Fun Filled Days

Was looking at some pic's today someone sent me about Afghanistan. Specifically cycling in Afghanistan and the Afghan Cycling Federation.

http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000_iJBFYJbsqM

Errands

The eating plan put together with the C&F team is working. Should be able to meet the training goals by March.

After yesterdays 2 hours on the trails in the snow storm I'm taking today to do errands on the bike. Then hitting the weights later on.

Have some new parts on the way fro the Mistress. Some heavy fork springs and an old school DCD. More on that later. And of course working on getting the finances together for the seatpost.

Hit the trails in Collins with -22 conditions. Required some extra layering and not really stopping. but still a good 90 minute ride.





Another pic of the Mistress.

After thinking about it during my ride I have made the decision to buy the Sette seatpost in Febuary. This should be a good piece of kit.

The Office Chair

Found some seatpost info that has piqued the interest of the cheap and frugal team. It appears that Pricepoint.com has a seat post from Sette that shouild fit nicely with my requirements. It's cheap and it seems that it will work. And I can get it for less then $100 CDN and that is important as money is a bit tight right now.

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/16675-275_SETSD7-0-Search--/Sette-Ryde-ST-850-Suspension-Dropper-Seatpost.htm

So now just need to raise the capital to take care of this.

Was thinking today while perusing Chapters and the cycling books how over complicated things have become. So much energy is wasted on HRMs and such when most people either can't afford them or want them. The emphasis is less on just trying things out and more on following some set formula. Seems a little boring.

Fresh Tracks

Am doing 2 a day rides for the next 3 days to increase bike time. This should be fun


Today was some fresh tracks.


Hydration break
Found a spot where some Deer had a nap last night.

Frozen Intervals

Today headed out to do some Yo-Yo hill intervals. Not exactly warm as it was about -14 with windchill.

Then spent part of the afternoon doing some more work on the Franken Cross. Hopefully will be up and running by Friday.

Exhaustion

With a mere 3 hours sleep headed out to Rogers to ride with some new people. Good relaxing social ride. Plus barely ate much at all today which fits in with the present nutrition protocols. Which have of course been decreed by the coaching staff.

No pic's though as I forgot da camera.

Tomorrow will be the building project for the Franken Cross.

New Part

After a 2 hour ride spent some time installing a new derrailleur and pads.



The work area.

The only easy day was yesterday.

Today was hill day. The workout was 5 times up Base hill with the added bonus of doing it within an hour of waking up and no food. The object of course being to force my body to learn to use fat more as a fuel.

The last descent and time to head home.


Not much of a hill but one's gotta make do.

Tomorrow is the day when I should have the final part in hand to finish the Franken Cross bike.

But first things first, a 90 min ride to Rogers with some one leg work thrown in.

Gotta add to the gear list, Buy a bike computer from MEC in Febuary for both the Cross and the Chromag.

Headed out to Rogers for a ride. Talk about brutal, it took me an hour to do a loop that usually takes max 20 min.


Corn snow sucks.



Ipod-great invention.

Wasn't expecting to need a snorkel

Finished off the day with gym time and some Kbell work.

Tomorrow is hill climb day. Bring it on.

Day Off

Took an easy day, well from training. Spent the day getting stuff done like laundry, groceries, and building the Dirt Bag Franken Cross.

Also spent part of it putting things into place to help with my goal of losing 25lbs by March 31st. This will mark a significant change of lifestyle for me. As in the last year I have done alot of soul searching and realized that I was happiest when I was race fit and riding bikes like a racer. And that the last few years I have been doing things to hide myself from the fact I wasn't happy in life.

And when I look back at pictures from when I raced in the early 90's I could see that I was much happier. And that I let too much nonsense get in the way. But more on that another day.

While looking at some Ultra Running stuff found the blog of Catra Corbett one of the Montrail team.

http://trailgirl.blogspot.com/

10 Tips For Riding On Snow From Alaska

Found this on Arctic Jill's Blog http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/. It's for Alaska but still some good info.

10 tips for riding a bicycle on snow:

1. Think surface area: If you’ve ever used snowshoes before, you know that all that mass at the bottom of your feet can mean the difference between coasting atop power or wading knee-deep in it. Snow bikes work they same way. They incorporate wide tires with a flat profile in order to distribute bulk (you) as evenly as possible, allowing for maximum floatation.

2. Fat is the new skinny. As long as there have been bicycles, there have been weight-weenie types trying to shave grams off wheels. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see a spoke-free wheel sporting tires as thin as razors. But once you slice into snow, skinny tires might as well be razors. Snow-bikers know that fat means float, and have been developing bicycles to accommodate increasingly larger wheels for years. I predict that not too far in the future, someone will build a bicycle frame with room for motocross tires. Look for it.

