We got some snow here in the past couple of days. Most of the trails had melted and dried, but the cold was still lingering. Fortunately, it wasn’t very windy. I hit up the ride I have been doing a lot lately to prep for the Ouachita Challenge since it’s rocky and hilly – Heil/Picture Rock. I rode from the house today, so due to time constrictions, Hall Ranch was not part of the loop today.
Jason, one of my riding buddies who absolutely throttles me came long today. Last time he whooped my butt on a rigid SS. Today he whooped my butt on a 29er geared HT. The prescription was to pound out 4 hours, and keep the pace pretty hard. I am carrying some fatigue with me from the weekend, but I was still able to push and suffer.
My riding buddy – JHilimire. I wish I was as strong as him!
I probably wanted to lay down on the bench for awhile, but I kept on.
Rocky fun.
Tomorrow will be a shorter ride, but at Short Track effort. I have only thrown down that effort at 24OP so far this year, so I think it’s going to hurt!!!
The endless arguement over whether bar-ends for mountain biking rock or are really not that good will never end. I have ridden a lot with bar-ends, and have ridden a lot without them. Now that Ergon is my title sponsor, I have tons of access to all their lovely little bicycle grips. That also gives me the option to use their grips with or without bar ends. Over the last week, I decided to do some testing for my own benefit to see which I prefer. Here are my opinions (which I am sure many will disagree with, but this is how it works out for me…)
In general, as everyone well knows, I love the body style of the Ergon grips, so that will go without saying in the following comparisons. I will never go back. I have guys ask me how I can go downhill so fast or ride the tech sections, and I attribute a lot of it to feeling comfortable on my bike. If your hands and arms are killing you on the descent, you are not going to want to ride much faster. They are also nice when you are lightly resting your hands on the bars for added support. No more ulnar nerve problems here.
I have used this on both riser and flat bar. Sure, people consider it “dorky” to use on riser bars, but really who the hell cares? We are all going to get dirty and have fun.
Pros:
I am used to using this particular grip, so my arm muscles are developed for the pulling motion on the bar-ends. Stick your arms out, palms down. Face your palms toward each other, pull towards you. That motion, those muscles. Why is this an advantage over not using bar ends? One word – leverage. I can control my bike easier through technical sections. I can ride slower, use my upper body and core to maneuver, and save my legs. When you are climbing something steep on your road bike, and you are out of the saddle – are you on the flat part of your bar or the hoods? Same principle with bar ends.
It offers multiple hand positions in general
Despite what some think, they don’t get stuck on trees.
You can get further forward on the bike which helps when you really need to throw your weight forward.
Cons:
At least for me, they limit my hand position on the DH. I like to get way out on the ends of the handlebars, basically lining up my pinkies with the end of my handlebar. With bar ends, you are somewhat limited and it can be annoying, especially on really rocky trails.
If you are a weight weenie, the bar-end does add a little bit of weight. It’s 70g heavier… that is .15lbs… I mostly care about rotational weight, so the extra little bit doesn’t matter to me. It may to some people though!
Still nice with the wing design, but not as easy to navigate tech-y sections
Cons:
I waste energy in technical sections and climbs. Instead of standing and using my leverage to power through, I have to pull in a different way – a less efficient way – like climbing on your road bike without using the hoods.
Fewer hand position options
I went to yoga again today. It was a lovely ass kick. For the rest of the week, Coach is working me hard. I’m leaving Friday for Seattle!!!! I can’t wait!
After dragging myself out of bed this morning, my day started off just right after making some chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, and coffee this AM. Then I ate Frosted Flakes, bacon, orange juice, an apple struedel, a baby squirrel courtesy of the ones outside my window, an ostrich beak… ok. Not really. Just the first part.
Mr. Kerkove and I headed to the trailhead at Heil Ranch to meet Carnizzle and JHilimire for a sweet ride. Unfortunately, JHilimire had a stroke of bad luck. Punk ass bastards.
Rollin’ in style. Pimp status!
Carnizzle, one of my favorite riding pals. Yeah, I am pretty lucky to have ridden with hotties all week long.
Eye of the freaking tiger, bitches! I love these socks…. In fact, I love any fun pair of socks. I am still trying to come up with my own cool idea to be my signature. Don’t know…
After the snow yesterday, it was awesome to be greeted with temps in the 60s. I even took off my knee warmers!
No wonder it’s called “Wild Turkey” trail. I have never seen live turkeys like that before. They are pretty big and stuff. I prefer holiday ham.
