Packed!

1 26" mtb, 1 29er, 1 road bike, 1 cross bike, tools, riding gear and clothes...

Scott and I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. And just in time, too. They're calling for up to 7 inches of snow by tomorrow night!!

The forecast for Helen, GA is high 60's and mostly sunny all week!!! =D

Training camp

So, part of the team is off in CA this week for spring training. Some of those of us stuck back in the windy city decided to hold a camp of our own.. Minus the nice weather, elevation change, and tan lines... The goal, ride every day of the week and post our miles. I started strong with about 60 miles posted over the weekend on the single speed. Then Monday I got sick. Just before the best weather of the week is about to roll in. I thought I'd be back on the bike by today, just in time for the predicted 50 degree temps. No luck. In fact, I didn't even go into to work today. I'm taking time to recover now so that I'm good and healthy for Georgia.

Speaking of Georgia, I'm gonna pick up a new camera before the trip to capture the good times. I've been wanting to get a point and shoot digicam for a couple years now. One that's nice and small to fit in a jersey pocket, and takes decent pictures. I'm thinking of getting this.

Look for a new look soon. Inspired by our new kits and a friend's link to this blog from his.

So, here's hoping that spring comes soon. The woods are calling my name.

'Cross + Snow = Versluis Snowcross

And Versluis Snowcross = Awesomeness!!!

I've never been one for symmetry, but today put a nice cap on the cyclocross season. I started the cyclocross season in September with the KissCross Kickoff ride, and today I ended with another KissCross event, the Versluis Snowcross.

Hosted on Nate and Sheri Versluis' Apple Orchards in Grand Rapids, MI, and promoted by Mr. and Mrs. KissCross Rick and Cathy Plite, the Versluis Snowcross has been bringing good folks together for good racin', good food, and good beer for the past 4 or 5 years.

Up at 6am and on the road by 7am, I made it to the race course in plenty of time to get dressed and get in a pre-lap. Nate plowed about 1.5 miles of an undulating, somewhat technical course that snaked around the slumbering apple trees. More important, however, were the parts he DIDN'T plow. He left the 10 feet before, and roughly 20 feet after each barrier unplowed. I tell ya, if I learned anything this season its that I DO NOT like running in snow!!! Otherwise the course was nicely frozen with a light layer of snow in spots. 3 barriers if I recall, plus a pretty nasty uphill that was rideable, but some chose to run it. There was a nice line right down the middle most of the way, get out of that line, however, and you could be in trouble, as I found out on lap one.

The race went off a little after noon, as we waited for Paula to make it in from Detroit. Something about almost burning down her apartment. Gosh, I hope her land lord doesn't read this.. :P lol

We started on the pavement out of Nate and Sheri's driveway, so I was able to start fast and jump on the leader's wheel for a little leadout for the first lap. Into the first downhill I got a little out of the line, and almost paid the price. I'm pretty sure I was squealing like a little girl as I fought to keep the rubber down. Disaster avoided (for now!). My leadout was becoming a little bit of an anchor, so I tried but failed to pass on the run after the Sadistic Snow Runnup (SSR). I tucked in behind for a fast downhill to a sharp, off-camber lefty. As we rounded the corner we were caught by two guys on mountain bikes. Plying their sizable advantage with the fat knobs, they got passed us rather easily on the off-camber, deep section on the back of the course. Shortly after I passed the crosser in front of me as he got bogged down. The final "straight" before the finish was a snow rutted mess. I picked what appeared to be the best line on the right. The snow belied the washboarded terrain below. Bump-bump-bumpity-bump.... the trail goes straight, my wheel goes dead right! 10 feet off the course into 2 foot deep pow-pow. Finished making snow angels, I snowshoed my way back to the course. I pushed to get my momentum back, but got passed back on the uphill. With that lap out of the way, I got my confidence and stuck to my lines. I passed the crosser in front of me again, but got passed by another rider or two, and lord knows where those mountain bikers went.

