other years we just enjoy our time spent with each. As long as you show your partner on a regular basis how much they mean to you and you love them, do you really need a day where you pay homage to them by trying to outspend the next guy in line? Seriously, its such a farce to think that a single day of gift giving could make up for 364 days of not giving a rat's ass. OK, enough ranting for now. I hit a little over 2 hours in Lou's pain cave on the trainer along with Pete and Kris. I still wasn't feeling all that great, but I put in a decent effort. Saturday afternoon we found ourselves enjoying some time with my cousins who were all in town to help celebrate our grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. It was good to see all the family.

Keeping with the low key theme, we rented a movie on Saturday night and snuggled the night away on the couch. I know I'm a bit late on the bandwagon here, but Iron Man was a pretty kick ass movie and will probably be one we add to our collection.

Sunday was an early up and meet a few other hearty souls for an hour of snow shoeing through the fresh powder at Denman's. Squirrel had been out laying tracks and Saturday and I definitely felt a tinge of jealousy knowing I didn't have time to get back out to enjoy some bike time on perfect singletrack. We did have a good time shoeing though and even crossed a few of the ice flows that were dotting Denman's due to the river backup. A scant hour later and I was on my way home to spend some quality time in the garage.

I have this engine project that has been ongoing for closing in on 3 years. A guy paid me to build a motor and transmission for his car and it took about 2 years to get all the payments in place. In the mean time, life got busy and shifted directions as well so I hadn't put it together yet. Well, it's finally time to pay the piper so to speak and I started in on putting it together. It's amazing how quickly all the little things come back on building these motors. There are just so many little steps that I developed as I learned how to build these and things I won't skimp on. So, it actually slowed me down a bit as I had to run and get a few various supplies that I hadn't had the need for in several years. I did get a small dent put in it and now I'm on my way to crossing another thing off my list.

Weekend Recap

Whew, judging by the number of people that swung by yesterday looking for something new, I probably better get off my ass and put something together! Yes, I'm one of those incessant people that actually looks at statcounter just to see if anyone has the slightest bit of interest in what I'm saying. Funny enough, a few people do, so who am I to disappoint you.

Actually, it's not for lack of activity that I haven't put anything down. Somewhat to the contrary and add in a day that mentally tried to kick my ass yesterday and it just wasn't a good combination. In any case, its all good.

Saturday I was really trying hard to put together a group to hit Climb Iowa. Miranda had bought me an all day pass including some lessons, gear, and the whole shebang. I figured I might as well put it to good use on a day that would make most people huddle for warmth inside rather than attempting to get some time in on my back. Funny enough, everyone seemed to be in a pretty quiet state this weekend so I found the Livestrong event at Jordan Creek. 3 hours of grinding it out on my trainer with a bunch of like minded people, what could be better?! Actually, I had about as good a time as you can when perched on your bike going nowhere, yet sweating buckets for 3 solid hours. I picked a nice spot out by the ropes so I could keep an eye on the onlookers to make sure I wasn't going to be rushed by some hot mom that was so turned on by spandex and leg fur she couldn't resist throwing me down and having her way with me right there... OK so maybe I'm exaggerating just a teensy bit. Actually, I figured it would give me easy access to the outside world if I needed a short break and would let me watch the people wondering just what kind of crazy soul would torment themselves with this kind of idiocy.

Funny enough, there were plenty of fellow idiots, err cyclists, just like me willing to sit and sweat for 3 hours. By all appearances there were 60+ of us packed in like sardines. The PRC girls were well represented and set up camp next to me which gave me some good conversation. It would seem I was the only guy racking the Death Squad Jersey, but at least we had someone there putting on a spectacle. I did manage just shy of 3 hours total time spent including a pretty killer 2 hour set followed up with a 1 hour zone 4 interval set. Ughh, I was definitely feeling cooked by the time I got done. A bottle of Heed, a couple hammer gels, and copious amounts of water barely covered the energy expenditure considering I skipped lunch due to the noon start time. Soon enough though we were done and loading back up. A good way to get a nice block of training time in for sure. It beat the hell out of forcing myself into the basement for yet another spin and netted me almost 60 miles as well.

Sunday was forecast to be another cold one and I really wasn't feeling the bike after Saturday. So, I hooked up with Pete for an hour jaunt through Raccoon River Park. We started off working the deepest snow we could find along the hiking trails. Luckily they were punctuated with a sweet fluffy layer of 3" powder from the night before and we weren't having to look too hard for resistance. On our first pass we joked a bit about walking out on the lake and Pete was pretty adamant about being able to do without that particular feat. Seems he's not the most comfortable on frozen water. I can't say as I blame him, but years of ice fishing must have tempered my fear a bit and I'm relatively comfortable on it. Even more so when we've had the temps as low as they've been lately and for most of the season. On the second pass we ventured out on the ice and captured some of the best powder, resistance, and pictures of our journey.

