I Heart De Rosa

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Money Well Spent

Bill contains $1.125 million for Ice Age Trail

One of those perks tucked into the budget bill passed by the House this week provides $1.125 million for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin.
All but $125,000 will be spent to buy land in Dane, Waukesha and Columbia counties, in areas where the trail now passes over paved roads. The $125,000 would be used to build hiking trail segments on the purchased land, according to Andrew Hanson III, the trailway director.
It would be another small step in the long journey to complete the 1,200-mile off-road footpath that marks the furthest southern reach of glaciers in the last ice age. Currently, about half of the trail requires hikers to trek on roads.
Hanson said the federal dollars would help generate allocations from the state stewardship fund and county coffers, and private donations. The federal allocation from the Land & Water Conservation Fund typically requires a local match of 50%.
Since 2000, the Ice Age Trail has received about $12.5 million in federal money for land acquisition and trail work and generated about $20.5 million from state and local sources.
State Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) took credit for the federal windfall in a news release her office issued on Thursday.
"The Ice Age Trail is one of the great environmental treasures of our state and our nation," she said. "Preserving this trail and opening it up to the public is a gift and a duty to future generations."
The new infusion of cash follows two other recent gains for the Ice Age Trail: Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board voted 7-0 earlier this month to approve the purchase of 78.62 acres of land for the trail in Waushara County. The land will be purchased from the Ronald Motola estate for $220,200, of which 50 percent will come from federal Land & Water Conservation funds and 50 percent from Wisconsin's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund.
In Washington County, the state and the Cedar Lakes Land Conservation Foundation combined to buy a 108.5-acre farm northeast of Hwy. 41. That land also will provide a route for a portion of the Ice Age Trail.

Credit: www.jsonline.com

My Weekend

No riding this coming Saturday and Sunday, this is where I'll be. Good times!

Short and Sweet

Well, I haven't posted much lately, just been busy, but I'll give a short update. I've been doing the best I can to ride as often as possible, but I've had a cold that has kept me limited to shorter rides and I've been sticking to my weight lifting program as well but had to miss a few days last week because of work related stuff. I'm on the uptick though with this cold and should be full strength again by this weekend. I don't want to go thrashing myself again though right away and the weather doesn't look all that suitable to road riding so we'll see what happens as the weekend progresses. I'm guessing some hiking on my snowshoe trails may be in order but since there really isn't any snow to speak of I will just use the hiking boots, no snowshoes. I'll hit the trainer as well and maybe I'll finally start my diet this weekend. I've lost a few pounds just by working out more, but I haven't changed my eating quite enough yet so that is the next phase of getting down to my goal weight. I'm gradually dropping it, but now March is coming up and it's time to get serious about eating well.
Other than that, I've finally sent out my USAC Coaching certification test so hopefully within a few weeks I'll get back my coaching license. Once that is good to go I'm starting on my ACSM Personal Trainer certification, that will take a bit longer though, lots of reading for that and quite a bit more studying involved, so I'm hoping by June I'll be taking that test. That is one thing I've wanted to do for a while and this year I'm going to finally get off my butt and get it done.
Well, it's time for bed, until next time........

Waiting?

