A bit more like it

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been feeling like my training efforts have been a bit substandard so to speak. That's not to say that I haven't been riding hard here and there, but the times I'm supposed to be going out for a truly hard ride/race simulation, I've been giving only 80-90% effort and getting done with the ride having some gas left in the tank.

Last night I was lucky enough to get a preview of the new PRC Papa John's route. Its similar to last years Wednesday night route, but with a new start location and some interesting routing to get the group out to the same area as last year. It should be a great time.

Roughly 8-10 of us rolled out from Rassy's and some indecision left myself and Courtney off the front and on our own. We rolled a light or two the others didn't make and even with a slow down on the way out to our loop, we didn't see the pack again. Once we hit the loop which consists of 6.75 miles of rolling hills interspersed with a couple decent climbs, I hammered it. Soon enough I was on my own completely which was fine by me as I wasn't planning on it being otherwise. A good breeze out of the west at 15mph hampered things a bit, but in reality didn't even phase me compared to the struggle from the night before. I was on the cross bike to keep things a bit more challenging and to get some additional seat time in prep for taking it on the Almanzo 100.

The first lap clicked off in 22:05 and I kept on it for another lap finishing out in 22:29. Pretty even considering I was covering almost 7 miles each lap. By the end of the 2nd lap I had hoped to catch the rest of the group, but alas they were nowhere in sight. I was feeling the burn pretty good and satisfied with having put in a good effort. I guess my designation for a good effort is determined by how light headed and slightly nauseous I feel at the end before I start recovering. There was definitely a tinge of burn in the stomach last night and just enough bending around the edges to call it quits. I backed things off a bit and still moved along at a decent clip back to my truck. 31 miles and a shade under 2 hours off the clock. I did meet up with a few riders still chatting back at the shop and talked to them for a minute.

After that, it was off to the nirvana of tacos, beer, and buddies. Tom joined me for some chatting as we chowed on tacos and Courtney showed up a bit later as well since he had a few extra miles needed to finish out his century. A good effort rewarded by some indulgent fueling. Probably not the best solution on keeping myself lean and mean, but you just gotta enjoy the spoils sometimes.

Warmth

I can't quite classify yesterday as warm, but comparatively speaking to what we've had lately, it was damn nice out. While I'm not quite ready to bare the legs yet, I did don only a pair of leg warmers and shunned a jacket in favor of a long sleeve winter base under a short sleeve jersey. Just about perfection for the temps. I showed up on the cross bike assuming that would be what Squirrel and Conlan were riding. Nope, both of them were rolling fat tires. Normally, I'd think I brought a gun to a knife fight, but with Squirrel training in full swing, it was something a little more mixed...

Heh, you can't imagine how long I've been waiting to use that shot!

We headed off through Berwick, Bondurant, and out towards Chataqua park before making a quick stop at the bridge. We found a bit of wildlife hanging out under the bridge snacking on some varied carcasses that had been dumped (thankfully not human). The wildlife had to antagonize the wildlife so it made for a couple good shots.

We rolled back with a hefty tailwind and fairly well flew back towards Ankeny. Conlan peeled off to head back to his truck while Squirrel and I tagged on another 20 minutes rolling down through Berwick again before heading back. Unfortunately we'd rolled south of our starting point and had to turn back north into the wind again. I decided to crank it up for a bit and rolled off into the wind alone, but a slight miscue in merging with traffic left me hanging out on the side of the road as Squirrel rolled by to leave me in the dust again. Something about slow and steady wins the race came popping through me head about that time...

I headed back home and as I was just about there a friend called needing some assistance with a flat tire. I halted my search for grub and went to play knight in shining armor for a bit. We changed out to her spare and headed back to my place to plug her tire and get her back on the road. I didn't feel quite right about sending her another half hour down the road running on one of those damn donut spares. I'm sure it would've been just fine, but when you've got the tools and time handy, why not get it done?

I finally made my dinner run after 7 and sat down to watch some trash TV and enjoy a brew or two. The hot tub siren song was singing so I grabbed another beer and soaked my legs for a bit. That was all she wrote though and I was down for the count at 9:30. I couldn't even make it through a quick conversation with Miranda before the combination of beer, biking, and the hot tub effect had me swooning and needing to lie down or fall down.

A weekend on the bike

You can hardly complain when the temps top 50 and 60 degrees during the first week of February. I made sure to pay homage to the nice weather and did my best to enjoy it thoroughly. I bolted out of work a shade after 3 on Friday just to make the most of it. After Thursday's snowshoe through Denman's I was pretty sure the trail could/should/would be ridden so I packed the mountain bike along for the ride Friday morning. After hanging at the shop for a few minutes I set my sails towards the woods in search of my most excellent adventure.

