In my quest to hopefully get a few endurance races in, I worked hard to get the Dart-Nuun endurance adventure racing team under the Michelin sponsorship.  Ever since I helped to broker this deal, they certainly have not let us down.  The team has racked up another win in the preparation for the Primal Quest race coming up in June.  Every time I get their Team updates, I wish I was out there doing battle with them..

This weekend certainly kept me busy.

On Friday, because of rain, I canned the recovery ride because of what looked to be like rain rolling in.  So I went home quickly and took the dog for our little run.  I can do without the hour recovery, but I can’t deal with a dog that has all of her energy pent up, so letting her burn off some steam is a must.

On Saturday, I got everything all geared up for a killer ride and off I went.  After about an hourish of climbing (some pushing some pedaling) I felt something very weird happen to my hard tail, single speed 29er.  I felt it go VERY squishy.  I thought, “hrm, this bike doesn’t have any rear suspension.  Something much have happened to my seat or seat post”.  When I looked down, it was much worse.  I broke the frame where the seat tube, top tube and seat stays come together.  SON OF A……  I pointed the bike back down hill and road the 10 miles back home standing on a single speed.  Not all that much fun, in case anyone wondered.

On Sunday, after a bunch of chores around the house, I grabbed the roadie and went for a spin.  The plan was up and down Bear Notch Road and up and down the Kanc.  Mission completed.  Neither hill was that tough (remember, most hills are as 215lb people don’t work well going AGAINST gravity) and they were certainly easier to climb than last year.  I feel as if my fitness is worse off compared to last year, but I must be wrong.  Either way, it was 65 miles of pure goodness.

Today, first thing first, I called up Vassago to get my Jabberwocky warrantied and they will gladly do it.  They are sending a call tag to get the bike so they can inspect it and all that good stuff.  They will get me a size 18″ one out as soon as they can.  Ohh, and they mentioned that “as soon as they can” would probably be “MONTHS” because they are out of stock of this current years model and they are switching manufactures.  What does that mean??  It means I will be riding my full suspension gear 26″ bike.  Ohh the horror.  I love the bike I will be riding, I really do, as it is my custom Vicious Cycles, but I would rather ride a single speed 29er at this point in the year.  Ohh well.

This week has been quite a busy one with some tired legs.  I spent the last weekend in NYC doing a bike event, which was ok at best, but I really didn’t enjoy standing there watching 30,000+ people ride bikes while I could not ride.  Its always a bummer watching people ride and not being able to ride yourself.  ohh well.

This week did keep me busy with the activities.  Monday when I got home, I got Campy and we hit Cranmore mountain to see if the Red Tail Trail was open.  It is and let me and her get in 5+ hours of hiking in.  On Tuesday I was back to the grind and back to the single speed.  I spent about 2.5 hours total on the bike exploring trails to see if they were open and ridable.  They were.  Wednesday was spent running a 5K with the dog.  With my ever growing interest in adventure racing, I have decided to enter a weekly running series.  The distance is only 5k but you have to start somewhere.  My plan is to get in about 3 mornings running with the dog with the “races” on Thursday night.  I am thinking that running 20K a week can only be viewed as a good thing and if I do it in the morning, I am not “wasting” any good mtb riding time.  Plus it tires out the dog for the morning while both Kelly and I are at work.  Last night I took to the single speed again and went out to more trails.  I spent another 2 hours out there having at it, plus another hour hike with the dog.  Tonight will be a light recovery spin on the road bike with another 5k run with the pup.

My plan for this weekend is to hike the dog in the morning before getting in a 45+ miler on the single speed.  I rode the same route last year and it was one hell of an adventure.  It should certainly put some hurt on the legs.  My plan for Sunday is to tackle Bear Notch Road and the Kangamangus Highway, which are the first 2 hill climbs that I have scheduled for a 200 miler I have planned later this year.  I think with the route I have planned, I am expecting something like 60-70 or so miles on that ride.  That should really put the hurt on the legs.  This week and weekend will be the first real stress that I put on my legs for this season and I want to see how they react and recover.  Hopefully the weather will still be nice and I can get some killer riding in.