Winter blues

I'm not sure if it is really the winter blues or not, but this weather sure is not helping things. My end of the year slack off of riding as continued in to the start of the new year. I have only road a bike one time so far this year and it was not near far enough. I just seem to not have enough motivation to get on the bike or the trainer. I is not that I don't want to ride, but I just can get to the point of putting my leg over the top tube.

I always have big plans of being faster every year, but I never seem to do what I know needs to be done to get there. The last few years have been marginal as to what winter training I have done and not sure this year is going any better. I know it would be possible to start today and still make a difference. If I would actually do that. I will say that I have had a few more thoughts about getting on the trainer, but so far they are just thoughts. I really hate the trainer.

I do have some good gear for cold weather, but I really don't like riding below freezing. It could be done, but like I said the motivation level is not near high enough to put in that effort. There is some snow on the ground and I really like riding in the snow, but the wind is very strong and makes it even colder. My best chance would be to ride the back yard, but that will not result in very many miles or time before I would be wore out. I guess something is better than nothing, so we will see.

I have committed to joining a group in Florida for a few days of riding. That will be a good thing for my legs as the weather should be warm and the pressure will be high to get on the bike. The problem is that I am less than 4 weeks away from 4 long days on the bike and I only have 15 miles in for the year. I really need to put some work in so I could enjoy the trip more.

The only thing that I have been doing for some exercise is skateboarding. I am keeping myself to riding a small ramp to stay in my comfort level and to reduce the chances of getting really hurt. It is still possible, but not like it would be if I was doing a bunch of street riding or trying to jump down a lot of stairs all the time. Over all it has been a blast. I can't believe that I had sold all of my boards when I quite before. If I would have had one, I would have picked it up a few times over the years and still had some fun. Riding the ramp has been a really good leg work out and I hope it helps with climbing those hills this spring. I just wish the ramp was closer to the house so I could ride it more often.

I guess I have been known to quit things too good in the past. Just like skating, when I decided to give it up, I sold or gave away all of my boards. Why I have no idea. Just like I sold off my flatland bike and my bmx bikes. I have wished several times that I still had one to get on every now and then. I would still enjoy doing some flatland tricks, but I don't see myself buying a bike for that. I have too many other bikes that I would like to replace. I would like a new mtb, road bike and I would like to own a cx bike. Maybe some day after all the things that the house, car and kids need I will be able to replace them. For now I just have to live with what I have and replace as I can.

There is still time to get going, but the journey needs to start moving no matter how slow. I have a lot of work that needs to be done of several of my bikes and they just sit there. Work and some things have been too stressful and busy to feel like getting some of those things done. Some of the things I need to do I am not really sure how to do, so that does not help me either. I keep hoping to feel better about it, but for now I will just keep skating as much as I can and try to be happy.

Snow Ride

With all the snow that came down last week, I tried to get out for a snow ride. It didn't go too bad, but it was hard to keep traction going up. The next day you could not see any of my tracks and it was too deep to ride. After a few more days, I figured the snow settled down and would be better for a ride. I headed out to give it a try. I started out on the SS. I could go pretty good, but climbing was still not easy, but better than the other day.

After a few trips around, the trail kept getting better to ride. On one time around the fast section, I lost traction in the front end and slid out. When I got up, the front wheel was flat. I am not sure if I got a flat tire when I lost traction or if the flat tire caused the slide out. I knew the front tire was on the low side of pressure, but I figured it would be good for traction. I then had to push the bike back to the house and get the Niner.

This section started to experience some freeze/thaw and the top layer was getting slick. I limited my trips down the hill and kept from climbing. It was not that hard to limit my trips down since the effort it took to get to this point was adding up. The other sections were easier to roll and the snow still covered those sections better. This section has less tree coverage and is the first section that will get sun light, so it was not that shocking it was getting soft quick. I still made the most of it and got a good ride in. It was good to get a ride in while I could since it decided to rain the next day. All the trails are now bare and very soft.

On Sunday I took advantage of some free time and soft trails to do some trail work. I worked on a new section I have been doing some work on. I made some good headway, but it will need to dry out before I can give it a try. The second half of the new section is not quite ready, but it is closer than it was. I need to do some more bench cutting on one section before it will be ready to ride. I am really looking forward to getting this section open. It will be an easier section and should add some distance that does not have so much climbing. I still have several other lines pictured in my head that I hope to continue to put in.