Last year didn't quite turn out to be the year I had hoped for on the bike. I started by training probably a little too hard in anticipation of racing with the Master 1/2/3 racers and ultimately my first few races turned out to be duds. I did 4 races before I got stuck with a project at work that consumed all of my time in the evening and I had no time to train, much less even be at home or sleep. It turned out to be about a 12 week project that physically and mentally drained me, I had no energy for cycling. It turned out to be one of the most depressing summers, maybe even years, that I've ever had. On the bike, but personally as well, it was a bad year for me. I thought that once I got back in the groove of riding in the fall that I could transition in to riding the trainer in the offseason and hit the trails on the snowshoes as much as possible. Well, once the winter came and we got all the snow that we did I hit the trails a few times but never really got the motivation up to ride the trainer as much as I had hoped. I took it easy this winter, did some weight training, gained some weight, and rode a few times here and there. I kept telling myself that I had plenty of time, "it's only November", or " it's only December". There was a lot of waiting for the winter days to pass, '08 became '09 and I said, "it's only January, I've got plenty of time". I'm not sure what I was waiting for, I didn't really have the ambition to be a top racer this year, maybe not pack filler, but I wasn't ready to commit the time it took to be a top 10 finisher on a regular basis either. I just wanted to race, be there, and be happy doing it. All throughout January I kept telling myself that I didn't need to be super, this year was going to be my build up year for 2010, the year I was going to give it all I got, really get back in to racing. My "A" race isn't going to be Wheels on Willy, or the State Road Race, but it is going to be the Masters National Road Race championship. I want to get back to some type of national level racing, be somebody on the bike again, and it was going to start with training this year in preparing myself for next year. This is where the title comes in to play now, "Waiting?", what do I mean by that? Well, I still haven't hit the bike like I wanted to, I'm still riding here and there, not really committing, I keep telling myself I have plenty of time, I'm waiting for something to hit me, to say now is the time. I haven't had that happen yet, and I just think maybe I'm being lazy, maybe I don't need something to hit me, maybe I need to just slap myself and say, "now is the time". I anticipate that 2010 will be a good year for me, lots of training this year, and a then I'll kick some butt, but what if I get hit with a heavy duty work project again? What if I can't compete like I want to in 2010, what if it's a wasted year like 2008? So I asked myself today, why am I wasting 2009, sacrificing it for next year, what am I waiting for? I decided that I just need to get back on the bike, really rock it as much as I can this year, there may not be a next year to do that. So I'm not waiting, I'll enjoy 2009 as much as I can, ride as much as I can, and although I won't be doing the Masters' Nationals, I will do the State Road Race, my "A" race this year. What are you waiting for? Let's rock 2009 together, see you on the road.

Back In The Groove

The weather cooperated nicely this weekend and although a bit windy yesterday I'm not going to complain a bit. Today was cooler but less windy and that helped increase my average speed 2mph over yesterday's ride. Going 10 mph in to a headwind for 75 minutes sure does knock down the average. I took out the Pinarello yesterday because the roads were so wet and covered with salt, gravel, etc., that I didn't want to have to clean the good bike, plus the Pinarello has some nice cross tires on it that made me more confident that I wouldn't puncture or wipe out on any ice or snow. Well, that wasn't what I had to worry about, as about 2 hours in to my ride I felt my left leg moving around and looked down and my crankarm was about to fall off. I couldn't believe it, I had done maintenance on this bike in the Spring and rode it sometime in the fall and I'm not sure how the bolt got loose, but that definitely put a damper on the ride. I only had a 6mm Allen wrench with me and it needed a 7mm, so I tilted the wrench the best I could to grab the side of the bolt and got it tight enough to ride again. I had to stop every mile to tighten it, but eventually made it back home without it falling off. Of course I can't find my 7mm Allen wrench at the moment so the Pinarello got hung up in the basement until I do find it and then I'll take care of it.
Today's ride was not affected by any equipment malfunction and went off without a hitch, well, except for my lack of fitness which caused a malfunction in my legs but I'm definitely back in the groove and gaining fitness back quickly. I've lost about 5 pounds in the last week and a half just from the increase in riding and healthy eating. I should be down to 190 by the end of February which would be a 16 pound weight loss in a month, by the end of March I'd like to be down to 185 and then by the end of April I should be 180 which is pretty much my goal weight. Anyway, today's ride was a nice 3 hour jaunt through New Berlin, Waukesha, and Mukwonago and the sun and 38 degree temps were just fine by me. My cabin fever has been abated for another week at least and I'm hoping the trend will continue to where I can get outside again next weekend.
Tonight I will be relaxing by watching a few movies and having a pint of beer from the Riverside Brewery from one of my 3 growlers. Tomorrow is a vacation day from work so I'll probably do a little spin on the rollers amid getting things done around the house and heading out to get my oil changed on the Xterra. It's supposed to get cloudy and possibly rain during the afternoon and I have to be at the car dealer at 10:00 for the oil change so the chance of riding outside is pretty slim, I'll be fine with riding indoors after getting the 6 hours outside this weekend.
Well, that's it for now, time to run to Blockbuster and then back to help my wife cook some chicken wraps for dinner, until next time............

