As part of Precision Endurance, the coaching company I am in the middle of forming, I have also become a nutritional supply company for said athletes. Along with those athletes, I am opening up the sales to everyone and anyone. So, feel free to take a gander at what I have going on and purchase some stuff up..

Just so everyone knows, that is the rough, and I say EXTREMELY rough store front that I have going right now. It is all the products that I am stocking and able to stock. I am currently working on making an actual, usable store front, but that will take some time. What this is, Google makes for you super quick, and allows it to just be placed in spots. So, feel free to use it at is it 100% functional and I am working around the clock to get things updated a more professional store front…

As for shipping, 75 bucks and under is 5.95, over 75 is free…not a bad deal there at all. Feel free to use the coupon code “blogatron” for a 10% discount on your first purchase…

For groups and teams out there, feel free to contact me, as there are group/team discounts available.

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I’m going to try and take as many photos as I possibly can, so pay close attention to my twitter account as that its where I’m going to post them.

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This past weekend, mother nature thought she was going to be cruel and try to stick around a bit longer.  While at lower elevation it wasn’t a big deal, but at high elevations, it has been playing havoc with things.

Because of the snow, on Saturday I went out for a hike.  Not realizing that the trail got dumped on, I actually left my snowshoes at home.  That is about the first time in 3 years I didn’t carry them around.  And wouldn’t ya know it, I actually needed them.

I hiked for some time, not concerned about the snow, but after wading through waist deep snow for about 25 minutes, I decided it wasn’t worth it and turned around.

I wasn’t going to let the snow defeat me, so back at it I went on Sunday, but this time with snow shoes.  Hiking through it was a breeze, except for the occasional deep parts where I would sink more.  I got pretty high on the Moats, but after a while of just bushwhacking, I was completely stuck with no visible trail, so I bagged the hike and headed home.  Still got a little over 3 hours in and tha’ts a good day in my book.

Yesterday’s turn around point from waist deep snow

Anyone see a trail in there?

Nope, no trail there either..

Monday was an off day and last night was supposed to be a nice little recovery ride.  With temps in the 50s during the day, I aired WAY down the Pugsley tires and went out to see what the shape of the trails were in from melt.  They sucked.  I managed to get less than an hour in, some of that riding on the road, and some of that pushing my bike.  Yes, it was that bad out there, I was forced to push my 35lb snow bike through the snow.  It looks like spring might be here.

This morning was a casual commute to work on the fixed gear to meet up with a co-worker to put in a solid hour of work on the skinny tire bikes.  We did about an hour or so and it was quite a nice morning to ride outside.  It wasn’t too hot, and wasn’t too cold.

Riding behind the train.  Not much of a train, but the first time in about 5 months that I rode with and behind someone.  I’ll take any draft I can get.

Tonight is another casual commute via the fixie home…It certainly is a good time to be out riding…

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Way to many things, never enough time….

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While the mid-Atlantic states have been getting pounded pretty hard with snow, here in New Hampshire, it has been a balmy 40 or so and I have been taking advantage of it.  I’ve been out on the Pugsley a couple times, but that really hasn’t been much fun.  With all the warmth, I just end up riding through the slush.  Then on the weekends, been out on the roadie, putting in the time and mileage required for some 24 hour races..

Other than that, I have been working on figuring out my race schedule.  Every time I think I have it figured out, I change my mind and think something different.  I think I have it figured out now though.

Last year,I did a whole year of endurance races.  That took a LOT of time to train for.  It always seemed like if I wasn’t eating, sleeping or working, I was on the bike.  And some of the time, I was doing my eating on the bike.  Yes, I love to ride my bike, but I also want to spend my time doing other things as well.  So this year, in hopes of having a better cyclocross season, I am dropping some of the endurance races, now only doing 2 24 hour races, adding some shorter XC races and signing up for something completely different.

I have always been a roadie and feel that I am pretty strong when it comes to certain things.  That, along with the short time span of suffering involved in cross racing, has me believe that it is time to get out the road bike, get me some snazzy shoe covers, a cool aero helmet and do some time trialling.  This year, I am going to be doing the Maine Time Trial series.  It has 13 races, a final and should be just the right amount of torture and pain needed to whip me into shape for cross season.  At least that is the plan, so let’s hope it works out that way..and no, I most likely won’t be getting an aero helmet….or will I??

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Saturday, turned out to be a pretty normal Saturday. Got up, ate some food, did some things around the house and got out on the bike.  I only did a little over 2 hours as it was pretty darn cold out, hovering around 20-25 degrees at the warmest.  Plus the wind was blowing pretty good, so that doesn’t help.  Either way, I put on my 14 pounds of clothing and went out for a ride.  Once I was out, it really wasn’t all that bad.  I took some back roads that don’t have much traffic and went down to Silver Lake.  Its a nice 15ish mile ride, a little bit of steep climbing, but just the right amount of riding for this time of the year.

Silver Lake looking south.

Looking east across the lake.

Winter heaven for fishermen in the wind.

