Sunday didn’t pan out exactly how I had planned out. The plan was to go for another 50 miler ride. I woke up and there was about 1/2 of an inch of snow on the ground. The one rule that I have on the bike is that if it just snows and it is still on the ground, I stay away from the bike. I don’t mind riding through water or melting snow, but not fresh snow. No thanks. I really don’t feel like falling down while going 20 mph. So instead, I suited the dog up and we went for a 5 mile jaunt in the woods.

Campy in here “snow suit”..

Random stuff in the woods. Yes, this is the dashboard and hod of a car:

Some views of the Mount Washington Valley:

The town of North Conway with Cranmore Ski Area on the right behind the snow coming down:

White Horse Ledge:

On to the rest of the week. I haven’t done much. I just can’t stand riding the bike inside again. Once I get outside, i can;t get stuffed back inside and ride the trainer. I might get on the trainer tonight, but I really doubt it. It is already 7:40 pm and I haven’t eaten dinner yet. Its not looking so good for tonight.  At some times I feel bad that I don’t ride the trainer every night.  After all, that is how you get better.  But 3 seasons ago was my best season on the road bike to date.  That winter, I never rode the trainer.  I just spent as my time either on the bike or at work.  I think maybe this season will be the same.  Time to hit the long miles hard early in the season.

What a day….What a ride.  Got out on the bike around 12:30, with the temps hovering around 32 degrees.  The goal was simple.  Get 50 miles.  Easiest way to do that for me is to do an out and back, so that is what I did.  I grabbed the fixed gear and went out a little more than 25 miles (that way, in case something weird happens, I get at least 50), turned around and came back home.  With the out and back, the beautiful thing is that I can’t shortcut myself.  I go out, I have to come back.  So 3 hours and 51 miles later, I walked back into my house with the temps hovering in the high 20s.  Gosh it feels good to be out on a bike..

Some pros and cons of riding in that cold weather.  First the cons.
1) It is cold out….I guess I really don’t have to go any further than that.
2) You need to put on like 10 layers of clothes to stay warm.
3) Water bottles freeze up.
4) Warm showers never felt so good.

The Pros:
1) I like the way people look at you when they see you riding.  Usually just a stare of amazement.  Same when I tell people I did 50 miles today.
2) Well I am not inside on the trainer.  That might be the best part of it
3) I know that in a race, if conditions get bad, I have the training to carry me through it.  I don’t think there will be a single race I do where the ground is snow covered and I am riding in 30 degree weather.
4) I now know that nuun flavored slushies taste damn good (refer back to cons #3).

As  you can tell, the pros FAR out weigh the cons.

Tomorrow is a snow race at one of the local ski areas. I was thinking about loading a backpack up with some goodies and head on over to it via the fixed gear.  No sir, I do not want to race in it, but I think it would be a good time to check it out.

Yesterday was a good day overall. Went up to Cranmore mountain and did my Meisters race run with Kelly, came home took the dog for about an hour jaunt through down, then it was time to get down to business on the trainer. Since I am coming up with my own training regiment, I used something we used to do in basketball back in my high school days. I did a ladder of intervals. Went something like this…..

did it on the rollers, so resistance wasn’t all that high (although I do have a resistance unit on it) but did 5 minute warm up, started interval, rollers broke after 15 seconds into the interval so stop had to fix it and then warm up again, SO….7 minutes of warm up, 10 minute interval at as close to 100 rpm as I can, 1 minute rest, 8 minute interval, 1 rest, 6 hard, 1 rest, 4 hard, 1 rest, 2 hard, 1 rest, 2 hard, 1 rest, 4 hard, 1 rest, 6 hard, 1 rest, 8 hard, 1 rest, 10 hard 5 rest. It was a total of about hour and a half. Those last 8 and 10 minutes work you pretty well, especially trying to keep the rpms at 100.

Tonight, if the weather stays a little warmer, I want to take the single speed 29er out for a little ride on the snowmobile trails. If it gets too cold, I will be staying inside….again…

WOW, I can’t believe it has been an entire week since my last post. Did a bunch of training (XC skiing), ordered me up some back country cross country skis, which should be here this week so I can head out, road the trainer, got a resistance unit for the rollers, cleaned up the house, ran with the dog, and just bunch of other odds and ends that needed to get done around the house.  Now, I am just sitting and waiting for my skis to show up so I can head outside instead of sitting inside on the rollers.

