Feeling like crap

Not sure what's going on, but seem to have come down with some kind of cold. Perhaps this weekend was a bit too much volume for me? I felt fine on Monday and even fine yesterday, however, this morning I awoke with some tightness in my chest and a little head congestion. I wasn't feeling 100%, so I decided to sleep in a few extra hours. I still have my little cough, perhaps something was there all along and yesterday's short little ride weakened my immune system just enough for it to unleash all holy hell on myself. Hopefully it'll go away...

Yesterday's ride was short trip over to explore Bear Creek Park, found a few new trails that I had just been skipping past on my way to Green Mt. My legs felt ok as I rolled out the door and I, did 2 loops around the lake next door, fairly easy so Lizzy girl could run a bit. She was pretty excited, and took off, I actually had to ride a good clip to keep up with her. After her 2 laps, I headed over to Bear Creek and explored. My legs felt like crap. I ended up with an hour of ride time and it was nice to get outside for the day.

Hopefully, a few days off will allow me to get out for another good weekend of riding in the mountains again. After this weekend, I plan on taking a solid week or so off from the bike, regenerating some CNS credits and getting ready to kick-start the 2009 training season.

Bridget is coming out here this coming monday, cannot wait to see her!! It's gonna be pretty exciting time!

Big Weekend

I'm retired to the couch for the rest of tonight. It's been a big weekend of some great riding(for the end of the season anyways). I'm hosed currently, but I'm at least not coughing anymore!

Saturday, I finally finished my first cross race!! I'll happily take my place as the last finisher (at least I didn't get lapped). Last time I finished dead last was the first road race I ever finished. 2 years later, I was a Cat II. So I'll take it as lessoned learned. I rode all the way down to the course as it was just south of c-470. It was a good 45 minute ride down, and then I got in a good 30 minute warm-up. I put on a great show rolling to the set of barriers near the beach. My left foot never unclipped, and I barrel rolled right into the barrier and went down pretty hard. It was a nice display of form for all the fans, that were congregated in the area. After I dusted myself off, I was dusted in the race, but grunted it out and rode hard. The course was more mt. bike-ish with lots of singletrack, some fire-road, a paved bike path and some barriers thrown in for good measure. It was a super fast course. After the race, I rode back home. Within 10 minutes all the food I had brought was scarfed down. It didn't make much of a difference. I was bonking hard on the ride home, as I slogged up a little rise, I located a gas station and filled my stomach full of hostess orange cup-cake goodness and a snickers bar. Man, did it ever hit the spot. Within a few minutes I was back at it and hammered home. All said and done, I managed a good solid 4 hours of riding!

Today, I was up early and decided to grab the road bike and head up into the mountains. It was an awesomely beautiful day, warm and sunshine. I headed up to Evergreen, then decided to switch my route and head up towards Mt. Evans. Didn't make it to Mt. Evans, but made it up to around 10-11,000 feet or so before I decided to turn around.

Elk Meadows From Evergreen to Squaw Pass

Getting Colder as I get Higher From Evergreen to Squaw Pass

I climbed pretty much for 2+ hours till I decided to turn around, I was getting chilly just climbing as it was mostly in the shade. The views were just incredible, and the roads were lightly traveled and super twisty and fun.

Beautiful Views From Evergreen to Squaw Pass

The Rockies From Evergreen to Squaw Pass

There's a bunch more pics so click thru to view the album

The descent down was incredibly fun. However, I didn't expect to head that high up and was only wearing a vest and arm-warmers. Descending at 60kph and 25 degrees in the shade meant instant brain freeze. I had to stop a few times in the sun, take a few minutes to warm myself back up. I made it to Evergreen, teeth chattering and hands numb and hit up Starbucks for a coffee to warm-up. Once the blood was flowing again, I floored it the final 11 miles down to Morrison. It was an awesomely windy descent, mostly in the sun and the lower I went, the warmer things were, which made me happy!

All said and done, I managed another good 4 hours. It was a heavy front loaded ride as I hit 1800kj in the first 2.5 hours and only 400 in the last 1:30!