A couple hearty souls enjoying 8 degrees and -1 windchills!

Look ma, I'm standing on ice!

What, me worry?

We hit it relatively good for a solid hour before having to part ways. I had a driveway still calling my name while Pete was off to church. I bogged out on doing anymore workouts the rest of the weekend and carried that process right through yesterday. I did make it into the gym this morning, but yoga tonight is getting cut with nobody to watch little one. I should still get an hour+ on the bike tonight though after she hits the sack.

I'm off to land of northeast Iowa tomorrow (Dubuque) for work again and I hope I'll be back in time to keep up with my planned outdoor ride. At least the weather doesn't appear it will be working against me. Here's hoping.

Hitting the mark

Well, it's not exactly the mark I'd hoped for when I began this season, but I'll take what I can get. I cleared 3,000 miles on my log last night. Granted, I was on the trainer at the time, but as I said, whatever I can get. In reality, I was shooting for something closer to 4,000 miles this year considering I was over 3,000 in 2007 with only 8 months of riding on the books. 4 full months to hit another 800 miles should have been pretty easy, but alas, it wasn't to be.

I really didn't get any long mileage in on a regular basis and that really hurt. I think my average ride this year is probably around 20 miles where last year it was well over 30. I'm sure riding my mountain bike a lot more definitely put the average miles in a major state of decline as it's tougher to get 30 miles on a mountain bike doing singletrack than it is to head out for some nice paved road riding. Makes me wonder what 2009 will bring in terms of mileage. I'm thinking I'll focus even further on mountain biking so it's going to take some pretty serious efforts to maintain that many miles.

On the plus side, my focus is starting to get my motivation going as well. I turned in about 5 total hours on the bike last week and started things off with another 1.25 on the trainer last night. I also made it to the gym for the first time this morning. I won't lie. It was damn ugly in regards to the lack of strength I've got. I was doing some 1 legged pedalling exercises last night and really got a first hand glimpse at how weak my core is. Time to work on that. I really want to check out some yoga, so I'll have to see if I can make it to some classes at the gym. It appears they're mostly later in the evenings so that should work out decently for me.

I'll get to the holidays in another post.

Crunchy, drippy, and chewy

Sounds like a sure fire recipe to head to the urologist, doesn't it? Hey doc, I've got this thing, it's crunchy, drippy, and (according to my SO) just a bit chewy... OK, now that I've ruined your mental imagery for the day, how about a true description for each.

Crunchy describes the ride on Saturday. I stopped to pick up my new studs Friday night at the shop. Mine is on the bottom in this photo.

Innova steel studded 26er tires in the center flanked by my Nokians.

At $110/ea suggested retail these things should not only mount themselves (or at least come with their own lube), but pedal the bike, and have the ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Alas, they did none of the above. Saturday's ride was not good. I could get plenty of traction, but that really didn't do much for me when I'd break through the top crunchy layer and almost come to a complete stop roughly every 15 feet. The trail to Denman's entrance wasn't ridable so I walked back thinking the singletrack might be in better shape due to runners beating a path down, not to be. I turned back less than 100 yards in and decided to go for black label. Kudos to the City of WDM for plowing their bike paths at the same time as or before their roads. That kicks ass! Clive Greenbelt on the other hand sucked. It had the same crunchy layer, but with the hardpack underneath it was at least semi-passable. I got a mile or two down the trail before a long stretch of breaking through the crust had me turning back. I logged less than 10 miles and all in all about 45 minutes trying to work it out. Not a good day for riding.

Drippy was the name of the game for Sunday AM. With subzero highs for the day and the afore mentioned crappy trail conditions, it was time to break out the trainers for a group sweat at Lou's house of cycling. Lou, Pete, Steve, and myself indulged in some early coffee and then headed over to the garage for a couple hours of suffering and sweating with friends. Actually, not much suffering was done, just a good sweaty drip. I finally got to try out my new trainer and was pretty happy with the performance for the cost ($75 used). Much better and more tolerable than the rollers I tried last year. After logging close to 2 hours, it was time to head back home and work around the house for most of the morning.

Sunday afternoon plans for a fun day with friends fell through as Squirrel was hacking phlegm in about every direction so opted out of bringing the germs to the party(thanks, but you guys were missed), Kent apparently thought being their for his wife to go into labor was more important (you're probably right...), and Hansers were inundated by family coming to town. That left just Corley and I to break in a new tradition of making Santa Cookies. We definitely made the most of it though and had a great time just dad and daughter.




We iced, sprinkled, and even sampled a couple. Great activity. After that it was hanging out for the rest of the day and catching a few ball games on the tube. Definitely a good way to kill off the weekend.