The race was set for 3 laps. I was tempted to jump in with the "A" race to do 6 laps, but after two laps of icy hell, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have survived 6. On my third lap I ran into quite a bit of lapped "A" traffic, and some others. One more time up the SSR, I dug deep and passed 4 riders on the run. Back on the solid ground, I dropped the hammer (I've never been so happy to have gears!!) and tried to put some space on my chasers. Not normally sure footed in the snow, I kept my bum off the snow, and once again found myself headed down that final straight to the finish. With a couple guys in hot pursuit, I picked the high line this time and kept my feet turning. Made it through clean, and came across the line Third! At first I was in shock. I was sure I miscounted and finished too soon. I was only getting warmed up. Wish I'd gone with the "A"'s :(

The best part of KissCross (well, OK, the beer is really the best part) is that you carry a tag with your name on it, count your own laps, and stick your tag on a spike at the end to mark your finish. Keep It Simple Stupid! A Sixer of Founder's goes to the winner, and other prizes to random finishers determined before the start. Today, 10th place took home a jug of Heed from Hammer Nutrition, and last place got a bottle of Hammer Gel. I love it!

I look forward to the start of 'Cross season next year, but even more I look forward to kicking it off with KissCross!!

New beginning...

This weekend was Chicago Cross Cup series #5 at Lan Oaks. I'm still getting pics up, so I'll have my race report up soon. Beside, I feel this topic deserves its own post.

This week I joined xXx Racing/AthletiCo. They are a large team in the Chicago area, somewhat akin to the Flying Rhinos for you MI folk. The team participates in Track, Road, 'Cross, and MTB disciplines. They have Juniors, Men's, and Women's development squads, and Serious and recreational riders alike. I decided to go with a big team for my first year in Chicago to help meet new people, do some networking, and basically have fun! Next year I'll re-evaluate based on my season, but I expect good things from these guys. I've been warmly welcomed already!

While it seems like a no-brainer to join a new team with the move to Chicago, it saddens me to no longer race under the "Orange Crush" of the Cycletherapy Racing team. Ernie at Cycletherapy is easily the most friendly, helpful, awesome shop owner and maybe person I've ever met! Going into his shop feels like a second home to me (as he'll attest as I still spend most of my time back in MI in his shop.. ;) )

So, for all those folks still back in MI, if you haven't already, do yourself a favor and stop by Ernie's shop one of these days. You won't be disappointed!!

Thanks Ernie!!

Seriously!!!

What is going on???

Tonight was an awesome night for a ride. Temps in the 60s, not too windy, dry and clear. IN CHICAGO JUST 2 DAYS FROM NOVEMBER!!! What is wrong with this picture?

It looks like by moving the Iceman back a week, all the organizers have done is give us another week of late summer-like riding to prep for yet another balmy and dry race.

I'm trying to keep my riding up, as I need to figure out this problem I'm having with dead legs on race day. I've got another 'cross race this weekend, and I'd like to actually race with good legs one of these days. I'm sure my problem in my last race was the 50+ miles I rode the day before. But I didn't really have any legs for the first race of the season either. This week I'm going to try racing the Masters at 10am and then the Cat 4 race at 2. We'll see what that does to me...

Picked up a couple wheels from Andy, so I now have 5 bikes and 5 sets of wheels! it's Miracle!! I can't wait to get the Loki back together. Gold frame and gold rims.. HOT!! Plus I need my Ray's bike in tip top shape for the winter!

Proof that God loves us....

Gorgeous days like today!!

Went for a 50 miler on the inaugural Spider Monkey club ride. Some members of the Higher Gear club/team? are puttin' together a new club. They're riding saturdays at 8am from Roscoe Village Bikes.

