Riding With Rob

Rob sent me an e-mail last night and wanted to know if I was interested on playing "hooky" today. The answer was "Hell yes!".



We met at my place around one o'clock. From there we headed south around all that McFarland and Peterson's had to offer. When we were done with that, we headed back to my place for for provisions, and then headed north,. We went north on the Sopher's Mill trail, and then took the gravel to the the Anderson Canoe Access. After a while Anderson's got a bit mucky, and we turned around.

All told we got nearly three hours of seat time in, and I'm exhausted from chasing Rob around my home turf. I would have taken more pictures, but I was having trouble keeping up!

It was good to hang out with Rob, talk about the MOB, and chart the future. Good times!

Sylvan = Me No Go

I've decided to bail on Sylvan Island this weekend. I've been sick all week, and I can't even climb a set of stairs without going into a coughing fit. That is too bad because Sylvan Island has been one of my favorite courses on the IMBCS circuit. It is flat and technical. Both qualities that I like in a mountain bike course.

The weather does not look real good for the weekend. Something like rain/snow/windy/fair to partly crappy. Sylvan has been blessed with good weather for the past couple of years. Maybe this is their year for crappy weather.

I'll race in mud (but I won't like it), and I'll race when I'm sick (but I won't like it), but I really don't want to race in the mud while I'm getting down with the sickness.

This will probably be the epic race that everyone will talk about for years to come. I guess that is my lot in life.

Sick

I don't know if it was the hard effort on Saturday left me with a weakened immune system, the lack of a flu shot in the fall because of a broken collar bone, or the bad karma that comes from bragging to anyone that would listen that, "I don't get sick. Ever, never".

Well, I'm sick. It is not debilitating. It started with a slight sore throat on Sunday morning that went away. On Monday morning the sore throat was more persistent, and kept me away from work for a half a day. By today it has settled into my vocal chords (I can do a pretty good James Earl Jones right now - "Luke, I am your father").

Now I can feel it settling into my lungs. Crap! So much for Sylvan Island. We will still go, and I'll still going to find a way to race, but my results will probably suffer. Finally I have an excuse.

VEISHEA Race Report

My first mountain bike race of the season was today in my back yard at Peterson's. It was the VEISHA mountain bike race. This race was also my first ever mountain bike race back in 2003. Wow, five years ago. A lot of stuff has happened since then. I was looking back at the results from that race a few days ago.

Some names from that race in 2003:
Chris Maharry (Expert)
John Adamson (Expert)
Carl Buchanan (Sport)
Thad Neil (Sport)
Rob Versteegh (won in Sport)
Sean Myers (Sport)
Dave Krenz (Beginner)
Troy Tellinghuisen (Beginner)
Kyle Sedore (Beginner)
Nick Wooley (Beginner)
Scott Sumpter (Beginner)
Bruce Reese (Beginner)
Ron Degeest (Beginner)
Mike Lebeda (Beginner)
Bruce Neil (Beginner)

In 2003 I didn't know any of these guys, but they all seemed to be good friends. I was envious. This stuff looked like fun. I wanted to become one of these guys.

After a couple of year racing beginner class races at Petereson's (VEISHEA and Iowa Games), I decided that, in order to become a better bike racer, I should join a team. I joined Team 14 for both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Late in 2007 Team 14 disbanded, and MOB Racing was born.

Fast forward to today.

I now find myself running a team of very talented bike racers. I don't exactly know how it happened. I could not have planned it if I tried. And yet here I am. Cool!

OK. Enought with the self examination. On with the race report.

At the race were Rob, Chris, and Scott from the MOB, and Taylor had also ridden up with Rob. I was also pleased to see several Bike Tech guys were there from Waterloo/Cedar Falls. This was our first race in the new MOB kits, and we were eager to make a mark. There is a write-up on the MOB blog about the overall MOB results, so I will concentrate on my race here.

I did a warm-up ride with Scott and the course looked great, except for the previously mentioned 50 yards of mud. It got better as the day went on, but it was still a mud bog. Here's a tip when riding in mud that I learend from my motocross day. Don't fight the ruts, flow with the ruts. I you try to control the bike in the mud you lose. Just try to keep forward momentum and let the bike find it's own path through the ruts. Sadly, I didn't remember this until lap 3.

I decided to ride my 'cross bike. I've wanted to try a 'cross bike in a race at Peterson's. Peterson's is mostly a fast, flat, and smooth course. I brought both the Dos Niner and the 'cross bike just is case. The deciding factor was the mud. My Dos Niner does not do a good job of clearing mud, so the decision was easy.

The Sport race started off and found myself in the front of the pack going into wind for the first leg of the race. No a good place to be. I was trying to figure a way to get off the front, I hit a root on the trail, and I went down - HARD and FAST. Problem solved. I went from first to worst just like that.