Sunday, well, Sunday was Sunday.  Usually, once or so a month, a bunch o f us head out to the Red Fox Pub for their breakfast buffet.  8 bucks for a bunch of good food??  Yea, I can’t pass that up.

That will get you fueled up the right way

After the frenzy was over, we just came back to the house and relaxed all day.  Kelly and I rarely have any days off together, so it was nice just to hang out with her.  Plus, the superbowl was on, but I think we really only watched 10 minutes of it.  It was on, but why watch that when there is real good stuff on tv?  Plus, you can watch all the commercials online anyway.

Other than the buffet and the relaxing, I kept myself busy by writing up some coaching plans.  Yep, I am now a certified level 3 USA Cycling coach, and it was time to put that knowledge to good use…

Hrm, what else can I do with this thing?

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Last night, before my ride, I went to prep the bike and make sure all is working.  There is nothing worse than getting all dresses up in full winter gear, so stand in my basement to work on a bike, sweating, right before a ride.

So, tire pressure, check.  Hitting all the gears properly, check.  Rear hub seems a little sloppy.  Tighten the cones and such, check.  Lube the chain, check.  Put on new light mount and make sure light works, check.  Remember that the saddle height was a tad low, so raise the saddle….no check.  That is where the issue came in.  Apparently my brute strength broke the seat post collar bolt.

There is nothing like hearing that cracking sound.  Luckily, I have quite the stable of bikes to choose from, so I grabbed another collar and got ‘er running.

Once I was out, it was a nice night for riding.  Temps in the low 30s, sled trails all to my self, nuttin to complain about.  Total, I did about 2 hours, and the back was in good shape for all but about the last 10 minutes.  I expected that, so it wasn’t anything new or anything to be concerned about.  Pretty status quo riding.

Around the mountain I go.

Not sure if I will take out the Pugs again tonight or ride the trainer….probably the pugs as I really don’t want to do the trainer.  Plus, I have myself scheduled for some trainer time Monday or Tuesday of next week for some testing….so I need to stay away from it as much as I can until then..

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The always tricky backwards view

Views of Shawnee Peak.

Another backwards shot.

What I got to see, for a little anyway.  I caught them before the crest of the hill to get my important King of the Mountain points.

Gota love backwoods Maine.

View from what I believe is Hawk Mountain

Another View

Ice buildup from the end of the ride.  I had to stop and clear it many, many times.

Other side of the bike

I like the ice build up on the cables.  That is the reason I usually ride a fixed gear in this type of weather.  Nothing to go wrong.

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Sunday had me toed up on the line at the Great Glen cross series with the other intermediate/elite racers.  I put myself in the intermediate group because I knew there was no way I was going to hang with the big boys.  I was right.

We started off and I was in the top 5 of the group around the first barrier, but that is where the fun stopped.  I was quickly passed by people coming around and after the middle of the 2nd lap.  Being up in the lead was certainly short lived.  I ended up being DFL, having been lapped by the eventual elite winners.  The nice part about that was that them lapping me ending my suffering a lap early.  Not exactly the results that I was looking for, but ohh well.  I guess I need to switch my training over a little bit sooner to more interval based vs endurance based.

The Face of fun:

No man’s land:

Stop the pain.  Getting pulled from being lapped:

Monday night, I kept the wheels spinning by taking the mtb out (first time since my last race) on some of the trails around my house.  I have to say, I really do enjoy night riding.  I have ridden the same set of trails hundreds of times this year.  Just about every mountain bike ride starts and stops with these trails, plus, I used them to commute to work 2 years ago.  I’ve ridden them a lot.  But with night riding, those trails are COMPLETELY different.  Sure, the trails are lit up with my 2 Triden Xs, but turns come up on your quicker, and things just generally look different.  That and all of the fresh leaves on the ground made for an interesting night.

Tuesday was a nice day for commuting, so that is what I did.  I grabbed my roadie and went off.  On the way to work, I tried just to keep a steady state heart rate to work on the pacing part of cross racing.  On the way home, ladder intervals were the name of the game.  2 minutes on, 2 off, 4 on, 2 off , 6 on, 2 off and a final 8 minutes of hard effort (zone 4) to finish off the ride.  Good workout.

This morning I met up with a bunch of people from work to try and map out a few of the trails being worked on and we wanted to beat them in a little bit.  The pace certainly wasn’t break neck speeds, but I put forth a good effort on the climbs to get my heart rate up.

The biggest disappointment about this morning rides was that I keep forgetting to put my helmet cam on.  I recently bought a vholdr and it just sits there in the box.  When I head out for night rides, I try and put it on, but with a light, there is no room.  Then, on a great ride, like this morning, I forget to put the damn thing on.  I am a dope….

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So I sit here in the airport, finally relaxing. I knew this Interbike was going to be different from past years and it was. I wish I would have worn a pedometer to see how much I actually walked, because I am sure it was a lot.

On task now it to get all my riding gear together and head down to southern Vermont for the last endurance race of the year, the Vermont 50 on Sunday. Nothing like a race 2 days after Interbike. Once back from that, its time to get the cross bike up and running.

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