It was a nice 20mph pace most of the day. Good to spin the legs before the Carpenterville race tomorrow. Looking forward to a good showing in the 4a's.. I'm hopeing to have a little more in the legs and less on the stomache for tomorrow's race. And with the 4's being split into a's and b's, I won't have to fight through the hordes for the first lap. Gonna try to go out hard and work my way through the top 10. But we'll see.

Hope y'all enjoyed the day in one way or 'nuther!

soup

Trainin'....

Now that I'm starting to get a little more settle here in the Windy City, I'm trying to get out and meet more of the cycling community. And trying to get some good training rides in is good motivation to get my but out of bed early on the weekends to meet up with any of the various team/groups rides out of the city..

There's a weekly saturday ride with xXx Racing that meets at 8am not too far from my place. They're a pretty large group, but I've been reluctant to join b/c I'm not sure if I could hang, and 8am is damn early for me on a saturday.

Alex, owner of Roscoe Village Bikes, let me know about another group that goes out Saturday mornings even closer to my house, but still at 8am. So I thought I'd give it a shot this weekend.

So I managed to get out of bed early after a night of drinking and bowling (badly). I made it to the meeting spot, introduced myself around, and we were off. It was a nice brisk 20mph pace from the city up to Highland Park. 2 by 2, we were able to chat along the way. We toook a break at a coffee shop in Higland Park next door to Higher Gear bike shop. A few minutes after we arrived, the xXx group rolled in en masse. There must have been about 50 riders! After some chatting, nibbling, and a lot of shivering, we got back on the bikes.. We started off at a slow pace to lessen the chilling effect of the wind. Not long after the xXx Express went blowing by and we latched on to the back. Now were talkin!! We were hummin' along now at about 24-25mph, with sprints up to 30. I wasn't sure how long I was gonna be able to hang, but was feeling good so far. With such a large group now, we were able to blow through many intersections, and the pace stayed high. I was happy, at first, to see at least one other 'cross bike in the group, till I noticed he was riding SS... and FIXED!!

Both of us, however, got our props for riding 'crossers in a predominantly roadie crowd. It was at this point that I looked around and noticed we'd shed all but about 15 riders. I don't know if we dropped the rest or if they just took a different route. I was starting to feel the effects of the pace, but as long as I stayed in the draft, I figured I could make it. Fortunately I knew the roads we were travelling, so in the worst case I could find my way home. Eventually we came to Montrose and Damen, so I bid the group adieux and headed east toward home.

I'm feeling pretty good about today's ride. A much better result that the last up tempo training ride I did, though I was in the draft almost the entire time this go 'round. But still, I'm getting some good hard efforts in, and think I'll be in good shape for my next 'cross race in 8 days...

Ok.. time for food!

My first Chicago ride report...

Ok.. so I've not been around here much. Truth is, I get precious little time in front of the computer any more, and when I do, it's work work work... I think i'm getting averse to sitting down at the computer.. Who'da thunk it...

Anyway, I've had the chance now to settle in a little bit, and i've got a couple rides under my belt. (yes, sadly, only a couple.... :( )

I got up to Kettle Morain in Wisconsin a few weeks ago with Ross. This was a pretty decent trail. Long fast singletrack. There was some nice technical stuff thrown in on a supplemental loop that we hit off a connecting trail. Overall, I'd rate it about a B-.. Not bad, but hard to justify the 1.5 hour drive (without traffic)..

More recently I've been to the Palos Forest preserve in Willow Springs, IL.. For my MI homies, the best comparison I can draw would be to Stony or Bloomer. Mostly that Palos is a system of separate loops connected by two track or other singletrack connector trails. There's also a fair amount of legal and bandit trails.

The terrain is fairly similar to Stony too.. I think most of the trail at Stony flows much better, but there are some sections that are pretty fun. Gravity Cavity is a short, mile or so section that's pretty straight, and runs mostly downhill. There's a fair amount of root drops and fun little features built into the trail, but as far as speed, it's not terribly steep, and you have to watch out for riders in the other direction.. >:( "Out and Back" is a nice little 1-2 mile out and back with some really nice 2-3 foot log piles and decent flow. But, again, lookout for other riders...