I got up, got back on my bike, was suprised to see my bike was still ridable. I tried to get back in the race. Within a 1/2 lap I had caught back up with Kyle Williams, who was in second place. He and I went back and forth for 5 laps or so. We could see first place from time to time, but we could not make any progress catching him. I was digging a pretty deep hole keeping up with Kyle, and finally in the 5th or sixth lap he passed me and made it stick. I tried to keep him in sight, but I was fading. In the six or seventh lap (of eight) I was also passed by Nate Harp. Once again I tried to keep him in sight, but I was fading fast. By then riding the cross bike was taking a toll. I finished in 4th of eight. I'll take it.

As far as I'm concerned, I was a great first outing for me, and for the MOB. I've been doing a 2-3 hour gravel ride on most weekends during the winter. I have not been doing much in the was of focused training. Given that, I'm OK with this result.

Next up is Sylvan Island in the Quad Cities next weekend.

VEISHEA Go Time

Veishea is a GO! I rode the Peterson's trail tonight. Almost everything is in great condition! It is amazing how it recovered from yesterday's rain. However, there are two trouble spots. The first spot in on the east/west trail on the river side. There is about fifty yards of trail that was flooded when the river came up a couple of weeks ago. That spot was terrible on Wednesday, it looked almost ridable tonight (but I didn't try it), and I think it will be OK by tomorrow at noon. The second trouble spot is actually two spots. There are two trees down across the trail. One on the east side and one on the west side. I can think of ways to route around both of them if the Veishea people are interested in my help. I offered help, we'll see if they respond.

The word on the street is that Rob, Scott, Taylor, and Chris and all making an appearance at the race tomorrow. Hmm, I'm gonna have to work hard to stay out of last place!

Below are a few cool shadow pics for your enjoyment.

Let's Get Dirty

I took my first ride in the dirt today, and it wasn't too bad! It had been a couple of days since it had rained, and usually that is enough for Peterson's. Today was no different. It was a little soft in spots because of the freezing/thawing, and I was a little soft from a long winter with too little riding. Oh, well. It will have to do.

It was great to get back in the dirt. I was also my first real chance to get the new kit out without covering it up with something else.

The river is up, and it has caused a little minor flooding in the usual low spots next to the river, but that is to be expected this time of year.

The trail between the east and west sides that is closest to the river is impassable because of this. All else was ridable, at least until it rains again.

And the beavers have been busy, causing me to work on my cyclocross dismounts. Nothing wrong with that.

The VEISHEA mountain bike race is going to be at Peterson's in three days. I'm as ready as I'm going to get.

VEISHEA Mountain Bike Race

Well the kids at Iowa State havn't been real aggressive about marketing it, so you probably don't know that the annual (except in years where there was a riot the previous year) Veishea mountain bike race is this weekend. The race will be held a Peterson's Pits (my back yard) this Saturday, April 5th at noon. Pertinant details can be found here. I'll also cut and paste the details later in the post.

This race is in my back yard, is on a course that I could ride blindfolded, and also is a course that does not expose my main weakness (climbing). I gotta do this one. Sure it is the first race of the year, and my early season training this year has been anything but disciplined, but oh well. It'll be fun. I think a couple of other MOBsters are also coming out for the race.

If you come to the race, and decided to come because I told you about it, tell them that a the scoring tent. Maybe they will figure it out for next year.



Tour de VEISHEA
Join us for a fun day of Mountain Biking at Peterson Park in StoryCounty. Peterson Park is located approximately 4 miles north of Ames on Hwy69, then 1.75 miles east on 180th St. This is a NORBA sanctioned event soparticipants will need a NORBA license. Daily NORBA licenses may purchased atthe event for $5.

All participants will receive a Tour de VEISHEA shirt and the winners of each division will receive a VEISHEA tournaments champion shirt as well. Food and refreshments will be available for racers and their families. The route consists of approximately 5.1 miles of dirt trail with several climbs, descents, and turns. Number of laps will be determined at race time pertaining toconditions. The race can be canceled if the race officials declare the coursenot fit for race conditions. If the race is canceled, the entry fee will berefunded. For more information or questions contact tourdeveishea08@iastate.edu! (editor's note e-mails to this ID bounced last night)

Divisions
Junior Men (12-18 yrs old),
Junior Women (12-18 yrs old),
BeginnerMen,
Beginner Women,
Sport Men,
Sport Women,
Expert Men,
Expert Women (Alldivisions 19+ except junior division)

Details
Location: Peterson Pits Park (North of Ames)
Date: Saturday, April 5
Arrive By: 10:30 AM
Event Start: 12:00 PM
Fee: $20

An Update

It has been sugeested to me that I get up out of the basement and do an update. Here goes.

