Finally

Weather was great...finally got to get out on the road bike. It was nice to not be on the trainer. Ride was fairly short, around 20 miles, but I had limited time. I was so happy to finally be out side riding that I started off way too fast, not paying attention to my HR or anything. I was enjoying the scenery when I came to my first small climb and my legs felt like steel weights. I trucked up the hill knowing there was a nice descent on the other side. By the second hill I hit my legs were warmed up and ready to go. The rest of the ride was great and can't wait to get outside and ride again. I really have to work on warming up and stretching before riding. Need to sit down with Amy and figure out what races I am going to do this year.

The next month is going to be extremely busy getting everything ready for the MTB festival. Think I have a work day every weekend until May (except Easter). Don't know if I will have enough time to train for the first I-74 race but I will decide if I am going to do that when the time comes. It would be a lot easier if we had 30 hour days!

I hate Snow shovels

Yesterday was a very fun and adventures day. It started out crappy and got even crappier by days in. Got up to go to work and realized we had received 4 to 5 inches of snow which isn't really to bad till you put 30 to 40 mph winds with it. I think they call that blizzard like conditions.
I have a nice big dodge 4X4 truck so I set off for work. The roads surprisingly where in good shape accept for some drifting here and there. Got to work and it seemed like the sky was falling, At lunch we realized that it was getting worse so we decided to call it the day. The problem with that is the company I work for is out in the country with Fields all around, so guess what. Yep, we had 3 to 4' drifts all over the place. I and few others had no problem plowing threw them with are nice big trucks but the ones with 2 wheel drives weren't going anywhere without clearing a way first, so me and a few others started shoveling and we got every out by 2:30. Great work-out accept for the wind and snow was beating us to death. Got home to a parking ban on the streets so i got to shovel more snow for a couple more hours . I can tell you now that I hate snow and cold weather, can't wait for spring.....thought I did enough for the day and decide not to ride my Trainer.

Today was Val-day and Amy made a bunch of sugar cookies, I set there and eat way to many.I don't know if i was flying on a sugar overload but when i did my HR intervals I felt great..I don't recommend eating cookies all the time but it was a great pick me up. Time for bed.. if I can sleep......

So it begins...

Tonight was the first night of my official training for the year. I have had a few nights where I have hit the trainer off and on and ridden in the woods whenever possible. Tonight was my first round of hr intervals. Went pretty well, only an hour and fifteen minutes of riding. Staying easy to moderate for the next 3 weeks. My schedule is to ride a minimum of 4 days on the bike, 2 days of lifting and one rest day.

I hope I can keep this schedule but as of right now life is extremely busy. Howie, Stauby and I have the jersey's we have been designing almost ready to go. I can't wait to get the template back from the company. Hoping the weather breaks here soon so I can get out and hit the trails and not completely rely on the trainer. Getting tired, time to go to bed.

I have been extremely busy the last couple of days so I will play catch up .Friday was supposed to be an easy day of lifting and riding the trainer but with all the commotion around the house all I got to do is lift, felt pretty good but around 3/4 threw my workout I started feeling a little pain in my right elbow and decided to call it quits for the night. Think it was just fatigue from a hard day's work....

yesterday I was going to hit the trainer for hour or two but the wife and I needed to get out of the house without the kids. We went out to dinner and than we hit a couple sporting goods stores,let me tell you it's been a long time since the wife and I got to go out without the little ones, it was nice!!

Mike decided to move yesterday's trialcare day to today because all the recent rain. It went really well, I would say there was around thirteen people that showed up to help us carry and assemble the twenty+ foot bridge, we started at noon and where done by 3:00. Was supposed to go for a group ride after trial work but the trails were still too wet so I came home and hit the trainer for one hour of easy riding with a few hard efforts.

I wanted to post yesterday, but I helped a friend build a bike up for his woman. I expected it to take about an hour but it ended up taking over 2. Had to disassemble his old bike and reinstall on the newer frame. All in all it went really well. We had a good time building and watching Never Enough Dirt.

Tonight I worked out on the weight bench. I was really happy with the amount of weight I can lift, since I haven't lifted since last winter. My goal is to be able to max 250 by the end of February and I lifted 195 fairly easily tonight. Had my wife spot me just in case and all she said is you had better be able to lift this! Last year I got 225, so 250 might be a stretch. Looking forward to a ride here soon, but may have to resort to the trainer. Got lucky and rode 3 times in the woods last week before the rains.

Talked to Staubinator and we are planning on installing a new bridge I built for BP this Saturday. This will be the 2nd 20 ft.+ bridge that we have built for this trail system. Should cut out two nasty creek crossings. Hope everything goes well.

The New Year

All right...I have been wanting to start up a blog for awhile and just have not gotten enough time to figure this all out. I have a few friends who have blogs and have come to realize that this is a great place to discuss stuff. I have always been one of those people that took my training pretty seriously but never really kept great records of it, so I thought this would help out a ton. I look forward to posting a lot more, but since it has taken me awhile to set this up...I am going to say goodnight for now.
PS This has spell check! Great, I really need it!!