3. There is no shame in walking. Cyclists hate to admit when they come to a hill or an obstacle they just can’t conquer. I have seen cyclists blow out their knees and face-plant over logs just to avoid suffering the indignity of getting off the bike and walking. Snow-bikers have no such pretensions. We know that bikes are not ready-made for snow, and vice versa. If snow is too soft, or too deep, or too wet, we simply step off and amble along until we can ride again. We learn to enjoy it, like walking a dog, but without the constant slobbering.

4. When in doubt, let air out. Often, snowy trails are what we would call “marginally ridable.” By letting air out of tires, you can increase the surface area and improve your floatation. Sometimes it means riding on nearly flat tires at a pace a snail wouldn’t envy, but, despite what I said in the previous paragraph, it’s still better than walking.

5. Learn your snow types. It's been said that Eskimos have dozens of different words of snow. Snow bikers also understand the myriad varieties: powder, sugar, corn, hard-pack, sandy, slushy, and so on. Each type comes with its own challenges. But understanding the nature of the white stuff you are trying to ride atop, you can adjust your riding and wheels to meet the conditions.

6. Don't be disappointed when you fail to set a land-speed record. Snow, like sand, puts up a lot of resistance, and snow bikers are not known for their speed. I have often heard accounts of cyclists who said felt like they were careening down a hill, only to look down and see they hadn’t even breached the 10 mph barrier. In snow races, 10 mph is considered fast. 8 mph is average. 6 mph is respectable, and 4 mph isn’t uncommon. When ask to describe the nature of the 2006 Iditarod Invitational, which was plagued by cold temperatures and fresh snow, third-place finisher Jeff Oatley said, “It was about as intense as a 2.5 mph race can be.”

7. All brakes are not created equal. When contemplating what brakes to put on their bikes, cyclists have all kinds of reasons to choose between disc or rim. But snow bikers, who often find their rims coated in a thick layer of ungrippable ice, have the best reason of all: Rim brakes could mean an icy death by gravity. Go with disc.

8. Re-lubricate and be free. There is nothing that will slow down a snow biker faster than having their hubs freeze up, which is always a possibility when the mercury drops below 0. We have to lube up our moving parts with a special low-temperature grease, sold widely in cold regions like Fairbanks and Minnesota.

9. Stay away from moose tracks. Common injures for road cyclists include road rash and head injuries. Mountain bikers have problems with broken collar bones and bad knees. Alaska snow bikers are always being tripped up by the deep, narrow holes moose leave when they walk through the snow. Avoiding these minefields will help curb post-holing injuries like broken ankles.

10. Stay away from dogs. We talk a lot about fear of angry moose, grumpy bears and rabid wolves, but our most likely animal to have a dangerous encounter with remains the sled dog. They approach so quickly and quietly that we sometimes don’t even have time to jump off the trail. A collision can be disastrous - imagine tangled lines, confused canines and a lot of sharp teeth. Add to that an annoyed musher who’s likely packing heat, and you stir up the kind of fear that convinces snow-bikers to give those racing puppies a wide berth.

Winter Tread

Headed out to Collins Bay for the first winter trail ride of the year. Was actually expecting to have it a no go as the snow was a little deep.

The good news is the area is big with the snowmobile crowd. So the trails are packed down in some sections. Then I found out other areas where packed down by all the dog walkers and such. the good thing was I saw a couple of other knobby tire tracks in the snow.

It always amazes me how some mountain bikers who claim to be hardmen run indoors when it snows a little bit.


The snowmobile trail.


The little trail through the snow.

The Mistress post ride.
Post ride pain killer.

The only bad thing with today's session was that I forgot to pack the Pledge in the pack. Pledge is the secret of winter riding. It helps keep pedals, cleast, and cassette's snow free. Because I forgot it my cleats packed up. Oh, well lesson learned.

Have begun the build of the new version of my Kaffenback. This should be interesting when it's built. Hopefully have it built by Wednesday for hill work.

Race Date Has Been Decided

Just checked with the guy's at www.bikenxs.com/ for the date of this years Uxbridge Icebreaker. It's April 13th on a Sunday. So it looks like I have my work cut out for me. Roughly 3 months to lose 25lbs to be faster on the bike. This will call for some radical training restructuring.

Going to be fun with alot of it being outside in winter. I have a hard time cycling indoors as I feel way too much like a Hamster.

Now I get to have some fun looking for gear for the race. Hopefully will start with more pic's tomorrow.

It's Dirtbag time

And so it begins. Well the beginning of the Cross Bastard build project. This should be interesting over the next week or so.

Plus it also begins the 3 weeks of training for the race in March. But more on that later as I'm tired and need some sleep.