I've just been really, really busy. Not just with the basment, but with team stuff. Amatuer hour in the basement is drawing to a close, and now it is time to bring in the pros, so hopefully that time suck will slow down a little.

If you are on the MOB, you know that I've been busy there also. The new MOB kits came in, and they rock! I hope we'll be seeing a lot of them this race season.

I've also started riding my bike to work whenever I can. Any day that I do, I get about two hours of riding in. Cool. I didn't ride today though. It looks like a frickin' winter wonderland out there right now.

Got to go. Later.

Remodeling Fun

We've been remodeling the basement, and decided to have a little fun.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4TbCt72Ij4

Riding With Kids

It has sort of become my place to play the role of the seasoned adult on many of the group rides I participate in. I don't mind. Most of the reason for that is because I am an old man living in a college town. The kids come, and the kids go. It's always a little sad when they leave, but there always seems to be a new crop on their heels. When I can keep up, riding with the kids is great fun, and it is a great way to build up my fitness.

Today was another one of those days. Today's cast was (from front to back) Bryan Moritz, Matthew Hoffman, and Becca Finley.

This was to be my view for as long as I could hang with them.

It didn't look good from the start. Do you ever have one of those days where it feels like you are going to get dropped before getting out of town? That was me today. These kids are all strong riders, and I wasn't feeling it. That's a bad combination. After a bit I settled in, but anytime even the slightest hill appeared, I was off the back. I hung with them for an hour or so, but knowing the bigger hills were just up the road, I turned for home. It was fun while it lasted.

I cruised home with the wind for a while. Then, when I was close to the end, did some 30 sec sprint intervals to make sure that I was totally trashed by the time I got back to town.

It was good day, and I'm still smiling.

WIll Winter Ever End?

I'm starting to get the awful feeling that this really is the beginning of the next Ice Age. I keep looking nervously to the north expecting see glaciers looming on the horizon. Even with all that OP and I went out for a ride today.

He showed up at my place at 9:00 sharp on his Ibex.


It was a little brisk (10 degrees) but it was great to get out and just ride!



The plan was to do a couple of hours on gravel before the sun worked its magic and turned our wonderful gravel tundra into gravel soup.

As you can see, there's still a bunch of snow out here in the country. That snow will all turn into broth for the gravel soup one day soon.


Paul got a little bonky towards the end. I could tell because he couldn't hold my wheel anymore. And that never happens. I prolly shouldn't be smiling about it.


We stopped any my place where he got a gel and some water, got unbonked, and then was was on his way home.

Up for tomorrow I think I'm up for an ass whoopin'. I'm getting out the road bike for the first time since some time back is August (I guess I've been a little too focused on the dirt/cross/gravel/ice lately). Its going to be an ass whoopin' cause Moritz, Hansen, and Hoffman are going. It should be fun, if I survive. Note to self, take a cell phone.

Weekend Plans

OK. Here's the deal. On Saturday it will be cold (5 degrees) in the morning. That means that the gravel will be blissfully slop-free for a few hours. I'm going to go out at about 9:00 for two hours. I'll probably head east on 170th. You are welcome to join me if you wish. You can ride out here, and we'll leave from here, you can ride with me in spirit, or you can just give me a call when I'm out riding. It's all up to you. If you wanna ride for more than two hours, you better start earlier, or mount fenders, cause its gonna get sloppy after 11:00 AM, and I want nothing to do with that right now.

For Sunday, I'm riding on pavement (GASP - I warned you) with Bryan and Matthew Hoffman (no, not that Mat Hoffman - I asked). We're leaving from the The Cafe at 10:00 AM. All are welcome. We plan to do about three hours, the direction will depend on the wind, and Bryan wants to go easy cause he's having some weird alien biopsies and probing done the following Tuesday. Going easy for him means balls to the wall for me, so it will be a great weekend!

If you want to join in the fun, leave a comment or give me a call at 515-290-7789.

Redemptive Suffering

Last week I said " . . . next week I'm back on the bike, regardless of the conditions".

Well here we are at next week. It's March, the first mountain bike race is in 6 weeks, and its time for me to add some intensity, regardless of the conditions outside.

So tonight I dusted off one of my trusty trainers. I'm proud of the fact that I have stayed of that implement of torture so far this winter. I did so hoping to avoid the burnout that comes from too much indoor riding. I've been riding outside when the opportunity presented itself, and have also been hiking, skiing, XC skiing, playing volleyball, etc., to keep myself from getting too soft. Another piece of good news is that I stepped in the scale this morning and my weight what the same (199 lbs) as when the season ended last year. Also, according to my scale, my muscle mass has also held steady. Now if I could just lose about 20 lbs of fat . . .