Before long I was churning my way through a mixture of slush, ice, water over ice, mud, and about every other type of undesirable surface you can think of on the trail. Thankfully, the mud was limited to very few spots and mostly around Little Italy. While the slush was rideable, it didn't leave much for traction so I still had to hike a few little spots, but mostly I rode. It took me around 45 minutes total to traverse the trail.

Now done with the hard part, I was wondering which route to head. Apparently I thought I must have gotten cheated out of something on Wednesday nights ride as I headed off to do somewhat of a reverse of that loop. Actually, I was trying to figure out someplace to ride to and get dinner and a beer. I ended up settling on El Ray over on Grand which actually meant I'd be riding the entire loop before hitting dinner. So, I better get moving. The first misstep came when I headed up the trestle to trestle trail. I was heading over to Johnston in hopes of looping through Urbandale and then back down the Windsor Heights trails. I completely forgot about T2T being built up with mud due to the floods of last summer. 10' into the mud, my memory was quickly jogged as my drivetrain clogged and drug me to a stop. I doubled back trying to keep as much mud off of me as possible and took surface streets over to Beaver and jumping back on the trail.

The rest of the loop was less exciting, but still interesting in its own right. Urbandale sucks for not plowing their trails! I jumped back off them quickly and hit city streets again. Then back on the trail the melting led to some interesting conditions. Low spots were dominated by 6-8" deep puddles that were punctuated with large ice chunks and/or on top of sheet ice. It made for a few puckering moments to say the least. 3 hours down and I made my well to El Ray for the burrito and beer recovery food group. MMMMM.

I started off Saturday with my mind set on a nice easy 2 hour spin. I had to be back at the house by 9 so I was off nice and early. Most everything was still thawed out from the warm temps and I took the cross bike as a respite from the heavy resistance of studs and knobs. Off towards Carlisle and ultimately Summerset park I headed. The sun was coming up and made for some very welcome warmth on my face along with setting a few nice pics.

I wondered if they even plowed the Summerset trail when I took off. Even these guys out in the sticks apparently know that you should plow trails (hint Urbandale). Unfortunately, not far outside of Carlisle the trail crowns pretty heavily to both sides leaving a lot of missed patches with ice build-up. After dodging a few and a runner informing me it only got worse down the trail, I opted for the gravel. The gravel was actually in almost perfect condition. As I got to the park, my options were to turn back or suffer some hills and loop back through Norwalk. At this point I decided I might as well hit it hard and see what popped. Funny enough, my legs popped about halfway through the rollers headed to the West. I barely made it home in time, but another 2 hours and 30 miles were down for the count as I hit the showers and headed off to our appointment.

A ride was called up for Sunday morning with most of the usual suspects- Pete, Pig, and Kunze. The weather was a bit of a concern due to the refreeze on the road, but we opted for a couple hours of good endurance riding on the cross bikes. Almost an exact repeat of last Sunday, we rolled 63rd to the Maffit loop, but extended our sojourn through the housing development as we dodged icy spots. I'm not sure where Kunze and Pig ended up, but Pete and I opted for 3 loops of the Ritual Ride route before rolling back down Railroad to our starting point. I was pretty trashed with just over 2 more hours on my legs and the heaviest of the efforts for the weekend.

All in all, 7 hours was great on the bike. I can start feeling the fitness a little more with each ride and getting outside just makes it so much better. Hopefully the warming trend keeps up (though I wouldn't mind a quick snow dump to get one more snowshoe session in). I just need to start cranking up a few longer rides now. I hear the Winterset loop calling my name and will be hitting it one of these weekends very soon.

10 pounds of shite in a 5 pound bag

Ugggh, that's about how I feel this morning. Like an overstuffed sausage. Now I remember why checking my self indulgence at the door is a bad thing. How are these for stats: ride time- 5.5 hours, weight gain- 3 pounds! Yup, I got outside to ride both days and other than the pain, thoroughly enjoyed it. OK, so who am I kidding, I enjoy the pain just a little too... I ate ok over the weekend until yesterday's Superbowl party at a friend's house. I checked my inhibitions at the door and let 'er rip. Ya, my weight was up 3 pounds between yesterday morning and this morning. At least I made it into the gym this morning and should be hitting some snowshoeing tonight it plans hold. Anyone interested in a late evening tromp through Denman's before we lose this snow completely?