Jelly Legs

My legs are tired today, a little sore but I'm sure by the end of the day I'll be feeling a lot better. I did more this weekend than I have in a while, and I finally got to ride outside again! Saturday I was out in West Bend for my friend Dave's trainer party and it was a great time. There were 8 riders there sweating it out for differing time periods over the 4 hours that we were there. I did 2 hours and 20 minutes, basically I had to stop because my ass started to hurt and I think everyone else was fizzling out as well and we were ready to be done. After a quick trip to check out the LBS, Pedal Moraine, we headed to Dave's to clean up before our trip to Riverside Brewery. Dave and I had a really good time at Riverside, they have really good beer and great food, probably not the kind of food I should've been eating but if you ever want a great Reuben sandwich, Riverside is the place to go. I took my 3 growlers up to get re-filled and came home with their Lager, Amber Ale, and Stout, I polished off half of the Lager already last night while watching the Super Bowl, it was perfect for watching the game and eating some taco dip. Before I consumed the taco dip and beer Sunday evening I got out for a nice ride outside for just under 3 hours in the afternoon. It was about 35 and sunny when I hit the roads, but the wind was between 15-20 mph which made it rough going heading out, but I had a decent tailwind heading home, of course the wind died down when I had it at my back. I am definitely out of shape, I need to get a lot of riding in between now and the time that some events start to hit my calendar. I'm obviously overweight so that's my key goal right now, lose about 15 pounds and also just to get in a lot of miles. I'm not so worried about intensity right now, I just need to ride and get my legs used to all this pedaling again. They didn't know what the hell happened after the riding I did this weekend, I haven't ridden that much in a while so they were sore but if I can just stick to my program I'll be good by the end of April most likely. By "good" I mean that I'll actually be able to go up a hill without puking in my mouth. I won't be racing though, I don't think I'll be anywhere near that "good". So anyways, the plan is to ride tonight, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday I have to go to a Boy Scout thing for Xavier, and Friday is my normal day off. Hopefully the forecast will call for some good temps so that I can get outside again this weekend, I'm not even going to check though until Thursday, I don't want to get my hopes up until then. Well, that's it for now, until next time.

What Do You Know?

So there is this thing going around Facebook and other blogs where people are throwing out 25 things about themselves that other people wouldn't know, or are just interesting facts about themselves. I figured I'd do the same on my blog, but in order to protect my reputation in regards to all the crazy things I've done or to keep my vulnerabilities a secret (I watch HGTV), I'll post 25 things related only to my cycling endeavours. So here goes. Some are old, some are fairly new, some aren't all that interesting, but this seems to be the rage right now so I want to be cool too. In no particular order -

1. Back in the 90s I used to be able to do sets of 10 to 15 repeats up Johnson Rd. hill (State RR course).....in my big ring. Since my comeback to cycling 3 years ago, my best effort was only 3 repeats...in my small ring. And I almost threw up.

2. See above....I almost always threw up after about 8 repeats, but ALWAYS finished the rest of them.

3. I've raced against Lance Armstrong.

4. From the time I was 11 years old to 23 years old, I never, EVER, got a saddle sore riding my bike. In the last 3 years I've had about 15, and I have no clue why.

5. In my previous 12 years of riding I owned two saddles, a Selle San Marco Rolls, and a Selle San Marco Concor. In my last 3 years of riding I've owned 6 saddles. Saddles were better back then, now a 400 gram saddle just wouldn't cut it.

6. I had never walked up a hill on a bike until I came back 3 years ago. 6 months in to my comeback I had to walk up part of the Blue Mounds climb. I'll never walk up a hill again.

