Minnesota Mid-April

Wasn't it too wet to do this.... or two hours of this???<

E-mail to Austrailian Bud

Here's a note to a friend who moved to Austrailia last September. Sums up weather of late. He'll reply with Wombat, Kangaroo, 90 degree and dry warm wind facts. Joel, I’m sorry you can’t borrow my booties anymore because they are worn out!!! --Last week, studded tires required --Last Wednesday 5:30am 14 degrees, windy, snowing (crappy vid on my blog) --Last Thursday 5:30am 16 degrees, windy --Friday 30 something and 25-35 mph winds --I biked to work today…18 degrees but no wind and sunny, yes!! --Your missing out You must be wearing heat resistant booties? ....Heath

So Much for the Machine

Recently "I'm a machine" thoughts have me in a humor fit. You know the monatany of turning circles, you wonder what the heck!! Am I machine?....turning & turning & turning, just going and going. Not like, "I'm a machine kicking butt" just "I'm a fricking repeating machine." Over and over and over the legs go and go and go. It took a few minutes to convince myself it's ok to be doing this, and in these conditions(last few days). Snow, wind, 15 degrees in the am!! ANYWAY, Friday was "I'm only human" big time. 23mph winds & gusts over 30mph, I almost got off and threw a tantrum. Part of the issue my only gear was 42x17, SS MTB 29'er, 2.1 knobbies. Yeah, chased a road biker from Hopkins to Calhoun, got within 20 ft, then stayed on Greenway (roadie went to cedar). Greenway to Hiawatha was cool. Coming back hard. Around Calhoun the wind would throw you sideways, then you could see it shotgun blast ripple accross the water surface. Cool. On Cedar, Kenwood back to hwy 100 was in my face blastforme. Hey Amy and the gals got out again this weekend. Wahoo!

Stick'in it to the plan !!

Squeezed 2 hrs ride time in this am. 8 spd w/studded rubbers did the trick. Left at 5:30am, twas snowy, cold & WINDY!! There was the frozen camel back, thin gloves, removing booties to move hand warmers up to hands issues and mucho finger pain on warm up. About the previous post on "elements".....lame, it was nothing compared to this am beating. WARNING: I liked it but don't watch below video, it will waste 40 seconds of your life.

Elements, Girl Pow

Good ride this am on 8 spd Mtn bike. Biked to greenway, then to Hiawatha, to Ft. Snelling, to Nokomis, around Nokomis almost twice, to/around Harriet 2.5 times, ½ of Calhoun, Greenway to 55 again then back to Knollwood/Hopkins and back home. According to my map software (I don’t use a speedometer) it appears 42 miles in 2.5 hours. It felt much slower than it was. It rained for a bit and around each of the lake icy lee sides the elements were brutal. I swear it was sideways sleet.

Amy has been riding to work a bit and with the gals too. Chris has a new SS and Nami is due for a new bike too. There’s actually more spark of excitement this year. They are asking me questions, etc etc. They are all doing the Chequamegon 16 and I sure hope they stick with riding this year….riding more that is.

Speed, Force or Just Fun?

This time of year I pretend like I have a huge base. Actually I don't. I push some force training anyway, which ends up being SS speed work too. Yesterday 1 hour @ 17.6 miles an hour on my 29'er rigid, 2.2 tires with 42x17 single speed gearing. You just gotta love road bikers face when I say, "I'm already 90%+, have a good day"....then I catch'em, stick with or pass them. So fun. Today same deal but went 2 hours non-stop, 17.3 mph average. Today was 82% average HR, yesterday 87%. Not sure if I should try to hold it for 3 hours or go back to lazy jane base miles. I think I'll mix it up for a month.....working up to 4 hour rides soon. So I sumize, long rides to enduce mitochondria to handle pyruvic acid will only create fatty acid burn abilities, therefore less lactic acid!! See my training blog link, go to "lactate threshold" article under the race results link. Also, I'll do shorter intensity VO Max fun post early week gym work and recovery. It's all fun now!

Bootleg Canyon, NV & Sin City

I went to Vegas on business this weekend, did some of this & that. Nothing too sinful, was up $340 then down, then quit up a bit(whew!). Blackjack. Did the Ace hardware show then free for a MTB ride. The real money was the MTB riding at Bootleg Canyon an IMBA internationally recognized destination (IMBA calls it epic). My buddy lives in Vegas, hooked me up w/local Bootleg'er. Anyway the trails totally rock. Did some climbing to get vista but mainly roared down rocky single track all day via our self shuttle efforts. The jump park and features area we're way way cool too. The place really has it all. The new biffy & showers facility is da bomb. I rented an fsr stumpy, worked fine for my riding. Here's some pics....see previous post below for video. WOW!