Plans were flying all over the place for rides on Saturday. I think I had no less than 4 options of start times/points and types of rides to choose from. Being that I like to get out early, I shot over to Squirrel's for a 7 AM gravel ride. Temps were perfect at a shade under 30 degrees as we rolled out of his place and off towards Booneville. Plan was to hook up with another group rolling from Fuller's place somewhere along Booneville Road. They were running a bit behind so we headed north and over some more hills to meet up with them. Fuller, Sumpter, Anderson, and Will were all game as we headed back through the hills and the rest of the loop.

We rolled the hills pretty quickly with the exception of one quick stop. Apparently there are cougars in the area south of Booneville... Funny, most of us thought cougars were hunting mostly at night around these parts. Just to be sure, we rounded up our group at that point and left Tom and Will to fend for themselves. Funny, we never saw them after that point... I did hear they finished up later on though so alls well that ends well.

As we headed back east with a tailwind, Squirrel decided we were all in need of a serious ass kicking and cranked up his big ring. Damnit, Squirrel on a geared bike is about the worst best idea I've heard for a long time. He tore my legs up for sure as I put in a pretty good effort trying to real him back in, but gave up after 20 minutes. Fuller blew by me after I'd blown up, but didn't seem to fare any better until we regrouped at a stopping point. We rolled back into town catching the gravel out around old Army post road and back in through Water Works. We hit the shop in time to strip off some sweat soaked layers and chill out waiting for the 10 AM group to show up.

My ass was pretty well kicked at this point with my legs telling me I haven't got any distance in them this year. I chowed a bar and hit a shot of gel before feeling slightly better. As luck would have it, I'd all ready made up my mind that I wasn't going to hit another full loop. 50 miles would be plenty for me and as the big group rolled through Raccoon River Park, I was quickly off the back.

Actually, I don't think I missed too much other than some suffering, sloppy roads, and a grime covered bike. Even though I was rocking fenders, I still didn't miss this action. Kurt was wishing for some fenders I'm sure.

Above pics were all stolen from Squirrel!

Sunday I was in for a nice recovery spin. No takers on some cross bike/road action and I was fine with that. An early breakfast and then a rollout from our usual spot had me heading out towards Maffit for a planned 2 hour spin in zone 2-3. After yesterday averaging zone for for 3.5 hours, I needed some relief. I pushed a few hills, but for the most part, I let the legs spin. Ever the number junky, I was severely disappointed when my garmin failed to fire up. It was locked up and I'd forgotten the secret combination of buttons to push to get the thing running again. Ahh well, I just used my best judgement and felt good at the end of the ride. I broke out the Ritual Route for the most part, but did an extra out and back past Maffit reservoir for some bonus mileage and some nice scenery over the lake.

I was rocking the IPOD for only the 2nd or 3rd time ever on a ride. Tired of my workout mix, I hit random. Only one problem with that. I've got over 100 kids songs loaded on there for playing during drive time with Corley! Doh, nothing like jamming along and having Frosty the Snowman or the theme to Sesame Street as sung by Elmo pumping out through your earbuds. Actually, it brought a smile to my face as I felt myself singing along with a couple of the songs. All in all a nice way to spin out the legs. I'm still feeling it this morning, but at least the progress in my fitness is coming along.

Cranking one out in anger

Man, yesterday just hit me like a load. By the end of the day I wanted nothing more than to wear my ass out on the bike. I headed back to my roots and hit up the Monday night Bike World ride. This was one of my staples when I started riding last year. It's always a fun ride and the pace is usually pretty mellow. With that in mind I grabbed the cross bike so I could ensure some good work while still keeping a nice pace with the group. As it turns out, I brought a knife to a gun fight.

We took off at 6 with 3 guys on road bikes and me. Tom and Courtney were the usual suspects that I typically can keep pace with pretty readily on the road bike and we had a new guy from Drake named Chris (I think) that turned out to be a strong rider as well. We blasted down the trail out to the mile long bridge and then took turns pulling a paceline. We rerouted and headed north and west to Granger before turning down to catch the Raccoon River Trail in Waukee and bringing that back towards Des Moines. I was feeling good for most of the ride, but definitely working hard to keep up with the group and sitting in a little more than the others.

As we made the turn towards Waukee, there was a single biker about a 1/2 mile up the road from us. We turned up the screws a bit and slowly started reeling him in. After close to 5 miles we finally caught and passed him outside of Waukee. He seemed surprised by a group of guys in a straggly paceline included a cross bike considering he was riding his aero bars and had on a Copper Creek Tri jersey. Coming into Waukee I finally cracked and fell off the back at the town sprint. Mercifully, they let up and I strung onto the back once more.

