I am currently out of town at the Fruita Fat tire Festival in Fruita, Co.  I must say it is a nice little town with some great riding.  I took a bunch f pictures of the area and will explain the trip a little later.  Just thought I would make a quick update post as to why there hasn’t been much activity lately.  I must say though, it is rather warm here.  Last night at 630ish when I was going for my ride it was 90 degrees and there is lots of climbing to be done here.  This is like my Spain training camp pro teams take.  I don’t know if it will help with the fitness for the Crank the Kanc race in a few weeks, but it certainly can’t hurt.  I’m pretty sure I will be the only chap in the race that has 2 weeks of riding under his belt in over 85 degree weather, as I am heading to Fontana Cali next for the upcoming NORBA race.  It hopefully will help when I get back into New England into the chilly weather.

Nothing too new and exciting on the home front.  Even though the weather here has been absolutely beautiful, I haven’t been on a ride in a few days.  I come home from work and have other things to do.  Plus the top is off the jeep, so why not drive around a little.  I must say that the Jeeps milage is going to raise quite a bit during spring.  There is nothing better than riding around in it with the top off listening to good tunes in nice weather.  It certainly hit the spot yesterday with the temps in the low 80’s.

On Thursday, I start my training camp at altitude for the hill climb race in a few weeks.  I am off to Fruita Colorado for 4 days to work the Fruita Fat Tire Festival but I am sure there will be plenty of riding to be done.  Then I am off to Fontana, California for another NORBA race in which I will try to ride twice while I am there.  Then come home, ride the Kanc a few times and call it good for the race.

I must say that I was all jazzed up about riding, but lately, its the last thing on my mind.  Hopefully thats because I’m not mountain biking.  By the time I get home, I would imagine the trails will be dry enough to ride.  Can’t wait…..

So the past 2 days have been in or near the 70s here and I must say it was beautiful.  I did not, however, get to go for a ride either day.  That was kind of a disappointment but I had more important things going on.  Yesterday Kelly and I tilled the 2 gardens and 3 flower beds in the yard.  Today I raked the entire yard, did some work to the jeep and some other odds and ends in the yard.  It was extremely nice to be outside doing things in nice warm weather.  I even took the top and doors off the jeep and took it for a quick spin.  I had to take advantage of the warm weather while it is here.  I believe it is supposed to get back down into the 40s this week so a daily ritual of bringing seedling plants inside and outside needs to be done.  I must say I am actually excited to see the yard look so good and have such a good jump on the garden.  I am hoping this year we have a good turnout from it.  Now I need to get super seriously about the bike again.

I think there is something wrong with me.  Those of you who know me say “Gee really??  It took you this long to figure that out??”.  Last night it was about 50 degrees when I got home and I decided to wait until 9 oclock and ride the trainer.  Its quite odd that I traded riding outside for riding inside on the trainer.

Things are getting better though.  As I left my house to come back from my lunch break, I saw it was 73 degrees.  Does this mean that its done snowing and maybe get some good weather??  Let’s hope, but then again I live in New Hampshire so one can never really tell.  So now that it is 73, hoping to get out of the office a little early today and get a road ride in with some of the guys from Team Weak and Feeble.  It should be a good time.  There is nothing like riding in 70 degree weather.  Plus it seems likegood chunks of snow are melting so I might actually be able to get a mountain bike ride in soon.

Last piece of good news…I never really win anything.  But I finally have.  When I got my first “official” business card, I told everyone as a joke that I was just going to use them to try and win free lunches at restaurants by putting them in the “fish bowl O’cards.  Well, today I got a call from Elvio’s Pizzeria and I am the proud owner of a one topping large pizza.  Nothing much but it seems like my luck it turning….

Well I got back on the bike last night. I was on the trainer for about an hour doing a hill workout. Right after the last interval and cool down came onto the screen, my bike almost fell out of the trainer. One of the little rubber grommets that holds everything together, worked its way loose. My cool down was me bent over trying to fix this thing. Something I do not wish to repeat right after an extremely difficult hill interval. Either way, it was a good time and something I needed to do.

Today it is about 50 degrees when I left my house so I am back on the commuter plan. Sure, I get to ride a bike to work, but I would certainly feel better about it if it wasn’t a 1.5 mile, 6 minute ride. Either way, I get to pedal the bike everyday and thats what it is all about. The rain this past week and hopefully the warmer temps this week should just about kill all of the snow in the area, so we are now entering the second season of the year, mud season.  Hopefully things will dry out soon because I am starting to get a little itchy to get on the mountain bike.  That could be because I am starting to travel to mountain bike events and my brand new Vicious Cycles Groover should be in the mail today.  As soon as I get it, I will take some pics of it and get them posted.  The color that it is painted that was quoted to me as being “screaming orange”.  I can’t wait…..

Well it has been quite some time since I have posted. And there is a good reason. I have been busy. I just got back from a trip to work at the Sea Otter Classic. It is usually the busiest event for us. Plus it rained for a day which means that every athlete we have gets wicked nervous, scrambles and runs to us to get their tires changed asap. It makes for quite an exciting day. Because of that, I haven’t been on a bike in a while. That plus the snow that is on the ground and now the 3 days of rain we are getting. I had to do something tonight I hate to do, I brought my trainer back up from the basement. It makes me want to cry. But that is what needs to be done.

I broke my resolution, or whatever with my weight loss. I am really about the same weight when I started. It yo-yos up and down and with a trip from Michelin paying the bills, I am certainly on an the upward swing. But it must all change. I have a bike race coming up in about a month and as Mello always puts it, it is now offically balls to the wall time. I set up the trainer to get workouts in when I wake up and I might start running again after work. It seems like that when I ran last time, the weight dropped off of me. So thats what I need to do. I need to drop a good 10 pounds in 30 days….I think I can do it. I have to do it. I can’t race a hill climb at this current weight. I figure 3 weeks of, again, balls to the wall treatment, and one slight recovery week, and its race time…all seems like a good plan. Now to stick to it…

wow I have been busy.  First all the riding this past weekend.  Then I had to go to South Carolina for 3 days of intense meetings that were non stop.  I must say it was nice to be in 80 degree weather though.  However, my plane back to New Hampshire was canceled because of a still snow storm that dropped about of snow on us here.  A FOOT OF SNOW IN APRIL.  goodness gracious new england is screwy.  actually, that kind of stuff happens every year  We get a good deal of warm weather, so it seems like spring is here, then BLAMO, more snow.  only in new england. so I am back off the bike for a bit, but will be able to ride the mountain bike a little next week as I head to california for the Sea Otter Classic.  that is usually a great event as long as the weather cooperates.