There's plenty of mileage to be had, so I won't lack for training miles. But speed an climbs are going to be lacking.. gonna have to find some back road hills somewhere..

Well, that's it for now.. I'm pooped... It sucks being out of shape...

It's you or me, turkey, and it feels like Thanksgiving

Earlier this week I felt a "sick" day coming on, so I decided to go all legit and take Friday off. I'm headed to Chicago this weekend, so it seemed like it would be a good idea anyway to have an extra day to get stuff done.

Holy Moly did I pick the right day to take off. The high temp today was 46 degrees and mostly sunny. And with the threat of rain in the morning tomorrow, today might be the only day I can get a ride in.

I started with a quick stop at the shop for supplies. Man, that place is like a black hole. I just get sucked in there. Even if I'm not spending money, it's just a giant time suck standing around talking bikes and... well, bikes.. So with great effort I tore myself away, and got underway.

The route was the same as last weekend. Only this time I rode the whole thing. Including the metro park path, and mileage from the shop, the total on the day was 42 miles. Time was around 2:50. It's not a particularly hilly route (see elevation profile at the link above) but I managed to keep up a pace close to 16mph, so the legs got a good workout. I also did some one-leg drills on the moderate rises in the park. There's nothing like one-leg drills to really get you to focus on a good spin. My problem is with my seat set high for road riding, it gets a might bit uncomfy if you know what I'm sayin'....

While back in the woods on the Indian Springs Metropark path, I happened upon a couple turkeys just hangin' out playin' in the mud or something. I wasn't too concerned until I got closer.. man, these things were HUGE. One good freakout and they could take me down no problem. So I kinda slowed down and thought about what type of menacing noise I ought to make to get them to take off. Just then they hopped
on off the trail on their own. That's right! They saw what was comin' if they tried to get a piece of THIS.

I had hopped to vary the route a bit for the return trip, but I hadn't really studied the map too well, so I stuck to the same route home. I was trying not to get the heart rate up too high, stay aerobic and burn fat no sugar, but at the same time I wanted to keep the pace swift. It helps that it is mostly downhill on the way home.

So I was quickly back home, enjoying a juicy 1/3 pound of cow and some awesome garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmmmm recovery.. :D Hopefully the rain wraps up early and I'll be able to get out early tomorrow before the long 5 hour drive to Chicago to celebrate the opening of Thomas' new studio!!

Punxsutawny Phil, that Rat Bastard!

Tge begubbubg if nt reak traububg kast seasib was ( <-- ok, this is what happens when you try to blog while watching TV.... )

Last season my training began in earnest when I joined the Tree Farmers on their weekend rides from Walled Lake to Kensington/ILRA. I've got many more miles on my legs this year, but I figured it was time to return to my roots. So I met Paula and Erin, the Gorgous Ladies Of Biking (or G.L.O.B.'s) at the CVS parking lot this morning at 8:30am EST (Erin'S Time) ;)

It was BUTT COLD at the start. Really, it was only about 25 degrees F but after a few rides in the 30's I must be spoiled! I don't know about you, but I don't see any early spring coming, unless you're getting the hell out of dodge. There's barely more than 1 day predicted to break into the 40's in the next 10 days. Punxsutawney Phil might find it easier to see his own damn shadow if he were to put down the crack pipe once in a while.

You can find the route here. We got underway at an easy pace. Just needed to warm ourselves up. And the G.L.O.B.'s had done a similar, nearly 4 hour ride yesterday, so I'm sure they had a couple kinks to work out. I was feeling pretty good, but I only did a pretty flat 1:45 ride yesterday. The first big climb came on Buno Rd. I love that climb. I think my legs were much stronger after this climb than last year, though I'm still not recovering they way I'd like, but I guess intervals will take care of that. The roads were a mess, pothole-wise, which made it impossible to enjoy the ride down.. :(

Kensington and ILRA went by without excitement. We all guessed the # of cars in the ILRA parking lot and the winner was..... someone else, cuz we all LOST! (I was the big loser at 2 cars) I guess I need to have more faith in my biking brothers!