Potential Cross Training?

Yesterday made my way over to the FasCat Headquarters for the usual. Day to day stuff includes reviewing power files, answering emails, phone calls, and questions that come up. Yesterday, though was bit different, decided to earn some xtra coin and rake the lawn at the headquarters. I forgot how hard manual labor was. The leaves seemed to be never ending, and somehow I never managed to jump in a single pile. That was probably due to me being taxed from the effort. I figured this morning I'd wake up and my arms and back would be sore. Nope, my hamstrings are killing me! Must be from using my lead foot top pull the rake towards me. Guess, I need to expand my range of day to day activities so crap like this doesn't sneak up on me. Who knows, may be a good way to get some potential cross training in during the offseason.

After the leaves were all bagged up and ready, I headed home and saddled up for some openers. Went across the street here to Bear Creek Park, hit some buff singletrack, dirt roads and few sections of pavement. Railed out a few good efforts and feeling good. Except when I was heading into the wind, dang the wind was brutal yesterday. Luckily seems to have faded today. Temps are comfortable and a light wind should make for a good day of cross racing down at Chatfield. Gonna take the 470 path down to the course and ride back, should get a good warm-up and cool-down afterwards. Hopefully, I'll finish this race! Cross season has been brutal for me, but it will pay off in the end.

Tomorrow pending weather, I'm debating between a good 5 hour road grind in the mts or pulling out the superfly and hitting the dirt for same hours. I'd like to hit the road, as I really haven't been out and exploring yet.


Currently playing in iTunes: Everything's Magic by Angels & Airwaves

Cross Practice

Yesterday was good hard day of Cross Practice in Boulder. Up early to make the drive up and to be there by 8am. At least waking up in the morning, there was a great reason to smile. I'm proud to be a believer.

But enough of that, wed was a tough hard day. My sinuses finally cooled their jets early tues night so I was set for the ride. I'm not sure what the name of the first park was, but it had a decent hill and some good climbs up and down it. I worked on my accelerations out of the corners, each time and was holding my own. I felt pretty good for the early morning lactic acid bath. From there we took a good ride over to E. Boulder park. En Route, I was hacking up a lung again. I did have my inhaler along with me and was able to use that to help keep it down, but it wasn't working that great. I sat out for the re-con lap then jumped in for the real deal. My legs didn't feel like much at this point, but at least the riding stopped me from coughing. Afterwards a small group of us put in some x-time rolling around some open space in South Boulder.

I've realized that I haven't been taking my singulair meds for the past month. The bottle of pills is sitting in my car. Completely forgot about them, most likely all my issues have to do with forgetting to take the little pink pill. Hopefully this hack will go away before the weekend. I wouldn't mind trying my hand at actually finishing an entire cx race down at Chatfield State Park. I'm not planning on racing sunday, even though there is one, and quite a few more coming up after that.

The plan for Sunday is to go out and do a nice long easy z2 ride in the hills, mix a good ride with some sightseeing. That sounds like some good fun!

Boulder Cup Weekend

This past weekend was the Boulder Cup weekend here in Colorado. I decided I was going to go out and try my hand at racing with the big guns. Nothing like lining up in UCI C2 and C1 races, with very little form, and not really any time on the cross bike. Needless to say it wasn't my best weekend.

At the Resevoir on Saturday, I managed all of a few hundred meters before my race was over. I double flatted almost instantly. I probably could've gotten a wheel swap from Mavic Support, but wasn't really worth it. When I got home, I managed to pull 11 goatheads out of the front tire and 4 out of the rear. Needles to say (pun intended!), I put some slime filled tubes in my cross bike for the rest of the season.

Sunday's race, at least I did manage a few laps! I was feeling pretty good pre-riding the course and liked the layout and flow overall. I managed to get there early enough to get a good warm-up and even catch a little bit of the women's race.

We were called up by our numbers for the Sunday race and I got a pretty good starting position, I held my own through the start and up the first set of barriers in the "Beer Garden", but after that things kinda went downhill.