7. Unlike a lot of people, I have no allegiance or preference for a particular tire maker. I've used Vittoria, Specialized, Hutchinson, Michelin, Vredestein, Continental, Maxxis, and Matrix (an old Trek brand). I have 3 wheelsets right now that I use for training and racing, all 3 have different tires on them (Vittoria, Specialized, Hutchinson). The only brand I would never use again is Vredestein.

8. Since I've started cycling I've owned 4 steel bikes, 5 aluminum bikes, and 1 titanium bike. The only bike I've kept throughout the last 21 years is my 1988 Columbus SL Pinarello Treviso, it is THE most comfortable bike I've owned. I will keep it until I die.

9. A very well known teammate (I'll keep his identity secret) on my old Chevy team had an affinity for picking up discarded roadside porn. I learned this on my first ride with him when he stopped to pick up something on the road. He caught up to me and I noticed a rolled up magazine in his jersey pocket, I learned when we got back to his house that it was just another item in his already extensive collection. I have never picked up roadside porn.

10. I've broken 3 helmets in crashes where my head has hit the road, because of those helmets I have never broken my head. I will never ride without a helmet.

11. From the time I was 15 until I was 18 I didn't lose a mountain bike race in my age class, I quit mountain biking when I turned 18 to concentrate full time on road racing.

12. When I was 16 I won the overall of the Minooka mountain bike race in Waukesha beating a guy in his 20s who had won 4 straight races prior to that. I only won because my dad, who was a really good mountain bike racer as well, unclipped his foot when we were sprinting up the steep hill to the finish.

13. See above...In spite of winning my age group I never won the overall of a mountain bike race again after that Minooka race.

14. I raced the Chequamegon 40 only once right after I turned 18, I bonked only half way through and finished in like 4 hours. At the finish line I threw up mud and sand because it had rained most of the week prior and I had my mouth open a lot. I never raced a mountain bike again after this race.

15. From about 1991 to 1996 my training sustenance consisted of at least 2 cans of Chef Boy R-Dee Ravioli a day, every day of the week. It was the perfect combo of sodium, carbs and protein, and it was cheap. I calculated once that I had eaten approximately 3,600 cans of CBRD Ravioli in that timeframe. I haven't eaten a can of Ravioli since 1997.

16. My racing weight in 1991 was 145, in 1996 it was 155. In 2008 it was 182, in 2009 it will be 180....maybe.

17. In the last 3 years I've gained and lost at least 25 pounds each off season in spite of training through the winter. This year I've gained almost 30 pounds.

18. I have never ridden a Shimano equipped road bicycle. When shifting Campy levers you press a button down to shift down, you move the lever up to shift up. Shimano uses two levers that both move up, even to shift down. Campy makes more sense and I like it better.

19. My next bike will be carbon fiber, I've never had a carbon fiber bike and want one for no other reason than I've never had one. Hopefully I like carbon fiber.

20. On a training ride when I was about 20 years old I had an aluminum stem snap off at the handlebars and I crashed right in front of a truck that was behind me. The driver of the truck swerved in to oncoming traffic to avoid running me over. No cars hit me or each other, I prayed a lot that night.

21. I've gone 59mph down a hill on my bike, my legs shook uncontrollably at the bottom of the hill out of fear. My dad has gone 61mph down a hill. I need to go 62 some day.

22. The longest I've ridden on a bike in one day is 180 miles. This year I plan on doing 200 miles in one day.

23. At the height of my training and racing career I was doing 550-600 mile weeks. The end of some of those weeks had me crying at the end of rides from overtraining/depression/insanity. I did not enjoy riding my bike then....at all.

24. As a kid I used to ride my bike to town to get food, shop, and to get to friends' houses. As an adult I have never used my bike to commute, or to go in to town to get anything at all.

25. Before I joined Chevy I had the chance to go race in France, I couldn't afford the plane ticket though or the bills I had to pay. I still wonder how different my life would've been, would I be sitting in this cubicle right now? Would I be married? Not sure, but I have no regrets about it. I'm probably better off now with the path I took staying here.

