Everyone is sick but me

Well, not really everyone just Shay and Ade. At first it seemed like they both just had a cold, but Ade's cough keeps getting worse. So far I've been spared, but who knows. I hope I don't get it soon since I have to fly to NYC for a couple of days on Tuesday.

This week was a recovery week riding. I took full advantage and only rode Tuesday for 1/2 hour. Friday I did a recovery ride, then back to work on Saturday and Sunday. After last weeks road race I'm starting to feel pretty good about the upcoming season. I really need to start hitting the dirt though, especially since Angel Fire is the first race and it has some crazy down-hills.

Shay is kicking it on his bike, says he wants to take of the training wheels. He needs to get better, but soon. I took the self portrait when I was with Shay on a ride. Should be wearing a hat with that bald head.

Saturday afternoon Shay went for his first big bike ride. We started from our house and planned on riding all the way to the water fountain. The ride takes me about five or six minutes when I'm heading out so I figured he could handle the whole thing. Here he is about two blocks from the house.

About a mile from the house Shay hit his first single track. He was riding strong at this point.

But we had to call in the sag wagon prior to the fountain as he was getting tired and it was 80+ degrees outside. The fountain was crazy, must have been 30 kids running around getting wet. Most of these pictures show Shay in his new red shoes.

Before hitting the singletrack with Shay I went up to Apex. Spent a lot of time riding and re-riding sections to work on the bike skills. Haven't been spending a lot of time on the dirt and with the first race a month away it is time. What amazes me is how little movements can make a difference between having fun and crashing. There were a couple of sections where if I moved just a little, readjusting my center of gravity, I was clearing. When I was riding to far forward I kept crashing.



Raced on the road today. Rode fairly strong and threw down in the sprint either winning or finishing second in the main bunch. Five guys had gotten away on the last climb and we could never catch them though. It was a blast to sprint like that, really different than the mountain bike. Not sure where the burst of speed came from, but somehow it happened.

Easter Sunday

Well its been a crazy week here, but now it's Sunday afternoon and finally starting to chill a little. Got in some good riding during the week, most of it on the trainer early in the morning, but you gotta fit it in where possible. It's been really crazy at work so I have been riding home, instead of driving with Ade, but the 1/2 hour ride is more transportation than training. Saturday afternoon I went out for a hard 2 1/2 hours. The hardest part was the wind. This picture of a flag only begins to show how bad it was. I spent the entire time by myself fighting a head wind or a cross wind. I've got to say this is one of the most windy springs I remember.



I went out this morning for a short ride with some power intervals. Trying to keep the ride time down since it was Easter so I went to the road behind my house with a three minute climb. Great place for intervals, especially when you see some of the neighbors.

Shay had a blast with Easter. He found all his eggs, then Re-hide them to add to the fun. It was a great day so Ade and Shay headed to Starbucks and the fountain by our house while I was riding. I met them after my ride and we all soaked in sun before going to my aunt's for Easter lunch, where we soaked in the sun more. Shay was wild all day, hard to believe he had tubes put in his ears again on Friday and was knocked completely out for it. The effects of the drugs lasted about two minutes.

Sunday

Went for a ride today at Red Rocks and Green Mountain. It was the first mountain bike ride since TC so it was nice to get out on the dirt. Ran across some deer on the trail, you can't quite see them but there were about 10 of them.

Here are some pictures of various sections of the trail, and a view of Red Rocks theater. Always a great place to hang out.

The ride today was pretty hard, tried to keep the pressure on the whole time. I did a race simulation (on the road) yesterday so was pretty tired already. It always feels good though to get in the tough efforts. After riding Shay and I went to the zoo. I think he has more fun playing on the statues then actually looking at the animals. Here he is playing with some polar bears. Getting ready to BBQ, it's about 80 outside and grilling is a must.

Hard work

Well after getting my ass handed to me the last two weekends on the road I've finally started to bust out the intervals for this year. It's always hard those first few efforts and I'm feeling it today. Tuesday I rode for about 1.5 hours with 2 sets of 12 sprint intervals. It was a great day, with temps in the mid 70's when I left work. The heat and intervals killed me but starting to get some sun.

Wednesday I did some longer intervals in the morning on the trainer. Didn't feel to bad after those, but I added in a run at lunch and rode home from work. By the time I was home my legs were dead. I got up this morning to ride the rollers and the legs were still dead and I was stiff as hell. Rode for 1.5 hours to loosen up the legs. Hopefully the recovery ride will help.

I don't have any pictures of my actual new bike yet, but here is a picture from the Yeti site, mine is still pretty stock, but once I finish changing everything out I'll post some pictures of the real bike.
I'm hoping to get in a mountain bike ride this weekend, as I haven't been on the mountain bike since TC. We'll see as I'd like to get in a big week as well and travel time to the trail cuts down on ride time in the real world. Especially this time of the year with Shay playing soceer. If not maybe I'll leave work early at some point next week.

damn its been awhile

I've really been slacking on this blog, seems to me to be cool though computer guys usually are slackers so I fit right in. Been doing a lot of riding up until about two weeks ago. The good news is I feel I have a great base in now I just need to round out the fitness. I always seem to go through this phase in early spring where the motivation to spend time on the trainer is gone, but there isn't enough light to ride after work yet. Good news is the time change was Sunday so I can start riding after work and skip some trainer time.

I went to Moab in early March for the COMotion training camp. Got in a few days of long rides on the mountain bike. The new Yeti rocks, but I have to admit it is not a great way to break in a new saddle with two 4.5 hour rides in a row. My ass took a couple of days to recover. I've also had the Yeti hidden in the basement since TC, working to lighten it up for racing. I got some new wheels just for racing and those wheels will knock about 1.5 pounds off the bike. Also bought some SRAM X.0 twist shifters to replace the paddle shifters. Cost was about $60, but weight savings is in the 90 gram range. Overall the bike will be about 2 pounds less then the original set-up. Cost was less than $500 so seems like a good investment.

I've done a couple road races the past two weeks to help work on conditioning. I'm clearly lacking in high end fitness but it is good to get out and put in some race miles. I made the initial lead group in Sunday's race, but didn't have the juice to stay with the leaders. It was a super windy day and as soon as I got dropped there was no chance to catch back on. Ended up working with a strong chase group that fell apart in the last 2 miles as each of us hit our limits. I put in a sprint at the end after a guy who had been drafting me the last 2 miles attacked on the finish climb. We were fighting it out for 21st, but I had my pride and couldn't let a guy who didn't do any work at the end beat me. The effort should pay dividends later and hopefully by May I'll be ready for the mountain bike season.