At the end of the ILRA road we stopped for a quick snack and discussed the relative merits of Sport Beans vs. Cliff Blocs, and their vast superiority to Bonking! It's no secret that I have a biking and eating problem...

The ride back was a spectacular. We had the wind to our backs most of the way, and we rode my second favorite hill on this ride, up mount Trashmore. According to Routeslip.com this is highest point in the ride. It's a long, sometimes grueling ride to the top, and a short but excitingly quick ride down the other side.

We were soon off the bike path and back onto the dirt (potholes) of South Hill rd. There is no truer representation of Hell on Earth than a muddy, potholed, dirt road in the middle of the winter. There is no rhythm (save for that bouncing in the saddle), no speed, and no joy...

The remainder of the ride home was delayed only when Erin got off her bike to kiss the pavement when we got back to W Maple Rd.

Back at the CVS parking lot we bid adieu to Erin who was off to get her Grandma drunk (at least I THINK that's what she said), and Paula and I capped the ride with a big fat sub!

So, come on Tree Farmers... It's that time again.. :D

PS. When I started this post Nero was at the right foot of the sofa. By the end of the post he was at the left foot, and I'm pretty sure it was his farts that propelled him there.

Mt Bike snowglobe

That was today's ride.

Big, fat, fluffy snowflakes fell today as I headed out from my house to Indian Springs Metro park. It was about 3pm and most of the snow and ice had melted. The roads were wet, but not too wet. However, the falling snow was accumulating a little bit, making it hard to discern puddle from pavement. I had to take some sidewalk before crossing Dixie into the neighborhoods. I promptly ran through about 15 feet of 5 inch deep not quite frozen puddle. Yuk. Well, I was dry. Luckily my feet didn't seem to get too wet, but I'm still afraid this will shorten the ride.

In an effort to get more miles this month before the trails are dry enough to ride, I'll be using routeslip.com to plan out longer rides from my front door. Today's ride was planned to take me to Indian Springs. I studied the streets and turns before leaving the house, and figured I'd wing it from there. Actually, this was a test run to see just how good I am at "winging" it. I love Robert's rides because I don't have to think too much while riding. I wasn't sure I could do the thinking and still enjoy the ride. But it was an awesome ride! There's a few bugs to ironed out in this route. A couple of the roads were too high traffic and narrow. But otherwise, it was a great time, and it looks like I'll be able to get plenty of miles from home this spring!

The ride took me by PLRA. I didn't bother even checking out the trail as there were several inches of snow everywhere that wasn't plowed. I did, however, take a shortcut from the PLRA parking lot to Gale road that took me through some of that deep snow. That was a trip. Slogging through 5 inches of snow, in 42x17 with a semi-slick on the back. And I almost made it... ;)

The dirt portion of Gale road was in terrible shape. It was a veritable mine field of potholes. I finally turned back at this point as it was getting too tiring to try to avoid all the holes. I'd hoped to be out for 2 hours whether I made it to the metro park or not. I turned around and 50 minutes. I tried to stretch it out on the way back, but it's mostly downhill on the way home, so I only managed 1:45 by the time I got back home.

Tomorrow I meet Paula and Erin in Novi for a 4 hour ride out to Kensington and back. 300 miles here I come!!

PS and now a quick note about how Fire Fox kicks IE's ASS!!! After spending a significant amount of time composing this post, I accidentally cut power to my laptop. After rebooting and launching FF, the "restore previous session" option acutally returned me to the post page with my post INTACT!!

Helluva ride!

WRCS#31 goes down as my best ride of the month. Good timing too, cuz it was also the last ride of the month.