The massive amounts of dust kicked around and the high intensity pretty much shut my lungs right down. 3/4 of way through the first lap and my engine was blown. I was having a hell of a time getting oxygen into my system and just trying to get around the course. The bonus was, I had no problems riding the sand pits each lap, they were kinda fun. I had to completely shut it down and pulled out after 3 laps. I headed over to medical as I forgot my inhaler, they didn't have anything, I was coughing so hard that I ended up throwing up a few times.

I coughed a bit last night, but the major issue has been sneezing. I can't stop, must've gotten some dust into my sinuses. I swear I've sneezed over 1,000 times since the race. I'm still sneezing this morning. Just want to it to stop!!

I'm off to the first "official" day at the FasCat Headquarters!

Busy past few days, but some great riding

My last post was a bit ago. Ever since moving out here to CO, things have been a bit of a whirlwind. It's been a super busy last 5 days, that's for sure. But it doesn't mean I haven't ridden my bike at all. How can one not when the weather is 75 and sunshine (meanwhile it's snowing back in NY!!)

I managed to get myself in gear and do a cross race this past sunday. Nothing like lining up against the pro/1/2 guys having very little time on the bike, at altitude and a lack of fitness. Somehow, I mistimed the start and was spit out the back immediately. I swear I never heard a countdown or anything similar. Chase hard, run up the sand, ride in the sand, run up the sand. It was a tough course, I ended up flatting at the start of my 4th lap and called it quits. At least I wasn't in last place though. So as if that wasn't enough, I went and signed up for the Boulder Super Cup Weekend, 2 UCI races in Boulder this weekend, Running with the big dog's again! Hopefully I'll do a bit better.

Speaking of dog's I managed to get Lizzy out on her first trail ride since she broke her pelvis. I took her over to Green mt. on the singlespeed on Monday. I'm guessing the loop was about 12-14k, but some good climbing. This isn't east coast trails, as she's stuck running the whole time and no place for short cuts. But, she did great! Even when she saw a herd of mule deer, she managed to heed my command and not chase!! Maybe that truck she hit, knocked some sense into her!

Today was a bit of an epic day. I was in Boulder at 8am for the group cross practice ride. There was around 100 people or so! We rolled over to the Elks club in town and did a nice 25 minute or so effort. Mine, was cut short as my tire was soft and I had to steal a pump and get some air in it as I was banging my rim all over the place and didn't have a spare tire. After some air in the tire, I managed to get some good quality work in. Shortly after we re-grouped and headed over to North Boulder Park and did a quick loop on the grass. I felt much better at that then at the Elks course, but I'm still getting used to the high intensity efforts.

The ringer for the day was the road ride with Jeff Kerkove. We met up after the cx ride, and he dragged me up Sunshine Canyon to Gold hill. Head over to his site for a nice video of me suffering in my 39x25. I need a compact.

How Badly? Here's my cadence from the ride



The little town on the top was pretty cool, and had a nice little store with some awesome homemade goodies and a kick-ass cast-iron stove!

Little Village of Gold hill

At least when I was grinding up the hill slowly, I was able to take in some epic scenery

Wasn't the only one suffering though!

Tomorrow night should be interesting, gonna meet a group for a night ride at Green Mt!

Zorro

So, riding has been tough here in Colorado. I mean it's been really hard to get out the door, explore new trail, ride in the sunshine, blah blah blah. You don't want to hear me bragging :) But I got out yesterday with a fellow coach whom I met at the USOC Coaching Seminar in Colorado Springs. Jay G. is from up in Canada country, some province where polar bears outnumber people (he's the Alberta Provincial Coach).

We decided to head over thru Bear Creek, loop green mt and then up the Zorro trail to explore.

The Zorro trail is aptly named as its a crazy "z" across the mt. Picture doesn't look like much but it goes up a few hundred feet, then turns super tech at the ridgeline.

As you can see, we are up there a bit. It was a blast to pick thru the lines and play on the rocks a bit.