So anyway, enough messing around. My season began in earnest today with some real intensity. I did a blackout interval workout. That workout has become a real favorite on the trainer. It takes about two hours, but because you are mixing it up, the time goes pretty fast.

As usual, in the last phase (cruise intervals) I ramped up the intensity of the last two intervals to way past zone 5a. In in the last interval, I did nearly the whole thing in 5c (177+), and put it all out there for the last few minutes. I held my HR above 190 for a couple of minutes. At one point I saw 193 bpm. That is a new personal best for me. Last year my old high was 185 bpm. Conventional wisdom says that your max heart rate decreases a beat with each year. With training, mine seems to be increasing? Also following conventional wisdom my max should be 200-48(my age) = 172 bpm. I feel like I could ride all day at at 172 bpm. Whatever, I'll take it. I don't want to get too hung up on max heart rate, but it is nice to have the additional head room in a race. It's also good to see that I can put it close to the max and hold it for a while.

It really felt good to work that hard. It was definitely redemptive suffering.

80³

Eighty cubed. That's the way I would describe our way home from Colorado. Why eighty cubed? I-80 * 80 mph * 80 degrees fahrenheit. That makes for a good trip home.

Some parting shots.

The mountain:


The Half-Pipe



Time to go home, cause everyone else discovered this place:

Next year . . .

Another Day in Paradise

It was another perfect day in paradise. The sun was shining, the temps were mild, and the skiing was perfect!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:










Our last day of skiing is tomorrow. Good thing cause my legs are feeling a little toasted. Its been a good three days of cross training.

This week has been a nice break, but next week I'm back on the bike, regardless of the conditions.

Its All Downhill

I'm on top of the world, literally.

Check out my new Oakley O Frames ski googles. They rock! They have a huge field of vision, and just the right amount of shading.

Today was our first day of skiing. We had a blast.


It sure would be nice if they would move Copper Mountain closer to Ames.


In the afternoon Dan and I hit some of the bowls.



Here I am in the afternoon, still on top of the world.

It got warm enough in the afternoon that I switched out googles for Oakley Half Jackets with polarized lenses. The also rock! The polarized lenses took all of the glare out, and the lenses worked great in both full sun and dark shade.

I took some video with a helmet cam. Maybe I'll post it later. But I didn't mount the cam on my helmet. I just held it, so the vidoe is a little shaky. If you get motion sickness, don't watch!

Almost Skiing

We spent the day driving across Nebraska. Suprisingly, the time went pretty fast. And with four of us sprawled out in a Suburban, it was pretty comfortable.



My bro, prolly checking his e-mail.


The boys watchin a flick. Just like they were home in the living room.


We took a count. It takes two lap tops, an air card, two smart phones, three other cell phones, two DVD players, three Ipods, about 75 DVDs, and about 75 charging devices to get across Nebraska. All that and we we still bore easily. Talk about ADD on wheels!


This is how we spend our nights. Pretty wild stuff, huh?


I hope to post pics with snow and skis tomorrow.

Gone Skiing

All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy, and I guess I've never been accused of being dull, so its off for a little play time in the mountains for me. That's right - I'm going skiing for a few days!

I know that Gravèlo gets a little nervous any time I try a hobby other than cycling, but don't worry. This isn't a new obsession, I'm renewing a long time love.

My brother and I have been skiing since college, and as soon as our boys were able, we started taking them along. None of us is very good because we only get out a few days a year. But we have fun, and its a great way to break up the winter.

I'll post some pics if I get a chance.

Ice Road

I was getting really tired of not riding my bike. This morning I decided I really didn't care how icy the road was, cause I was going to ride. So I hopped on the ice tank and went out for a gravel spin.

I saw lots of this:

and this

and this.

Regardless of the road conditions, it was a great day to be outside. It was sunny, about 15 degrees, and no wind. I really like winter when it's served up like today was.

The ice tank did great!. Not one slip, or even a bobble. But with as much ice as there is on the gravel, when that ice starts to melt, the bottom is gonna fall out. I might have to resort to riding pavement for a while (gasp!).

The ride was also great! I went did some pretty easy spinning going out, and then put it on the big ring coming back, and tried to blow out some of the cobwebs. That really helps.

Note to self - ride your bike more often.

A Milestone

Although there has been lots of talk about the new team, last weekend was the first real team gathering. You never really know if it is going to happen until people actually show up. And what do you know? They did. You can read about it on the MOB Racing blog.

It is a milestone for me, because it means that I really am responsible for a bike racing team. Holy Crap! How did that happen? It was only two years ago that I e-mailed Thad about joining his team.

As is my lot in life, I seem to find myself in charge of things. I don't go looking for it, but things just seem to turn out that way.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life! I'm just amazed that such a group of talented cyclists would follow me into anything. Go figure.