Something's sure coming together, cuz I felt great all night. This was my inaugural ride from work to the meeting place at 13 and Crooks. And even though the ride brought me right by work where I could have easily peeled off and headed back to the car, I stuck with the ride, as the ultimate goal was to up my ride time. And it worked. 3.5 hours and about 45 miles.

And Robert made me work for it tonight. The route took us through a couple parks winding along "paths" worn in the snow. And while these weren't particularly long sections, in 42x16 (64.24 Gear Inches) with a semi slick tire in the back I had to work for every foot! As long as the group kept peddling I was more or less ok, but if I ran into a bottle neck, it was all over.

Managing my body temperature was a bit of a challenge. I wore a wind jacket as it was a bit colder tonight. But that kept my breathable clothes from breathing, and I started soaking my cloths pretty quick. Luckily I recognized that early and took the jacket off. But after stopping to meet up with the group, I started to get a chill, so the jacket had to go back on. I was pretty stable for the rest of the night as the pace was not too harsh except for the sections mentioned above.

But best of all was the fact that I never once felt bonkish! I had my usual cereal breakfast, a mid morning banana, a roast beef sandwich for lunch, and then a turkey sandwich about an hour before the ride. I also had about 1 tbsp. of Hammer Gel about an hour before as well. I had another tbsp. after an hour and again after 2 hours. I'm pretty sure it was the 500 calories in the sandwich that set me up for the good ride. While that might not fly in a race (solid food so close to start time) it seems just right for long base mile rides!

So I hit my goal of 200 miles for the month of January. Not very impressive I know, but that's 150 more miles than I did last January. It's also about 12 more hours on the bike than I did last January. So I'm happy.

Check out this pic of my beard after the ride....

When ya gotta go...

Man do I look forward to these rides each week. Time to get out, forget everything else, and just deal with the weather, and the road in front of you.

Did about 21 miles in an hour fourty. Good group of 11 riders. Temp at ride time was about 19 degrees. There wasn't much of a wind, so I wouldn't put the wind chill at much lower than that. As always, Robert guided us through the streets of Royal Oak, Berkley, and Birmingham. I was prepared with Hammer Gel and Sport Beans, though getting time to eat or drink was a little tough. The sketchy road conditions required both hands on the bars and a lot of concentration, so I could only grab food or drink at a stoplight. And then I had to do it quickly to get the gloves back on before the group took off. One of these days I'll figure out this calorie thing and actually have enough stores to finish a silly little 2 hour ride without feeling peckish.. :D

And a big thanks to the group for waiting during my little 'pit stop'. Boy did I have to go. As if the cold and ice and wind weren't bad enough, I had to put up with significant bladder discomfort for the first 45 minutes of the ride.. Finally I asked Robert to point out a good stopping point and he had the group do a little lap so that I wouldn't get dropped.

So I'm 100 miles up on my training from last year. And I'm gaining every day. Starting Wednesday I'll be riding from work in Troy to the meeting place at 13 and Crooks to tack on some extra miles!

f-f-f-fenders!

Ok. So I forgot about the slush.

It's been such a nice, dry winter, that I've gotten away with bare wheels the last couple weeks. But not tonight.. :(

And, yeeaahhhh... I missed the ride. Again. Between stopping to get some Hammer Gel (see Preparation) and the brief snowstorm that hit right at 6, there was just no way I could make it to the meeting place in time. I decided to stop a few streets away and get on the bike in the hopes that I'd come across the group as they wound their way out of the neighborhood. Fortunately for me, Bill from American Cycle and Fitness also missed the group, and was himself winding his way around the neighborhood looking for them. We did our own little ride around Troy and B'ham for about an hour. We hit a bit of slush along the way, and soon I had the only thing in the world that's worse than swamp ass... that's right, I had ass-bite. Freezing cold slush was sprayed onto my derriere until I'm sure both cheeks were as blue as that crazy cartoon dog. Bill eventually split off to head for home. By now, my booty was so numb I figured I might as well press on. So I headed back down to Hazel Park and back ala my first missed week. I ended up wrapping it up at about 2hrs 10min. and 30 miles.

