I Tried

With the unseasonably warm temperature we've had the past few days, my front yard was nearly void of snow. So I pulled the bike off the trainer, loaded it in the car, put n the winter riding gear, put the puppies away for nap and headed out for Rose Lake. Got out to the rail and there was a little more snow than home, still, it looked rideable. So I got the bike ready, put on my gear and headed out. I slid along for about 20 yards, turned around and walked back to the car. Andrea gave it a noble try as I watched, hoping it was my slick tires ha may have been my problem. She suffered similar results. The trip was a bust. We stopped at Revolution Cycles on the way home to pick-up a Christmas present, so I guess it wasn't a total bust.

When we got home I prepped the crosser for the trainer as the mountain bike is just a bit loud for my tastes and I'm still waiting on the wheel for the roadie. When I got her locked in we loaded Coach Troy's On The Road 2.0 - Lake Placid training ride. It's nearly a three hour ride that follows the Ironman Lake Placid course. I wasn't sure how much time I could handle on the trainer but I had scheduled 80 minutes of training for today and needed to make up 45 minutes from yesterday. I made it the 2 hours and 5 minutes I needed and called it quits. I'm sure I could have made the entire ride but my legs were gassed, I didn't need a 3 hour session and over-training at this time of the year seems like a bad idea. We've scheduled a team ride in Jackson tommorow. We plan on riding the trails at Ella Sharp park, with the rail-trail as a back-up.

After the ride I took a much needed shower, 20 minutes of warm water never felt so good. We then went out for some dinner, yumm filet and lobster. Then I went to the mall to finish my Christmas shopping while Andrea finished hers at Target and ******. It was incredible how short the lines were everyplace I shopped. I've never done the last minute rush so quickly. The relative ease of the process surely lead to me over-spending. But with the economy the way it is around here, the retailers probably need it more than I. Oh well, all I have to do is put some paper on 'em and I'm done.

Indoor Training

With the big snow storm this weekend, we're stuck indoors. I spent about 15 minutes shoveling snow yesterday and can hardly move today. What I can't understand is the machine at the gym that mimics Ahrnold's Good Mornings I can almost lift the entire stack. I realize the movements aren't exactly the same but come on. 15 minutes lifting light snow and I'm reduced to walking like Fred Sanford.

Tonight I loaded the mountain bike on the trainer and dove right in. I didn't pick any of the easy 45 minute Spinervals Fitness series DVD's. Nope I chose the 80 minute Aero Base Building DVD. It's not a difficult DVD workout wise. But it's a dull hour and twenty minutes. At least Coach Troy included the option to turn the music off. It's much better listening to my non-Ipod than the elevator muzak included on the disc.

Speaking of Coach Troy, he as a DVD of the month club on his web site. It's a very economical way to build a collection. For someone like me, who can't ride the trainer without a structured workout video, an extensive collection is a good thing.

Tomorrow we have a creative people holiday get together so I get an early rest day. Being a non-creative type, I'm just tagging along with Andrea. It's at a nice bar, so it's all good.

Rose Lake

Andrea and I got a nice ride in at Rose Lake Saturday before the storm hit. It was nice to get out on the Mt Bike again but after the dumping of snow we got Sunday it might be awhile before we can get out again. The trail was in excellent condition. There was very little snow and no ice. =The winter is probably the best time of year to ride Rose Lake, sand is easier to ride when it's frozen. It's nice to see that, although I hadn't rode in the winter the past couple years, I still remember how to dress appropriately. We plan to head down to Southeastern Missouri during the holidays. Hopefully we can find a trail or two.

The guys at the bike shop Quality Bicycle Products are scratching their heads trying to come-up with replacement parts for my wheel. It looks like I'll be stuck riding the mountain bike and cyclocross bike on the trainer. I'm starting my program tonight, but I'm not looking forward to it.

New Team

Andrea and I have joined a new local team. Team Revolution Cycles/MMBA Mid-State Chapter will be sponsored by Revolution Cycles of East Lansing and Michigan State University Sports and Nutrition with support from Rocky Mountain Bicycles through their ambassador program. The incentive from accountability should do wonders for our training program.

Catching Up

Riding:
I haven't been doing much. I started riding in the Kisscross cyclocross series. I crashed out the first race. The second race I managed to finish but I somehow hurt my ankle. I could hardly walk for a week and ended up visiting urgent care. It's the first doctor's visit I've made in the last 10 years, so it must have hurt bad. I had X-Rays, blood tests and plenty of poking and prodding and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. They sent me home with some drugs and it's gotten progressively better since then.

I expect to get my wheel back sometime soon (6 spokes = $50) so I can get on the trainer. I've developed a training plan for Andrea and can't wait to join here. We plan on racing the MMBA CPS race series next season (although Andrea's worried about scars before the wedding).

Andrea:
She's doing well. She's been able to finish all the Kisscross races she's entered. She was able to lap another rider in her last race. I bought her a new cyclocross bike for Christmas but I gave it to her early. She has her own blog, check the links on the left.

Properly Adjusted Limit Screws

I knew the limit screws on my rear derailer were out of adjustment, but it didn't really matter.

So I'm out on training ride, coming down a hill, toward a stop light. Speed, about 20, down shifting getting ready to stop. Forgetting the limit screws, I shifted too my lowest gear, throwing the chain into the spokes which sent me sliding down a hill uncontrollably. Luckily, I didn't go down. But my tire did.

About the time I get out of the road, Andrea and some friends came rolling up. They asked if I had a flat and why I wasn't fixing it. I stuck my finger through the tire, they said "oh." I waited about an hour for Andrea to pick me up, remembering that spare tire I used to carry with me. Eventually, I got home, changed the tire, it's all good.

Wrong!

About a month later, I'm on a multi-day tour up through Michigan (DALMAC). I'm riding along, about thirty miles from nowhere, when I here a loud ping. I pulled over to find a broken spoke. No problem, I think, a SAG wagon will be along shortly. They'll take me to one of the repair trucks and I'll be back on the road. When the SAG picked me up, we hit the first repair truck we could find. They didn't have straight pull spokes for Campy Neutron wheels. OK, the other truck's from a Campy shop, they'll have something. Wrong, again. Luckily, Andrea's mom came up to meet us a day early so I had someone to drive me around. We ended up visiting every shop along the route. No spokes. My tour ended early.

Lessons Learned: Keep the limit screws adjusted and always carry spare spokes.