Carney’s car broke down last month. This is his replacement.
My legs felt way better than yesterday. I spent the first 2.5 hours (Heil, Picture Rock,and the Hall climb/lollipop) pegging it at or above LT.
Come and get me boys!
It went well, but I had to chill out in Z2/Z3 for awhile on the way back to Picture Rock – just in time to pin it in mid zone 5 (196 bpm) for the climb. We rode Ponderosa Trail back to Wapiti Trail, and then to the car. I am happy to say that my body is coming around and I can’t wait for the Ouachita!
Oh sun, you are my life force. If I were to ever get a tattoo, it would be of the sun… and not on my lower back.
I enjoyed the warm weather while it lasted….and it will be back soon. The sun was out and the skies were blue when I left for my ride this AM. It was still chilly out, but I was overdressed. I ended up shedding a layer and tying my warm, waterproof Endura Stealth jacket around my waist like someone from the 80s.
The plan today was to do some 15 minute LT intervals. I headed up Lee Hill and was going to continue on to Ward. The first interval definitely hurt. I was drooling and sweat was dripping like a bad, leaky faucet. It was particularly salty and dank today.
My Avg Power was 233 at my LT HR (185). That is a huge improvement from last year. It was around 220 in August 08. Sweet. I had no more mojo left after interval number 1. My legs were dead. It was much easier to ride at LT for a long time on Wed. Hmm. I kept heading up the canyon…. the sun disappeared. Things got foggy, the temp dropped, and then….
Big snowflakes.
“Ooooo….. snow.”
My legs weren’t coming around and I was getting pretty cold, so I decided to pull the rip cord and go home.
I have been seeing some great adaptations from last year. Due to my huge base thanks to the knowledge of CPT and Rick da Man, I am able to handle bigger training weeks. 12-15 hours used to be all I could handle. Now it’s more like 15-20 hours a week. I also am riding with more power on the mountain bike. Based on my ride this week at Hall Ranch, I could tell. I used to use my granny gear to get up the technical climb. This year, I am able to do it in my middle ring and survive ok. Those low RPM power intervals I did during base really helped.
In addition to today’s 70 degree temps, JHilimire joined me for my mtb ride.
He was riding a rigid 29er singlespeed, which is his “play” bike that he hardly uses next to his Fisher geared 29er bike. Let’s just say he whooped my ass on that thing. All I saw on descents were clouds of dirt, hence being “left in the dust”, and all I saw on the climbs were him standing up, raging on the pedals into the sun. Badass!
We rode Heil/Picture Rock/Hall Ranch and back. It was about 4 hours of riding, lots of rocks and being bumped around, especially in his case!
The only time I could take his photos was when he was stopped… like fixing flat tires. Otherwise, I’d be trying too hard to keep up to be able to reach back and grab my camera!
Here are some clips I took at Hall Ranch. The climb up to the loop is very technical and fun. Jason and I were able to clear most of it, and got to work on our mad skillz. He was more the one with mad skillz doing that on a rigid SS!
Here are some fun video clips/music I took.
I am pretty sure that is the 14′er, Long’s Peak, in the background.
Here is a sweet video Jason took of the descent from the Lollipop at Hall Ranch. He was following me with his Vholdr camera. Same on that Jeff has. I need one!
Click HQ for better video.
After all the sunshine, my legs are now a darker shade of white and there is a little more Vitamin D in me!
Side note: this post is freakin’ hilarious. I must start reading this blog more often. Thanks for the info, Lizzle!
I’ll be chilling out for some easy rides the next couple days, and will be back at the fun, kinda long mountain rides for the weekend. I am also happy to say that after basically 3 weeks, I get Mr. Kerkove back. I have hardly got spend anytime with him lately! mmm hmmm.
Monday and Tuesday are usually my days to work full days at the office and recover from the past weeks efforts.
Sunday, my friend Leslie and I made dinner with lots of assorted fruits and veggies. It was so delish. A little fun with photography. I just have my cheap Olympus 7 megapixel camera that is tough. It’s been dropped while riding, rained on, gotten sweaty in my pocket, you name it. It is old reliable. Someday though, I hope to have one of these cameras. Man, they are so badass. However, they could not go on rides with me.