Well, that's it, maybe I'll make some more lists in the future, but at least now I feel like I'm part of the Facebook and blogging mainstream. Yeah, I'm cool.

Warm

It's not really warm, but 17 degrees seemed mighty fine this afternoon compared to this past weekend. It's all relative I guess, 25 on Thursday and possibly even 30 on Saturday should seem like a heat wave. Other than that it will barely be past 20 degrees 8 of the next 10 days. On the bright side the average high by the end of February is 38 degrees, so we have that to look forward to.

A Case Of The Mondays

No, this isn't Office Space, but just a bad day for me today. I have a bit of a sinus thing going on, an infection maybe, but it's killing the right side of my head, my teeth hurt, my right eye hurts and a little bit of an earache. On top of that I woke up to a cold house this morning as my 1 year, 5 month old furnace decided to take a dump overnight and I had to have a tech come out to look at it. He did some diagnostics, said it needed some cleaning (seriously? It's just over a year old!) and charged me $140 for the 25 minute visit. The furnace worked just fine after he left, so I guess I have no complaints. Of course it's all controlled by a circuit board with nice green and red blinky lights so I'm sure it's set to stop at certain intervals, hmmm, a conspiracy? I'm sure it's not, but dang, only after a year it's already giving me trouble. Such is life.
Well, I was off work today, but I will head back tomorrow, I'm about to jump in bed, get some good rest and hopefully I'll be feeling better tomorrow. No weights today obviously but I'll try to hit the bike tomorrow, riding seems to be a good way to get rid of sinus congestion as it's always running when I'm riding inside so maybe that'll help tomorrow to get rid of some of this junk. Well, I'm tired, and not inspired to type right now, so more tomorrow I guess.

Race Schedule?

I put a question mark at the end of my title because it really is a question mark in terms of how the racing will pan out for me this year. I've really just started training so my season will not start right away, which is fine because I've managed to avoid a lot of trainer time in the basement by starting so late. As I've said in previous posts, I have no aspirations this year of being good, I just want to race in whatever shape I'm in, I'm not going to try to go all out and spend every minute of leisure time riding my bike. There is just way to much other stuff I want to do, and need to do (housework, right Lis?). So anyways, as my friend Dave said, it's best to declare something so that you have to follow through on it, well, I guess I don't have to but the 15 or so people that read this blog will know I didn't do it, so that helps to motivate me. So here is my tentative race schedule this year -

May 16th - Leland Gran Prix (very hilly road race), Masters3/4 probably since I'll still be in horrible shape. And fat. This is just a training race for the State RR.

May 31st - Sussex Crit, Masters 3/4, I'll still be slow.

June 6th - Backroads TT, Masters 1/2/3, since I can still be fat and do a decent TT

June 7th - State RR Championship, because it's in my old backyard, Masters 30+, no aspirations, just doing it for fun.

June 13th - State Crit Championship, Masters 30+, by this time I should be in decent shape, but still no aspirations, just for fun

June 20th-28th - Midwest Cycling Series, I'll pick one or two races from this, that's it, probably one of the weekend races depending upon the courses.

July 4th - UWW Road Race, Masters 30+, I enjoyed this course a couple of years ago assuming it's going to be the same

July 9th-26th - Superweek, one or two races for fun, probably Holy Hill if they still have that.

Well, that's it, should be a total of 8 races as of right now, that's plenty for me this year.