The trail has been great to have and I hope to continue to get the benefits of having it around. The plan is to do a better job of staying in shape over the winter and even improving myself as much as I can. It would be good to start the year off ahead of where I was last year. One of the things that keeps me from riding in the winter other than not liking my rollers or trainer is being cold. Mainly my feet are the issue. I have always wanted some nice winter riding shoes, but just could not work them in. Well, I can no longer say that. I picked myself up a pair of Scott Heater shoes. I have not had the chance to try them out, but they feel like they will be much warmer than anything I have ever had before. I was hoping to get a pair of Lake MXZ boots or some 45North ones, but I think I will be happy with these. Not quite as heavy duty as those, but good enough for the riding I will do.

End of the season - The lost post

2013 Race season has come and gone. Last winter it seemed like it would never get here and now it seems like it went by too quick. I know there was a ton of time in the middle there, but it seems the busier you are, the faster time rolls on.

2013 Race Results

3/9 - Sub <9 - Death Marth - 45th

5/18 - Dino - Winona Lake - 23rd

5/26 - KPS - Ft. Duffield - 3rd SS

6/9 - KPS - White Lightning - 4th SS

6/15 - Dino - French Lick - 18th

6/23 - KPS - Cherokee Park - 6th SS

6/30 - Dino - Muscatatuck - 22nd

7/7 - Dino - BCSP - 24th

7/21 - Dino - Versailles - 21st

7/28 - KPS - Capital View - 5th SS

8/4 - KPS - Ben Hawes - 5th SS

8/11 - Dino - Logansport - 10th

8/18 - Burning Quad Crit - Cat 5 - 17th

8/18 - Burning Quad Crit - Cat 4/5 - 31st

8/25 - Dino - Southwestway - 13th

9/22 - 3 Peaks - Beech mtn, NC - 27th

11/30 - Sub <9 - Gravel Grovel - 85th

I thought this was posted a while back, but I guess it didn't get finished. I had some other garbage started, but it didn't make a lot of sense so I deleted it. I am not sure what to say about the season as a whole. There were some good times and bad times. I was not as fast as I would have liked, but I can only blame myself. I did have some moments of strong legs, but they didn't last very long. As my typical theme, life seems to get in the way of racing. I really don't mind life getting in the way when it comes to family, but I could do with out work being in that list. The only thing that I would prefer is to be able to keep up the legs better when I slack on the riding.

Now that it is the new year, I am already behind a lot of other racers out there. This is a time where I should be putting in some base miles or some weight workouts. I have yet to turn a pedal or do any lifting. What I have been doing is gaining weight. Not that unexpected, but not on the to do list. I just hope to get it under control before I gain too much. It gets harder and harder to loose weight as I get older. I know that carrying around all that extra weight does nothing but slow me down and make me feel worse. Hopefully I will figure out a plan that is easy to keep and works well. Maybe next year.

Gravel Grovel V5.0

This weekend was the fifth rendition of the Gravel Grovel. I have attended every race and don't plan on changing that anytime soon. Each year keeps on improving, but I didn't have an issue with it the first year even with any of the issues. The event keeps running smoother and smoother each time. Sub 9 has done a great job of growing this race, I just hope that they don't loose that grassroots feel. I know I always enjoy myself.

This year the weather was better than last year. I had big dreams as to getting close to the 5 hour mark. That is something I really should be able to attend or even better. I have been close before a couple years ago on my SS, so with some gears I should be able to get there. Last year I was slower than the previous year even with gears. I am not sure what my main problem was last year, but I am fairly sure that the lack of riding in the two months leading up to this race didn't help me this year. I put in as many rides in November as I did in August and September combined.

This year there was a group that was talking about going for the same goal that I was wanting to do. I was interested in trying to ride with them, but I really didn't think I could keep up. I was in the group at the start. The pack took off at a pretty good pace. I tried to keep up, but when they dropped me the second time, I figured I better just ride my pace. I know that when I start out too hard with out being fully warmed up, I end up hurting myself more than it is good. I am not sure if this was part of my problem or not, but I just didn't have the legs to climb at pace. I could climb the hills, just not as fast as I would like. Then when I would shift in to the granny I would be even slower.

