The last few days have kept me busy both on the bike and off.

On the bike, I put together a few different Pugsley rides.  Gotta say, that bike is pretty much fun to ride.  There isn’t much that stops it.  Unless you are talking about some ice with just a hair of snow over it.  Then, I don’t care how wide the tires are.  Without any studs, its easy to go down.

On New Years Day, the task was simple.  Get on the rollers for 2 hours and spin at around 90-100 RPM.  Easy enough.  Check that one off the list.

On the 2nd, coach had me going for an aerobic ride, keeping the heart rate down and just enjoying myself.  Pugsley and snow mobile tracks to the rescue.  It was the first time I have been outside on a bike in a while and it was enjoyable, plus it was a night ride and they are always fun.

Saturday had be doing a little cross training in the form of 3 hours of hiking.  So that is just what I did.

I grabbed my snowshoes (Tubbs Moutaineer) and strapped them on the back pack:

Dug out the Tubbs poles for some serious conditions:

My training buddy, the iPod Shuffle:

But due to the cold and wind, Campy didn’t come along.  Doesn’t she look sad?

Cranmore Ski Area from the start of my hike.

Its getting dark, so needed to strap on the headlamp, my Marwi Nightpro Elite.  I’m such a dope.

Doesn’t it look like I suprised myself with this photo?

This one is from the top of Peaked Mountain of the shopping area of downtown North Conway with all the outlets.  Those bright lights in the middle.  Those are EMS and LL Bean.  I thought those companies wanted to be “green” and “environmentally friendly”?  If that is the case, how much money you think they spend to throw off the most light pollution in the valley??  One would think that with them just buiolding these stores a few months ago and making the inside of the store so “green” that they would have done something for the outside.  I guess not.  Yet another reason I won’t buy anything from them.

Last but not least was another Pugsley ride on Sunday.  More of the snow mobile trails but this time there was more ice out there.  I went down  going about 20mph on ice and there was nothing I could do about it.  Thankfully, I only whacked my knee on the stem (and pretty hard I must say) and everything else is fine and dandy.

Today is a rest day before I do some testing for coach tomorrow.

So I can tell tomorrow and the next day are going to be bad ones. Here is how I know.

Last night, I did my core workouts as instructed by coach. No big deal there. This morning, the alarm goes off at 5:30am and I am on the bike by around 6. I did the prescribed workout (rolling hills, 3 minutes at 60rpm, 3 minutes at 100 rpm, repeat) and the workout went well. As I got back up stairs to take a shower, I peeled my shorts off of me. At that exact point, I felt the beginning of a wicked saddle sore. That, is how I know the next 2 days won’t be much fun. Because I ride rollers instead of a trainer, I tend to sit more. Because I am riding my “trainer” bike that has many uses, it isn’t 100% fit to me, plus I use some older parts (ie my saddle). With the lack of standing on rollers (I can go for about 3 minutes, but takes a bit of concentration) plus the older saddle, poor fit, you get yourself a nice little saddle sore.

I can’t wait.

On the other hand, I was out on the a bunch of the XC trails and noticed how nicely things are groomed. You know what that means. Time to dig out the Pugsley and hit the trails. My goal is to do that tomorrow AM or PM so wish me luck as I am getting tired of being on the rollers.

The file from the Sigma Sport Rox 9.0:

Its been quite some time since I have last made a post.  It seems like I have been quite busy….or something like that.

Since I last posted, a bunch of things have happened.  I have signed on with a Coach, got myself a sweet frame sponsor and a bunch of other things, but more on that later.

Training has officially started last week with structured workouts and some strength sessions so that is always a good time.  Other than riding the rollers down in the basement and lifting some weights, things are pretty status quo.  We have about 2 feet of snow on the ground, so that is keeping me off the bike outside.  I am waiting for the snow mobiles to groom and pack down all of their trails so I can get outside on the Pugsley, so just playing the waiting game on that front.

Been working on an update for the site for a little bit now and have some things in mind.  It has been almost a year with this current “theme” up there, so seems like it is time for a change, plus I need to add some sections and do a few other things.  I am shooting for the first of the year, but only time will tell.  Sometimes I get a bit lazy and frustrated with the whole updating the site process, but I am trying my best to make this one happen by then…

What can I say, another night out on the Pugsley in the snow.  Yesterday, we got about an inch or so of fresh snow, but that wasn’t enough to hold me back, so off I went.  Did the same loop as the night before, but I must say, I need to work on a different pedal/cleat set up.  Every time I put my foot down, everything god completely clogged up and I had a hard time getting back in.  There were more than a couple times that I was yelling the f-word quite loud because of this little problem.

Then there was the front shifting problem.  The problem with riding in snow, then going through some little water crossings, then back in fluffy snow is that it tends to build up at spots, especially with those big Endomorph tires and the way they throw things.  I took a quick picture of the bike when I got home.

Good thing it was a relatively flat section of trail that I was riding and didn’t need to shift.  I never even tried.  I’m glad for that because I’m not sure if it would have dropped down into the granny gear and if it would have, who knows if it would have been able to get back up to the middle ring.

Today, it was 50 degrees and raining and tomorrow is supposed to start the first “big storm” of the winter laying down multiple inches of snow.  Gotta love New England.  9 degrees, then 25, then 50, back to the 20s all in 4 days….

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.

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.