We did a bit of climbing as we ascended Green Mt. then Zorro, then back up Green Mt. a few times.

Good thing Lizzy wasn't with us!

This weekend is looking awesome (it's like 65 and sunny right now). I think I'm going to go out and ride the cross bike right now and run lizzy a bit. Tomorrow I plan on busting out the roadie and venturing into the hills for a bit. Sunday though should be a blast, I plan on getting my head bashed in as I enter the Men's Open Cross race. Hopefully I'll last longer than a few laps. At least there's beer. Oh and for more bragging rights, I'm going to the Avs v Sabres Game tomorrow in Denver!!

Beautiful Weekend

Even though yesterday was an incredible day, by the time I got home from the Coaching Summit, I was wiped out. I caught up on laundry and a few other household chores and generally just lounged.

Though Today, I made up for missing out yesterday. I was up early and took lizzy for a quick run around the reservoir. 2 laps x 2 miles. It's her first real run since she broke her pelvis. She did great, I was on the cross bike and had to work a few times to keep up with her. I ended up flatting and that pretty much took us home.

After that I kitted up and headed thru Bear Creek up to do a quick loop on Green Mt. Just put some time in and rack up the kj's.

From Bear Creek and Heil Ranch

I hooked up with the new boss, Frank from FasCat Coaching for a spin around Heil Ranch. After riding at Green Mt. My idea of Colorado trails was blown wide open today. The trails were frigging awesome and super tech. Super rocky and requiring you to really work the bike the whole time. My pics really don't do the trail any justice. It was far too much fun picking the lines and riding the trail, than to stop and snap some pics. I might need to grab me a helmet cam sometime soon!

Ended up with about 2100kj for the day! And pretty worked over. Hopefully the weather holds out

I have no friggin clue why a blue line shows up on my pics, could be time for a new camera. I'm too lazy to go through each photo and touch up in photoshop. Click the link for tons more photos of the day

From Bear Creek and Heil Ranch

From Bear Creek and Heil Ranch

From Bear Creek and Heil Ranch

Colorado Springs

So I'm in Colorado Springs at the US Olympic Training Center, learning how to make people go fast. What else to do though when the seminars are over by 3pm other than go out for a group ride? I HAD to get on my bike as there is free food here and I am probably going to weigh 5lbs more when I leave this place

Enjoy the pics! I enjoyed the scenery that's for sure!



PS I have no idea why I'm getting a blue line across my pics, guess it might be time for a new one.

Another day at Green Mt

So I decided to give it another go at Green Mt. I mean what am I suppose to do other than ride my bike out here on the trails right? After feeling like death yesterday, I kitted up and felt like a million bucks. Didn't feel at all like I was dying or not getting any air in.

I headed thru Bear Creek (quickly) and climbed the switchbacks up the Green Mt. Trail, then descended the fire-road and hit the outer loop. Somehow, I missed the singletrack I rode up yesterday, as that's what I was really looking for as it woulda been a sick descent



Ride time was short, but I did nearly as much as yesterday in almost 40 minutes less ride time! That's a huge difference, plus my wattage numbers were up a ton as I was feeling great.

For the rest of this week I'm down in Colorado Springs for the Coaches Summit. Should be fun, but a bonus is that we are done around 3ish each day and plenty of people to ride with. And the weather looks great!

1st Ride in Colorado at Green Mt!!

I'm now officially in Colorado. Made it here this past Saturday. I've since gotten settled in here with a friend in Littleton and managed to get out for a good ride yesterday on 2 trails that are right outside the door (Bear Creek and Green Mt.) Conditions were great, it was a little bit cool, but the sunshine was warm.





I'm gonna head out the door right now for another quick trip over to Green Mt., then I'm off to Colorado Springs for the Coaching Seminar for a week. Should learn some great stuff to make people fast! Hopefully I'll get in quite a few nice road rides while I'm down there.

Please, send oxygen instead of comments. I'm in need of some until I acclimate!