Football and Food

This weekend was definitely a good one, I worked out quite a bit, got some things done around the house (not that much though), and watched the football games while drinking a few beers and consuming some BW3 wings at my friend Jason's house.
The weekend started out well with a chilly but sunny start to some snowshoeing on Saturday morning. I was out at Valley View by 10:30 and the sun was out but going away quickly as the clouds moved in, and about 30 minutes into my first loop the flakes started to fall. Nothing major, just small flakes and I kept on chugging along for 90 minutes worth of snowshoeing. It was a great workout and I was pretty wiped when it was over, I really pushed the pace up hills and my heart was pounding quite a bit. I got back home and had some tea and ate some soup and a sandwich and then hit the bike. I rode the rollers for two hours and my legs were pretty sore to start with, but I watched a bit of the 2006 Giro and then some random shows and forgot all about my sore legs. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing with the family after a nice chinese dinner of Sesame Chicken and Szechuan Pork.
I mixed it up a little bit on Sunday and skipped the snowshoeing since my feet hurt a bit from the day before and after eating a nice 4 egg omelet and some toast I hit the rollers for an hour and then switched it over to the trainer for another hour. I was happy to get in some quality time on the bike for once and ended the weekend feeling a lot better about my fitness than I did going in to it. I plan to keep up the same weekend routine for the next few weeks, lots of snowshoeing and a few hours of riding, hopefully some of it outside but this damn snow has to stop coming down.
After getting my ride in I did some work around the house; a bit of laundry, roof raking, and some vacuuming. Once that was all done I got ready and headed over to my friend Jason's house to watch the end of the NFC game and then we consumed a few beers and ate some wings while watching the AFC game. I have to say that the Cardinals are a big surprise, I would've never picked them to make the Super Bowl this year, go figure. Pittsburgh was one of my AFC favorites going in to the year but I just didn't think they'd make it all the way, but good for them and hopefully the game is a good one. It will be Arizona's offense against the Steeler D, and we all know how the offense vs. defense matchups have turned out in recent Super Bowl's, the D seems to win every time. Hopefully it's not a blowout.
As for this week, I have to work late tonight, probably until 7:30 or 8:00 and then I'll just go home and crash I'm sure after 12 hours at work. That means no weights tonight which has been the routine, and probably no bike ride either as I won't be eating dinner until 8:30ish I'm guessing. I'll be riding at least an hour each day the rest of the week, some days will be 90 minutes and will also do weights on Wednesday and Friday. I'm feeling good on the bike again so I'm looking forward to the workouts.
The WCA meeting was yesterday also so hopefully we'll have the schedule soon, last year it came out on February 1st, so I'm guessing we'll have it at about the same time this year. Right now I'm only planning on 3 or 4 races for the year, nothing until at least June, and then I'll decide on what I'm doing the rest of the year depending on how those races go. After the lengthy break I had in '08 and the not so great start to this year, in which I've basically started riding consistently last week, I'm not aspiring to do anything great in the races, I just want to compete for the fun of it. If I can stick to the plan, enjoy riding this year, get back on track 100%, then in 2010 I'll be looking to do a full schedule. I enjoyed racing in 2006 and 2007, last year just wasn't meant to be with other stuff going on, but hopefully I'll come back full force by the end of this year and really rock next year.
Well, that's enough for now, until next time.

Turtle

Damn it's freakin' cold out, -7 right now, about -30 with wind chill. Oh well, I'm inside all the time anyways so it really only sucks when I have to take the dog out. I'm not riding outside or anything and can't snowshoe during the week so it's not really affecting me all that much. It looks like it's going to warm up to the lower to mid 20s by Saturday and Sunday so that's all that counts for me. I'll be snowshoeing at 10:30a.m Saturday morning at Valley View Park in New Berlin if anyone has snowshoes and wants a good workout. Meet at the Small Rd. parking lot. Anyways, I plan to do that Saturday and maybe Sunday but I'll probably do some longer trainer riding on Sunday and skip the snowshoes. This year is trending a lot like last year so far, hopefully the snow doesn't stick around well in to April. I'd really like to get outside on the bike without full arctic gear on. Just found out today that I'll be heading to Florida for work March 4th through the 8th, that'll be a nice reprieve from the cold weather here. I'm looking forward to it already.