I left out the “fun” photos…
Monday, I went to Core Power Yoga . It’s the only yoga where I don’t get bored and feel like I am getting a workout. I went a lot last winter and stopped for various reasons, but am ready to get back into it. One thing I didn’t like was that we spent like 5 minutes singing Hindu chants. That’s the only time it’s happened. Ok, I am paying good money to get my ass kicked, not to try not to laugh while chanting “om, hari krishna.” I think Hinduism is cool and stuff, but I pay good money to get my butt kicked, not to join the choir. That said, I can appreciate the “spiritual” factor of yoga and I do like it, but I just don’t want to sing while I should be trying to balance in some crazy pose where I am trying to wrap my limbs where they won’t go.
Today was a 1.5 hour ride. Man, it’s been unseasonably warm here setting record highs. It has been 70. Yes, 70. I am sorry for all of you stuck in the cold. That will be me in no time, I am sure. For now, I will enjoy it. However, there is an opportunity cost associated with warm weather. It’s the wind… 20-30 mph constant wind is almost guaranteed with temps over 50 in the winter/spring. I did an easy recovery spin on the road bike which was good b/c my hamstrings are really sore from yoga.
Pavement bike paths…
Dirt bike paths….
Residential streets…..
and bare legs. Spring is coming and daylight savings is this weekend. I can’t wait to see the leaves and flowers starting to peak and bud on the trees, feel the crisp air turn warm, and watch the light change. The mountains and aspens that have been resting all winter will suddenly come to life. I have been hearing the birds chirping in the morning too. I laid in bed for 10 minutes this weekend listening to them.
and other animals are twitterpated…..
I’ll give you 3 seconds to guess what is going on here. They have been at it for days. I better see some cute baby squirrels after all the fuss.
Tomorrow will be another 4 hour mountain bike ride. I will do the same ride as I did last week at Heil Ranch/Picture Rock. I can’t wait!
After being totally trashed after my ride and spending the rest of the evening laying down yesterday, and then getting an absolutely terrible night’s sleep, I was skeptical that my legs would go. Especially since they already had 17 hours of training in them for the week. I ended up bailing on the cool guy ride up in Fort Collins, trying to wake up and have a relaxing morning, and head out on my own. If I felt tired, no prob, I’d just do a recovery ride. If I felt good, I’d go for it. No consequences since I’d be near home. I am kind of glad I didn’t go on the ride after finding out that it was mostly pro dudes there hammering. That would have been a “looney off the back” situation.
Since I am still stoked on my new road schwag, I took the Cannondale SuperSix out for another ride. It’s getting some serious action this week! So this is where I rode today: Up Lee Hill, down to the stop sign, up to Jamestown, up to Ward, and back on Old Stage. I intended on riding Jamestown to Peak to Peak, but the headwind riding to Jamestown was raging and I didn’t want to get blown off my bike at the highway again this week. Surprisingly, riding to Ward wasn’t too windy.
I love canyon roads. They rock my world when I have to ride the road bike. Final turn up to Ward (9200′). The last mile can be a biatch.
My legs actually felt great today!!! I don’t know how or why. I am guessing because I spent time laying down after my ride which I never do, and I have been trying to do extra stretching. I have also been using some free samples I got in race packets of Recovery Rub to massage my tired, sore legs. It seems to be working b/c I wake up in the morning feeling much better. I might have to buy some soon. I haven’t tried it before a ride yet like the website says to do… just after as massage lotion.
There is an underground spring where water constantly flows up at Ward. The water is so clean and delicious that people drive at least an hour (like from Boulder or Longmont) to fill up. As I took this, another car pulled up with some water jugs to fill. This is where I get cool, clear water. It doesn’t usually freeze in the winter either. Nice!
More playing with IMovie.
Zee power file. You can easily see where I was climbing. Lee Hill, then Jamestown at an easier clip, then Ward, then Old Stage. Voila. I did some zone 4 subthreshold efforts up Lee Hill and low Z3 tempo up to Ward.
This week was a good, solid block of training.
Stats: 20.5 hours, 12,000 + ft of climbing, 240+ miles, 4 days of big workouts, 3 days of easy riding.
I am preparing and training my butt off b/c I leave March 19 for a 9 day family vacay in the Carribbean, and then leave for Arkansas a few days after I get back for my first endurance race of the year. From there, it’s basically a block of 3 big races. Ouachita 60, Sea Otter (XC and Short Track), and Whiskey 50. I am not really prepared for Sea Otter since I have not been training at high intensity, so it’ll be um, interesting.
I’m excited for the next full week of training and even more excited about the weather. What a wonderful week to be in Boulder, CO as long as the winds stay reasonable!