So I'm off to get some fenders this weekend. And toe warmers. And more Hammer products. And....

Preparation

My Boy Scout master would be very disappointed...

I've come to realize that a big part of my nutrition/eating problems on the bike come down to simple preparation. Having the food and gel and powder on hand at ride time is a big problem for me. I'm usually under the gun to get to a ride, and don't have time to pick up supplies from the store or make more elaborate forms of trail food.

So, an addendum to my new year's resolution is to not only get smarter about what to eat, but also to make sure I've always got what I need on hand.

Tonights WRCS ride was pretty easy. 20 miles in 1.5 hrs. I still felt a little bonky at the hour mark. I had only a bottle of gatorade on the ride. I'd had a PB & J about an hour before the ride, but that's not nearly enough in these temps. Doh.. when will I learn?!?

Well, no real harm done. But I can't pull this stuff later in the season when I start going longer and harder.

So, I'm up 83 miles on my mileage from last year. Unfortunately my tracking stops in July, so I can only estimate my total miles last year, but I guess it at about 3000. A long way from 14,000!

On time at last!

Last night marked the first time I was actually early for one of Robert's WRCS rides. So nice to start off relaxed and not rushed!! Who knew?!?!

Great night of riding. It was cold, but dry and clear. I had purchased some toe covers and chemical toe warmers from Cycletherapy and was anxious to see if they'd help stave off the cold. I also picked up some Sport Beans. I've heard good things about these, and have tasted them and found them to be quite tasty, so what the hell?

Our route this night took us predominantly west from Royal Oak to Beverly Hills and Franklin, then up to Bloomfield and Birmingham, and finally back to Royal Oak. Ride time was about 2 hours, and I would guess we covered about 25 miles at a pretty easy pace around 13-14 mph. The road were pretty clear, though there was one biker versus ground incident precipitated by a large patch of ice in the gutter as we exited a park. The key is not trying to turn on the big patch of ice. (And, no, it wasn't me.. :P )

I pretty much dressed perfectly for the ~20 degree wind chill adjusted temps. On top: Old rowing tank (lycra/spandex), REI long sleeved light base layer, Long sleeved jersey, Fleece vest, Lightweight biking jacket, and Lobster mitts. On bottom: Biking shorts, Sport Hill thermal tights, wool socks, toe warmers, shoes with PI toe covers. Took a little bit to warm up the toes and fingers, but once I did they were good until about 1:45:00 into the ride. By then, though, I could feel the other effects of running low on fuel (slight grogginess, hunger, weak feeling...). It's amazing that it's taken me this long to realize that my fingers and toes get cold later in a ride not because my gloves and shoes suddenly stopped working, but rather b/c my body has reduced the flow of warmth-carrying blood to those regions b/c it must conserve what energy is left to keep the core warm. I can combat this by continuing to stoke the fires by adding calories while I ride. I'm already bad at doing this in the summer, but in the winter I'll need to add even more to keep enough in the system that the body can keep the fires burning! Next step, find out how many calories I'll need... Not challenging, perhaps, for your normal person. But I've never been accused of being normal.

Got home and ate late, which I believe led to a fitful sleep. Yet, I'm feeling pretty good today. Gotta add some running and stairs into the mix soon if I'm going to climb Detroit!

Mike's Winter Riding Challange Series

Announcing Mike's Winter Riding Challange Series!! It will take place on all the same days and all the same locations as Robert Herriman's WRCS, just 10 minutes later.. :D

Due respect to Robert, I would never try to copy his series.. ;) However, I do seem to have a timing issue when it comes to making his rides. I had the same problem last year, but tonight I actually missed the ride all together!

