Saturday, January 31, 2009

taking the bait.

I took Elden's bait today as the last day to get a raffle ticket for the full carbon Gary Fisher singlespeed Superfly. It's a cool bike and it would be cool to have but helping out the Fat Cyclist (Elden) in his quest to raise one million dollars for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is far more of a worthy cause than putting another bike in my garage.

I don't know Elden or his wife Susan, who is fighting cancer for the second time, but I found his blog a few weeks back and have been reading up on his family's journey.


Is it still January?

I took the opportunity of riding with some BCS guys on this sunny, 60 degree Saturday and it was great. We rode from the Amante in North Boulder over and around the Bolder Valley Ranch trails towards Left Hand Canyon. From there we rode up Heil Ranch, dropped down Wild Turkey on to Picture Rock trail and into the town of Lyons. After some coffee and water bottle refills, some headed back by way of dirt while Greg K., John G and I rode down US 36 back to Boulder. Check my motionbased.com for some riding stats.

I was having serious issues with my saddle height and I couldn't get it right. It was too low and then too high and back and forth. I never found that sweet spot that is just right for going up and coming down. To make saddle matters worse, I couldn't get the railing clamp to tighten down enough either, thus causing the saddle to tilt in awkward, uncomfortable positions. 

I an not sure what I think about Picture Rock yet. I think I need to ride it a bit more but the trail has a little bit of everything to offer-- tight, flowing singletrack and rocky, and rooty sections. There are many blind spots on the trail which make it hard for me to get flowing as the cautious rider that I am. It's one thing in a race but recreation is another thing. The chances of someone going the opposite direction on a race course is rare.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Seasons


Just finished Seasons on DVD while doing a Zone 2/3 workout with 30 second spinups (little to no resistence, high cadence, minimal bobbing) every five minutes. Have a peek. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Zone 2

Coach says an hour in the zone 2 is the rx for today. And an hour in zone 2 he'll get. I just have the joy of doing it on the trainer because of the snow. It's not that bad on the trainer in the garage because the cadence sensor let's me track speed and distance based on my rear wheel. Maybe I will hit the 5000 mark by the end the year. That would be a wonder.

Monday, January 12, 2009

At the gym

Blogging during my cool down on the stationary bike. HR at 118 and steady. Bill O'Reilly on the tube and Derek Webb on the iPhone. It feels good to do some strength training for the first time in a long while. Cross season was primarily cardio and intervals so now I have a chance to build back some muscle and get ready to rip once the snow melts.

Closing time.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Saturday ride

Map of 1/10/09 Saturday ride

Saturday, January 3, 2009

First or the Last?


From CX 1-3-2009
Was today's cyclocross race in Lyons the last of the 2008 season or is the first of the 2009 season, with just a very long time before the next race? Either way, it was very chilly today on a course that did not leave room for you to let up. Boulder Racing combined categories to run 4 races. There were 45 starters in the C race, which was made up of the Mens 4 and 35+ 4s. I finished the race 22nd out of the 42 that finished. For having not ridden in a while (since states) I'm pleased and look forward to the 2009 campaign.