In other news, I'm trying to start a community cycling resource for New Berlin and any of the surrounding communities, namely Hales Corners, Brookfield, West Allis, Waukesha, Muskego, Big Bend....and that's probably about the extent of the range I guess. It's mainly for New Berlin but since I ride a lot in Whitnall Park and out towards the Waukesha and Muskego area I figured that information for training rides and races, etc. would be pertinent for those areas as well. Basically the site has a calendar of events for future training rides and group rides in the area (once the weather gets warm and they actually start), and I'll post WCA events and pretty much anything bike related I can find. The site also has a forum to discuss any of the rides or events and also where people can talk about training tips, bike maintenance, nutrition, or whatever they want. Photos and videos can be added, members can maintain their own blog, and manage their own page. You can visit the site at newberlincycling.com. Check it out and sign up.

A Good Winter Day.....

....For some snowshoeing. I got up this morning and had some oatmeal and espresso and headed out the door to Valley View Park for two loops of the trails. It was not a bad morning, temps were in the mid 20s, it was cloudy but not breezy, and I was bundled up so I was feeling good. I'm fairly out of shape so 90 minutes on the snowshoes was more than enough for me, I was already better than the last time I went though and could have completed another quarter of a loop more in the same time if I wanted. No bike ride today, feet are sore from being on them more then I'm used to so tomorrow will be a two-session bike day and I will take the day off from snowshoeing. I'll do a roller ride in the morning and then a trainer ride in the afternoon or evening tomorrow while watching the 2006 Giro, a dominating performance by Basso, hopefully pre EPO/CERA/Blood doping. I have to also say I feel bad for my parents down in Burlington, only about 35 minutes away but in the last two days they got about a foot of snow and I only got about 3 inches, it's amazing how only a 25-30 mile difference can have such a disparity in the snowfall. Good for me though, too bad for them.


STARTING THE DAY OFF RIGHT!

NO SKIING TODAY, SNOWSHOES BABY!

This And That.....

We are in the doldrums of winter now, heavily entrenched in cold temperatures and random snow showers, the pattern of snow every other day has abated for now. We are supposed to get 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow and then the temps are going to dip to a sack-shriveling high of Zero on Tuesday with a low of minus Five. Riding will be near impossible this weekend with highs of 24 on Saturday and 22 on Sunday along with a chance of snow, but snowshoeing is not wind or temperature dependent as it IS meant to be done in the snow and outside, so I'll be hitting the trails both days. After some morning trail sessions I'll hit the trainer and rollers in the afternoon both days, but not likely for all that long, maybe 90 minutes to 2 hours each day. There is only something like 57 days until March 1st, 58 days until Daylight Savings time, that actually doesn't seem like all that far, and those dates are like a turning point for me in enhancing my mood as Spring seems close at that point and with it the nicer weather. I'm sick of the cold and snow already, but everyone has to deal with it and I will too, I can still be sour about it though....except when I'm snowshoeing, I do enjoy that. Not much other news of late or on the horizon, pretty much just waiting for some good riding weather, namely any day that doesn't have snow or isn't below 25 degrees. Oh yeah, as far as biomechanical deficiencies, I'm doing pretty good now since I've lowered my seat and moved it forward a bit, no leg rub and I'm feeling pretty straight. My left leg still tracks in a bit towards the frame but not nearly as bad as before. I'm not stressing about it anymore so basically that is good enough for me regardless of whether I feel perfect anymore, I don't think anyone ever feels "perfect" on the bike, we just get as comfortable as possible and I'm there right now.

I guess since the new year has started I better make some declarations about what I want to do this year, or think that I want to do, if that makes sense....maybe I won't do everything and maybe my goals will change but it's good to have a starting point so I've listed a few things below.



(Not in order of importance, just a random order)



1. Do a 200 mile solo ride in 11 hours or less

2. Do the MS150 - because it's for a good cause and it's not a race

3. Ride up Blue Mounds 5 times in one training ride

4. Be in good enough shape to finish the State RR Championship

5. Ride with my wife at least once a week

6. Maintain my weight at a steady 180-185, see previous post about racing weight

7. Do an overnight ride on the Glacial Drumlin Trail to Madison and back

8. Finish in the top 10 of at least one Masters 1/2/3 WI Cup race

9. Start a weekly group training ride out of New Berlin in the style of the Doc Ride or Centennial Ride - but not at the same time as either of those

10. Stay upright, stay healthy and enjoy my rides - yeah, that's 3 but encompassed in one goal.

Well, I suppose 10 is enough for now, I don't want to get too ambitious and fail miserably in attaining all of them.