No sweat, I just took off on my own ride. Of course, I had no idea where to go. I mean, I know Royal Oak pretty well, but I don't really know the neighborhoods. I decided to head for a friend's house in Hazel Parke.

Here's the route I took.. I managed to get some miles by zigging and zagging as much as possible.

The temps appeared to be right around 30 degrees. I wore warmer tights than the sunday ride, and it was dry. So I was pretty comfortable. I will, however, be going to the store tomorrow and picking up some chemical toe warmers, and toe covers for the shoes. At the one hour mark my toes went from a little chilled to fall off frozen in a matter of minutes! Not fun.. :(

So, one down (for me).. only 29 left. I hope to make a few more of Robert's rides before they're done!

Stats:
21 miles 1.5 hours

The weatherman lies -or- When will I ever learn?

I may never get warm again!

Today the team (or alot of us anyway) got together for our first group ride of the year. It was also my first 'ride' of the year, and the first 'ride' on the Bianchi. We met at 2pm near the Paint Creek Cider Mill. Plan was to ride to Dryden via Paint Creek and Polly Ann trails. I'm not sure why the late start time, but the snow/rain wasn't to start until evening, so we should be good.

It was a great ride on the way out. We had FFG's and the not so FFG's, and yet we rode as a group for about 17 miles to Leonard. We decided as a group to turn around at this point rather than continuing to Dryden. I was more than happy with this as I was not entirely well stocked nutritionally for the ride (yeah... big surprise :-/ ) More on that in a moment...

Just as we started back it began to drizzle. I wasn't overly concerned, since it wasn't supposed to start raining/snowing till later, I figured it would stop. It just started to geat heavier and heavier as we went. By the time we got off the Poly Ann trail, I had snow accumulating on my arms and gloves. And did I mention that my tights are NOT insulated? :S I was Coooooolld. I mean like thighs burning and stinging cold. Cold water seeping into my shoes, and other places where really cold water has NO business being cold. We emerged from a subdivision onto M-24 to head back down to Lk. Orion. By now the snow was just driving!! Jay and I had popped off the front, riding at a pretty good clip. I had hoped the effort my legs were putting in would keep them warm, but that was counteracted by the freezing wind. We got into Lk Orion ahead of the group, so I stopped in at a CVS for some trial-mix. I was starting to feel a little drained. Even if we hadn't run into the bad weather I would have needed something to get back in good shape. Why is it that I think I can get away without bringing food on a 2 hour ride? I made the excuse that it was going to be a slow place, yada yada yada... They should change my nickname to Bonky. I've got one thick head when it comes to nutrition for biking. Perhaps I'll learn one of these days :(

Jay waited for me at the CVS as the rest of the pack passed us by. We pushed the pace up through downtown and caught the gang as they gathered up at the head of the Paint Creek trail. Back on the trail, I was blessed with a little bit of protection from the wind, so the muscles in my legs were finally able to stay a little warmer with a hard effort. Mark, the roadie in our group riding his cross bike, tried to pop off the front.. I grabbed his wheel and hung on for dear life. He finally pulled away a little bit but then sat up a little. Tim and Sofa Jay came around me and the three of them took off again. I was only about 6 lengths behind and holding, so I gave a good push and gapped back up to them. At that point with sofa Jay in the front, we had pink bookends on two cross bikes.. :) we ran in at about 19 mph that way, trading off pulls until we finally arrived, shivering, at our cars.

I was so cold, and with no warm clothes to change into, I didn't stay around to chat. I jumped in the car, mud and all, and cranked the seat heat up to broil!

It was a good couple hours before I completely got rid of the shivers. Hopefully I learned a couple lessons today. 1) Come prepared with clothes for all possibilities, and 2) there is no such thing as a slow, easy ride when it comes to food. ALWAYS bring something to get calories during a ride!!!

Well, hope y'all had a good weekend!! Snow's a comin'!! :D

Ride stats:
36 Miles 2.5 hours