There has been a whole lot of training and such going on since I last checked in.  I got my road bike all rigged up for some night time rides using 4 different red lights and my head light, so that has kept me busy for a couple nights.  Along with that, I hit the trails both Sat and Sunday of last weekend, which was a good time with all the ice, although there wasn’t enough yet for the studded tires to come out.  I also got the trainer bike all ready to go and hit the trainer a couple times.  I have to say that there is nothing good about riding the trainer.  This year, I opted to put the trainer down in the basement so I am not bothering Kelly too much and also because it is a bit cooler.  The cooler thing only helps for the first 30 seconds, because anything after that, I am sweating too much anyway.  But now, I don’t feel so bad about the puddle that forms, as its on concrete and not my carpet.  Also, with the snow that we have received (yes,I said snow), about  inches here and there as some melt, I have been doing a little “cross training” and taking campy out for some runs/hikes in the snow.  All together, it has been a pretty good week for training as I have managed to keep the weight down during the holidays…..which is always a plus in my book.

This morning when I woke up to go for the morning’s ride, I looked at the thermometer, which said 22 degrees, and decided that it was just too damn cold to get up at 6 in the morning and ride for an hour or so.  So my revelation is this.  I either need to get my bike and trainer up and running (I really don’t want to have to do that, but at some point it will need to happen), or I need to get me some lights to enjoy some night road riding.  So that is exactly what I will be doing.  I have a headlamp, the Cygolite Triden X, and I do have a little tail light, Planet Bike Blinky 1, but I will need some other stuff.  I am going to be picking up some Planet Bike Blinky Superflashes and some handlebar end plugs.  I figure with all of those lights, I should be pretty safe.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to test them all out tonight as I am already signed up for a mountain ride.  Either way, pedeling any bike is still a better time than sitting at home.

With all of this wet winter riding road riding that I have in front of me, I can honestly say that I am not at all stoked about what it will be doing to my bike and its drive train. For many of those who aren’t aware, here in New Hampshire, the state decided that salting the roads is bad for the roads and everything around them, so here, we sand the heck out of the roads. I wish I could see the size of the pile of sand that North Conway goes through in an average year. Anyway, once the sand is down and it gets wet, it turns the bike and its drive train to an awful mess. However, with a little bit of degreaser, some citrus cleaner, and a little know how, you can take the drive train from this:

To this:

It’s pretty bad when all of that dirt and grime came from one ride.  Nothing like having to do a complete tune up on the bike after ever ride.  Stupid sand..

Nothing too exciting today.  Some morning rain storms and some evening rain/snow storms will most likely keep me off the bike for this evening.  Depending on what time I get home from work and get some things done, I might get out for some running or hit up the nordic track for some indoor cross country sking (trust me, worse than riding a trainer).

Since there is nothing too exiciting going on, I figured I would pass along a video of some girls dancing to Daft Punk’s Harder, better, faster, stronger..  Enjoy.

First rode today in under freezing temps.  30 degrees to be exact.  There is no need for the weather to be that cold, but then again, I live in New England and it is the middle of November, so what do I expect.

Pretty uneventful ride this morning.  Same as all the others, but a little faster this morning.  I don’t know if it is the cold making me push a little harder, or the “wet noodles” are now “al dente”, but I took about 6 minutes off of the previous days time.  I think it had to do with the lack of wind….

Still getting used to the new tires, which I like, and also getting used to the new 10spd Ultegra shifters I have, which I don’t like.  I just can’t get used to the positioning on them and where I need to have my hands comfortably.  I am going to keep using them for a while, but if I don’t like em, they gotta go to put back on the Record stuff…

Mount Washington at 6:45 in the morning:

Me Freezing:

Not only do you eat em, but its what I am using to pedal the bike right now.

Last night saw a group of about 17 people, which originally started out as a 3 person ride.  And even with all of those people, it was still a pretty good ride.  There was very limited waiting around and no complaints about any of the trails ridden.  I guess there ain’t nuttin’ wrong with that.  I, of course, took my single speed and was the only one out there using one.  The trails are pretty nice, but like everywhere else in New England, there are hills.  I was able to ride all but 1 of them, so I was pretty stoked about that.  Again, the Cygolite out shown (out shined??) all of the other lights, even on a low power setting.  All together, we did about 8 miles in the 1.5 hour span.  Not to bad for dragging 17 people through the leaf covered woods.

This morning, I did another morning ride, but I wasn’t feeling all that great during it.  I don’t know if it was the 3 rides in 2 days, the mid 30 degree temps or the head winds the entire way, but the legs just didn’t have any snap.  I would think by the end of the week, the consistent schedule will help them out.

Something I forgot to post, on Sunday when the little lady and I took the Campster out for the hike, we came across a little road block.  After about 5 minuted of staring at each other with our best poker faces, he/she decided we were a group not to be messed with and took off into the woods.  We are guessing about 200 - 250lbs was what the scales were tipped at.