This year is a bit different than last year.  This year I haven’t actually used the trainer all that much.  Last year it was 6 nights a week, 4 of them doing Spinerval videos and 2 nights recovery.  Early spring last year I was the strongest on the bike I have ever been.  Was it because of the spinerval workouts or was it just the fact that I rode 6 nights a week throughout the winter.  This year I am using my rollers more (helps with the boredom) and just doing longer intervals with shorts sets of rest in them.  I must admit that I am no coach, but I want to see where this takes me this year.  I think either way, riding a ton and frequently  is the key and that is what I plan on doing.

This year some friends and I have decided to do a monster of a long road ride.  A double century in fact (200 miles).  We plotted out a trip from North Conway to Bar Harbor through Portland making a total trip of 216 miles.  What a dosey.  Then some others decided to do a 186 miler all around North Conway, but with TONS of climbing the same weekend we thought about doing our double.  It seems as if it is decision time.  I can say that if I do the one here in town, 186 miles ain’t going to cut it.  I get that close to 200, I will ride around the Walmart parking lot for 14 miles just to reach that 200.

Tonight was a night filled with pretty much nothing.  I sat around entering all my receipts and such into my quicken check book.  Fun time.  More importantly, I rested the legs up.  With 6 recent days of trainer/outside riding done, I figured tonight would be a good night to give them a rest before I rent some XC skis and try them out.

The best part about the recovery, was that mentally, I felt guilty for not riding.  That is a good sign.  That shows me the passion is there.

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  Woke up, came to work in a wonderful snow storm, went home, shoveled for an hour and a half, rode the trainer for an hour, slept, woke up, and went snowboarding for 2 hours today.  Yeah, I am pretty tired but I guess thats what happens.

Hopefully in the next night or so I will be renting some cross country skate skis to try out to see what I like.  If everything goes according to plan (who the hell came up with a plan for this nonsense??) I should own a pair of my very own skis by the end of the week.  Of course, all the snow will melt and I won’t be able to use them.  But I am ok with that.  If I have to buy some skis for the snow to melt a little earlier and put me back on the bike outside earlier, I am ok with that.  And if that is the case, I will buy skis every year to make that happen.

Another nice day out today.  Took the dog for her usual hour long walk then home to get ready for the ride.  I did another 2 hours on the fixed gear for about 35 miles.  The legs feel great and I no longer am sore from the shoes and I didn’t adjust the cleats at all.  It must have just been me getting used to them.  I think this might be the last ride outdoors for a bit because of the impending storm coming tonight.  I think we are supposed to get between 5-10 inches of the fluffy white stuff.  Ohh well, I guess spring isn’t here just yet.

For those who do a lot of indoor training, I would check out the fat cyclist website.  He just posted about his recently completed 100 miles on his rollers for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  With all the bets made, he made over $1200 for the LAF.  Way to go!!

Got outside on the fixed gear bike for about 2 hours today.  Man it was nice to breathe in some fresh air vs the hot stuffy air I normally get inside on the trainer.  Gotta love it.  The legs are a little sore because I ran my new Lake Winter Shoes. I think I will need to adjust the cleats just a tad to make them completely dialed in.  Either way, those shoes are seriously sweet.  If you have the cash and ride out doors in the winter, I would go ahead and pick yourself up a pair to keep your toes nice, warm and dry.

What a past few days.  Temps in the low to mid 60s (at least that is what my thermometer said) and the thaw coming.  Of course, as soon as I get interested in some cross country skiing, things get warm.  If I was going to order a pair of skis, this would have been the best time for shipping because I wouldn’t need them now.  Ohh well.  Other than that, been commuting to work everyday by bike and been hitting the rollers hard at night.  Ordered myself a resistance unit for the rollers to make things a bit more challenging.  I think I would rather use the rollers over the trainer any day. Also, last night was the first time ever I had to use 2 pair of shorts.  I needed the extra padding.  I think I might need a different seat for the commuter as I believe that is what is doing the damage.

What a waste of a day.  It is this nice out and I am stuck in my office doing freaking paper work.  That is all wrong.  Finally gets into the 50s and everything is melting nicely and I have to sit here and watch it through the window.  Another thing that sucks is that this is just a tease.  I think spring is on the way and I remember it’s only the beginning of January and the real winter isn’t even here yet.  It’s all wrong.