Starting The New Year Right

First ride of the year on the first day of the year......................

Snowshoeing....Without The Snow...and the Snowshoes

Yesterday I decided to finally get off my butt and do some exercise and with the heavy winds it really wasn't in the cards for me to try to jump on the bike and head outside. So I decided to snowshoe instead and knew that it might be difficult with the snow melt that we had Friday and Saturday but figured I'd give it a whirl anyways. I headed over to the park by my house where there are some nice trails in the woods and thought that maybe there'd be enough snow in the woods to actually be able to use the snowshoes. Well, it turned out I was half right as I made my way around for the first loop, there was enough snow in only some spots but for the most part the path was either completely iced over or pretty barren as far as snow goes. I decided to hoof it without the snowshoes and just laced up the hiking boots and gatorz and took off in to the woods. I was the only person in the whole park so it was a wonderful 90 minute jaunt to take in the serenity of the day without other human noise to muck it up. My only other visitor on the path was a stray Doberman Pinscher that was walking on the path ahead of me. He did not have an owner with him, he was basically enjoying the day walking through the woods by himself. I stopped in my tracks when I saw him and let him get ahead of me a bit but I did eventually follow him and kept my distance before he turned off towards some houses about a mile down the trail. He was a big boy and no doubt I would've been seen as either a play companion or lunch if he would've seen me. I had my poles with me so I was ready to defend myself if needed, thankfully it didn't come to that. The only other real adventure of the day was when I had to traverse a river crossing, it was quite dangerous, I almost got my feet wet when I hopped over it, it was nearly a rapids to say the least.


THE RAPIDS - Don't try this at home kids!!!




SOME SNOW - It was still pretty hard packed though

NEW BERLIN ICE FLATS - I needed my poles to keep me from slipping out

Not A Lot Going On

Just thought I'd give an update even though I really have nothing to say, it's been a crappy winter, about the same as last year with the snow. No riding of late, basically been sitting on my butt getting fatter again. I hope to get out and snowshoe this weekend but it will be a busy weekend getting the house ready for the wife's family on Christmas Eve. That's about it for now, barely worth the effort to type it but figured I would anyways. Happy Holidays.

Winter Days Are Here Again

Well, winter weather is certainly here to stay, no road riding on the horizon any time soon. It might be good enough to get the mountain bike out after the roads are cleared but the forecast is calling for more snow later in the week, and part of the weekend. That means that I get to take out the snowshoes this weekend and hit the local trails for the first time since probably February or early March. I'm excited to get out in the woods and enjoy the solitude for an hour or two, last year I was almost always the only one out there, it was great. Maybe I can get my wife out there this weekend, we have a busy weekend planned with some cleaning for X-mas, but I'm sure we can spare the time. Other than that, I've been hitting the weights on a regular basis, although I missed two days in the last two weeks due to working late and then just not feeling it one day. I'm actually feeling stronger with the weights this year than I was last year at this time, I'm about 10lbs higher for each exercise and it feels noticeably easier. I rode the rollers last night and will be riding again tonight after shoveling, which looks like it's going to suck as the snow that is coming down is of the wet, heavy variety. If I don't throw my back out I'll do just an hour on the rollers again and watch more of stage 13 of Le Tour since I started it last night, and I DVRed the whole 5 hours of coverage so I have enough to ride most of the week just watching one stage. That's about it for now, it's Potluck Lunch today at work so I've got wings, chili, BBQ, roast beef, cheese and sausage, chips, soda, etc. to munch on today, I'll try to keep the fat intake to a minimum but it will be difficult.