From a distance:

With the digital zoom (which is why it is a little blury):

Wow, what a weekend.  First, Friday night I took out the new Cygolite and did about 1.5 hours on the trail (the gps was a little off due to tree cover, fog and rain).  Gotta say, even though I have seen it on other people and have ridden while they used it, it was pretty impressive.  I used to use 2 Marwi Night Pro lights, one on my helmet, one on the handlebars and while those worked fine, this new one is much better.  It took me a bit of time to get the position correct and to get used to riding with just one light, but once that was all said and done, the light worked great.  I ran it on medium low and it was more than enough light to see in even the darkest of conditions.  I did however, see a skunk, with the business end pointed right at me from about 5 feet away, so that kept things interesting.

Saturday, I headed out for some trail maintenance.  I grabbed the dog and the rake and headed to some new trail.  After about an hour or so of raking, my cheapo rake handle broke, but I was ok with that.  An hour of cleaning trail is better than nothing.  Plus, I got to see a jeep stuck deep in some mud.

I normally would feel bad for him, but he is stuck right next to the trail I was working on.  So good for him.  As I walked by him, I heard the 3 people in the jeep yelling at each other.

Sunday was another fine day for weather, so Kelly and I went out for a little jaunt with the dog and I showed her some more trails that she would be able to ride, at least she will be able to when some leaves are moved as it was pretty hard to follow the trail.

Its official, this morning started off the 2009 biking season.  I started workouts this morning instead of “just going out and having fun”.  For now, it is some slower base miles on the road bike, designed to get my legs used to the regular pedaling of road biking and getting a specific workout in.  As I am still getting my timing down of riding before work, I only went out for an hour and did about 18 miles.  Not to bad for 6:30 in the morning, in 40 degree weather.  Since I just got a new Shimano Ultegra SL group set up on the bike, it is taking me getting a little used to it as I was always a Campy guy.  But some broken parts and some free ones always makes a person change.  I also was running some Hutchinson Fusion 2 Tubeless tires and so far, I like them.  I think with less pressure, they rode a bit nicer than the Michelin Pro3s I took off the bike.  The big advantage of the Hutchinson’s is that there is actually stock of the tires and they know how to meet the demands of the people.  I really can’t say much about the tires, as I only rode 20 miles on them, but I am guessing by the end of the week, I should have a solid opinion on them.

Tonight after work, going to take the single speed out for a little go around with some people from work to find more trails.  I plan on taking it east, to keep in line with this weeks plan.

Well, the rain made a liar out of me.  I got home last night, with my new light’s battery all charged up ready to go and the rain started to come down.  I figured there was no need to go out in the rain at this time of the year.  Rain + cold weather = Mike being sick for a while.  Again, no need for that.

Instead of riding last night, I woke up at around 6 this morning and took Campy out for a while.  There was a new piece of single track that I have been checking out for a while, so we went and checked it out.  Normally, I would just grab the bike and go, but the pup wanted to come along, so we hiked it.  Anytime she can be out running around in the woods is good stuff.  She was out splashing around in big puddles having a good time, so it was all worth it.

The skies are starting to look blue from my desk so I might get a chance to head out tonight with the new lights to see what they are all about.  Here is crossing my fingers to that.

On a side note, I dug out the old GPS and tracked some of the trails that we did yesterday morning and loaded it up on Map My Ride.  Check it out.  I think I am going to try and use the GPS a little more to see if I can track a bunch more tails out.

Today just started off on the right foot.  Came into work about an hour early and 4 of us went out in search of some quality riding.  Gotta say, we found it.  It is pretty sweet that there is so much ridable terrain and already built trails right from the parking lot.

I bought a new light today from work, the Cygolite Triden X so I am going to have to try it out tonight.  I will probably just take a little spin around, nothing major as I am letting the legs rest up for next week’s spring training.  I have seen this light in action many times as a few co-workers have them so I am super stoked to get one myself.  Let’s hope the rain slows down and stops so I can get out there tonight.

Gotta love the lunch time ride.  There is nothing like working at a spot, with MILES of trails leading off of the parking lot.  This is the type of place I have been looking to work at.  Tons of trails AND people who actually ride bikes instead of just talking about it.  Its about time I get a job like that.

Either way, snuck off for about a 40ish minute ride during lunch today.  Sure, it isn’t a super long ride, but its better than just siting in the office just eating.  It might not fit into my whole “preseason training plan”, but it was a nice easy little jaunt through the woods.

Something odd that happened during the ride was we saw 2 deer, both dead.  One was probably 200 pounds of so, without a head and sliced down its back, but other than that, completely intact.  The second had all of its meat removed, but the bones, fur and head were there, with out the antlers.  I wanted to take a picture of them, but I didn’t have my phone with me, so maybe tomorrow.  The real odd part was they were both about 100 yards from the road.  Both killed and neither of them taken.  How odd.  You would think the rednecks who shot em would have at least taken the big one for meat instead of just the head. That would have been a shitload of jerky.  We will check to see if they are there tomorrow and if so, called the wildlife conservation to come get em..