We slowed the pace down considerably and I weeble wobbled my way to Rock Bottom where it was time for a beer. Not a moment too soon if I say so myself. After refreshing on the beer, Chris and I headed back towards the shop since I had parked there and he'd ridden over from Drake. Tom and Courtney stayed to enjoy their spoils of burgers and sides and another beer or two. We rolled back in the dark and I was enjoying the evening air even though I was completely gassed. My legs were protesting the hills, but I still kept turning them over at a decent pace. Almost 50 miles for a weeknight ride on a cross bike definitely had me worn out and my mind was blank. Just how I wanted it.

Week in review

Uggh, I suppose it's time to post an update since it seems readership drops greatly when there's nothing new on the blog. Hmm, I wonder if there's a direct correlation?! I finally made it back on the bike. Tuesday I finally had more than I could stand, found myself off at a relatively sane hour and decided it was now or never. I phoned up Brian and we decided to hit a small mountain bike loop over by his place. This actually worked out really well for me since his place just happens to be about 3 miles from my place! Bonus. I jumped on the mountain bike and headed his way. A couple hours later I was worked into a sweaty and only slightly tired heap as I wound my way back home. Sorry, no pictures as the trails we were on are top secret! Actually, they're more unknown than secret. Shoot, I've lived on the south side all my life and only knew about a couple of the pieces we hit.

Work still sucked most of the week and made sure I didn't get out to play again. After putting in somewhere north of 40 hours before the 4th, it was time to play again. I was originally planning to hit my first road century with some friends early on the 4th, but got a last minute invite to grab some gravel goodness with Brian at a later start time and more relaxed pace/distance. We rolled from his place through the top secret trails and headed towards Summerset park in Indianola just to see what kind of shape it was in.
Getting ready to leave:

Sweet level B on the way down

Bridge washed out on the singletrack trail

Shallow water crossing in Summerset Park

Rollin some gravel


The park wasn't in too bad of shape. We hit two spots where water was still across the road. I let Brian take the lead on both just to see how deep they were (my momma didn't raise no fool!) The singletrack lower portion was in relatively good shape with some muddy spots and a few trees across the trail. It looked like a single work day would pretty much get it back in ridable shape beyond the large bridge being washed out which is going to take some heavy equipment to probably put back in place. All in all a great morning for a great ride and ended with a couple brews before noon (shh don't tell the beer police). We ended the day visiting some other friends and taking in the Adventureland fireworks show.

Saturday was pretty much a wash in the morning. Corley wasn't working things out very well so we cancelled out our planned tandem and trailer ride. We also spent a solid hour attempting to clean green juice from an area roughly the size of Rhode Island out of the cream color carpet in our living room. Score: Green juice 1 Carpet 0. We got most of the staining out, but the carpet gave up it's last ghost so it's now slated for replacement in the next year or so.

Around noon we finally went out for a stroll and headed to the motorcycle shop down the street. I had been putting off looking at scooters again until I could take Miranda with me for an opinion and have her also set on one with me for the few times we might both go out on it. I ended up picking the Rattler 110 based on how it fit and felt under me. I actually didn't get to ride it until I'd all ready purchased it, but after riding it a few times, including into work this morning, it's definitely a ton of fun. I'll post more about it later, but here's a pic from it's first day in a new home.


After that we finally made it out for an evening ride. With our tandem mileage severely lacking this year, I picked out the flattest and shortest route available. We loaded up and hit the Summerset bike trail and rode to the park. Even though the park is closed, we still had a good time letting Corley run and play.

Our road train


You can't really tell from the pictures, but the tandem with a trailer added on makes for quite the road train. It's a comfort style tandem (Trek T900), but it's still a lot of fun and makes for a nice relaxing cruiser. Trying to get much of any speed out of it is next to impossible especially with the trailer on, but cruising in the low to mid teens is about perfect. I still need to put a different saddle on though as I'm in such an upright position that I put a ton more weight on my ass. I'm planning on trying out a leather saddle as soon as I can order it.

That took us right up to bedtime and we finished off the night with some relaxation in the hot tub. Corley and I have some bonding time this afternoon with mom working. Too bad we can't get back together with our other friends Squirrel and Kent due to Corley still being on the contagious side so we'll have to go play on our own. I'm thinking another trailer ride with her hooked to the cross bike might be in order. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'm stuck at work for another hour or so.