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??

First, we had off of work on Friday.  It was a nice treat to have a 3 day weekend.  Kelly had off on the same day, so we took advantage of it, walked a dog a bunch, did some shopping and just hung out with each other.  We don’t get to do that all that often, so it is nice when it gets to happen.

Saturday, it was time to get down to business.  One of the first races I will be looking at this year, is Crank the Kanc.  I am very familiar with the ride, as I have done it many times, but I wanted to get a baseline of what to expect.  I set a pretty lofty goal for myself from looking at past years times, so I wanted to know what exactly needed to be done.

I was expecting about a 4 hour ride from my house, and it ended up being 4 hours 1 minute.  Sometimes I impress myself with how close I can come to guessing this stuff.  Guess that is some experience talking there.  However, I knew from the very first pedal stroke that it was going to be a long tiring day in the saddle.  I don’t know why I had heavy legs, but I did.

Elevation profile from my house to the top of the Kanc and back.

View from the top of the Kanc

You can see the road that was just ridden up.

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to have the day off with Kelly again, so more walking the dog and just spending time together.  Sure, I didn’t get to ride, but sometimes its not always about the bike….especially in the 2nd week of February.  I have plenty of time in the year to blow her off for a ride.  And as we get closer to those times, she will understand it is what needs to be done.

Kelly playing photographer..

On tap tonight, some lactic threshold testing.  30 minutes of all out effort.  Nothing like some pain and huge amounts of suffering on a Monday night….

I am still here, sticking with the bike, doing the things that need to be done for another year of racing.  Let’s get caught up since we last left each other.
For the end of December, I went back home to Pennsylvania, to visit the fam and got to take the bike with me.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t all that cooperative, so I only got to ride once.  Ohh well.  Nutting you can do about that.

Since then, I am back here in North Conway, doing my best to keep my sanity during these few months of cold weather.  I got out the cross county skis a couple of times (1, 2, 3) hit the trainer a bunch and also have been outside on the bike as much as possible.

For some reason, getting up and going this year has been more difficult for me.  I am not sure if it is because of how much time I have spent on the trainer last year and I know the amount of suck that is involved, if it is because I have a new coach (more on that), or if because I haven’t inked a partnership with a team yet.  It’s gotta be one of those three, a combination of the three, or something completely different, but the motivation isn’t there.  I need to do something to change that and unfortunately, it mostly involves the trainer.

Last year, the XC skiing was pretty good due to the amount of snow we got.  This year, it has been pretty chilly out there, but the white stuff just hasn’t been falling.  At all the local cross country ski areas, they keep grooming, but the bare spots are popping up all over the place and it isn’t something I want to run my skis through.  So trainer riding it is….I guess.

So, it seems like it is up to my new coach to get me motivated.  And that certainly adds up to problems.  You see, this off season, I did some studying up and passed my test and became a USA Cycling certified Level 3 coach.  Do I plan on doing much with the certification??  Probably not, but I did it to help myself out.  I figured that if I knew the basics of coaching, I could relay more valuable info a a coach in order to help out my current plan.  Since I am going at the training on my own this year, the feedback isn’t helping.  I think last year, when I was working with Grasky Endurance, I felt an obligation to them, not to make them “look bad”.  I felt that if I didn’t do what was prescribed, and didn’t achieve my goals, it would make him look like a bad coach, something that he certainly wasn’t.  He was a great coach and I learned TONS from him.  Either way, I am now out there by myself, and I need to get my keister in gear.  Nothing more needs to be said.

As for a team, I have some things in the works, but it just seems as if any of the final paperwork has not been passed back out for the 2010 season.  I know when I got my contract signed with GT last year, I worked extremely hard to show my team mates what I really could do.  Hopefully the paperwork will come through soon and the same effect will happen.  Which also might mean a new bike……YEAH!!!!

As for races this year, I will not be the 1 trick endurance racer I was this past year.  I have decided to branch out a little bit and do some other races, to make me a more rounded rider.  I have decided on a road race, or two, as well as some of the shorter cross country races in the area as well as as many endurance races as I can  and still have a positive season without killing myself.  With all of the different style of races thrown in, it should help when it comes to cyclo-cross season (scheduling the races with some recovery time is a VALUABLE lesson learned from last year).  Last year, when I made the transition from endurance to cross, I feel it was too late.  This year, along with the long rides, I will be throwing in some shorter rides to prime the system.  Now, I just need to look at all the schedules and races I am thinking about and put together a solid season.

That’s it for now…..off to ride the trainer….ugh..

This is the helmet cam video from the Storyland Crit from a few weeks ago for the Porky Gulch race.  This was the first time I really wore the helmet cam so it is a bit shaky.  I now have it figured out, so they should be better .  Either way, check it out..

Porky Gulch Storyland Criterium from Mike Daubenspeck on Vimeo.

Then this weekend hit.  The original plan was for a 4 hour road ride keeping the heart rate below 138 bpm.  When I woke up in the morning, the wind was blowing hard.  I don’t mind riding the road bike in windy conditions, but this was just stupid.  I wouldn’t have gone anywhere.  So instead, I grabbed the Pugsley and went out at about 5 oclock.  There was still enough day light to feel the sun on my face but still out there during the night hours.  There is nothing like doing 4.5 hours in February.  I have to say, I think buying that bike was one of the best things I could have done for my training this year.  It might not be the best training tool out there, but mentally, I am much happier.  All those hours I spend out on that bike is time away from the trainer, and that is the main reason I bought it.

On Sunday, the plan was to do 3 hours of cross training.  The weather was just too darn nice to be doing anything like that.  With the little “warm spell” (temps in the high 30s) that we are having, the snow is awful, so I decided to get on the road bike.  Because I was craving the ride of my steel Bianchi frame, I grabbed the fixed gear and went out keeping the 138 bpm in mind.  The legs were a little sore, but after 2 minutes of a nice warm up and that beautiful sun on my face, the legs sure did come around.  All together, I got myself about 3 hour 45 minutes in on the fixed gear.  That makes the tally for the 2 days of outdoor riding a little over 8 hours.  In FEBRUARY!!!!  That is unheard of and I couldn’t be happier.

All day on Sunday, even on some of the tougher hills, I couldn’t stop thinking just how much I really do like riding bikes.  It was a nice day out, the sun was beating down on my face and I was on roads I was never on before.  Does it really get any better than that??  There is nothing like being out there, and just making a left on a road you have never been on and seeing some great sights.  I basically took a lap around Silver Lake and it was quite scenic with great roads.  Couldn’t complain about a thing.

For this week, its nothing but simple recovery things.  I will use all of my spare time to try and get some of my bike computer graphics and pictures up that I took during the last couple of rides..

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:

On the racing side of things, the Tour of California has started up.   I got to watch the 2 mile prologue on Versus yesterday as Fabian Cancellara destroyed the field.  I am glad that Versus is showing  the race, but if you look at the schedule of events, they are showing the coverage at 11pm.  Really?  They want people to watch, but they show it at a dumb time.  If you want people to watch it, trying showing it at 7pm.  Sure, there are all these new fangled recording devices, but there why should I have to fire up the Beta Max and record it?  I would like to watch it during a normal time of the day.

From Velonews:

“I am stopping competition … It’s a definitive decision,” he told a news conference. “I don’t want this sport anymore … I’m slamming the door and I’m leaving.”

“It’s sad that my career is ending like this but I want to restore my honor … I will prove that I’m not guilty and get the results of this test rescinded,” he said.

Feel free to read the entire Velonews article.