I was happy to see one member of the group making an effort to wait on me. I am very thankful that Eric L. decided to stay with me. It sure made the day go a lot better. I seemed to ride pretty good for most of the route except for the climbs. I tried to let him know that he didn't have to wait on me. He was riding a lot stronger than I was. We made it to story earlier than normal, but that was because it was earlier in the race. When Charles saw me roll through the check point, he knew I would take a beer. I was the first rider to take one (no shocker there). I saw that two riders were still waiting on me, so I downed it as fast as I could and we were off again.

I am not sure when it ended up only being the two of us, but we were working well together. I had to sit on early, but later on in the ride, I felt like I had some legs to do some pulls too. By the end of the ride it seemed like I was returning the favor of waiting on him. I really don't know why I seem to do better at the end of the ride. Several people say that I ride stronger at the end of the ride than I do at the start. I am not sure if this is true or not, but it does seem like it. I think I just tend to ride the same pace for the whole ride and everyone else just slows down. I do know that as the pain settles in and the miles tick off, I get to the point that I am just ready to get back to the car. Maybe that pushes me to ride a little harder than I did when I started.

Well, we were not very close to the 5 hour mark. Actually we were almost an hour off of that. Part of me thinks that does not sound too bad and the other part of me thinks that is way slow. I really didn't think I could make the 5 hours this year and would have been happy with 5.5. So, to be only 25 min. off of a time that I would have been happy with does not sound bad. The other part of me sees some people that did make the 5 hour mark and less and think that I should be in that group. I am not sure I will ever get to the 3.5 hour mark that it takes to win, but I should be able to get less than the 5.

There is always next year. You know, the year I actually get in shape over the winter and come out swinging. I also won't drop off a few months in the middle. Yea, I am sure next year is the year. Right now I am not sure what next year will even be. The tentative race schedule looks like I will be doing a lot of driving if I am racing. It really sucks living in the southern part of the state where they don't want to have races because too many people won't drive that far. Guess what, we always have to drive that far. That was part of the reasons I quit racing so many years ago. I am looking forward to seeing the Kentucky point series. I had also thought about doing a few of the Ultracross races, but since I was almost last in the two I did this year, maybe I should wait until I can actually keep my goals threw the winter. No matter what ends up on the calendar, I am sure I will have a blast riding my bike.

I would like to thank Tania, Jonathan, Charles and the whole Sub-9 team that puts in a lot of hard work so I can have some "fun" riding/racing my bike. Thanks to the Midwest Trail rider and MTO outpost, they have one of the best start/finish areas that I have ever been to. If you have not taken advantage of the cabins, I highly recommend it as they are awesome to stay in. Thanks to all the other sponsors for helping make this the one race of the year that I just can't miss! See you for V6.0.

What day is it?

Well TV would have you now thinking about a camel, but as far as this blog goes, it is a little more literal. I am not sure what day it is or where the time has gone since the last post. The only thing I know for sure is that the time was not spent riding my bike. I was very sad to see the total miles for the month of October only adding up to 7. Yes, I said 7. No missing digits. That is a very sad total. I will say that I have not been completely worthless, but very few miles getting put in. I might have rode a couple more in the back yard, but those don't add up to much.

I have done a lot of yard work, trail work and my new cross training work out of riding the skate park. I had not been on a skateboard much in the last 20 years. It felt good to get back on it and it was one heck of a leg work out. I plan on doing that some more this winter as I can. I also plan on hitting the back yard as much as I can this winter. Either by adding some more trail sections or getting in some riding when I can.

This month I have already picked up the mileage, but probably not enough to make a real difference for my next and last race of the year. The Gravel Grovel is less than two weeks away. I am really looking forward to this event. It is such a great time even with it being a hard day on the bike. They are really making sure of that this year since they have mad some changes to the route that added even more climbs. It makes me a little happy that I decided a while back to change from the SS class to the Masters class. I still won't be able to be competitive, but at least I have a few more options to help keep the wheels rolling.

I can only hope to keep improving this winter and loosing some weight to get myself lined up for a better year than the previous ones. That may not be the case, but I hope to at least give myself a chance. It is not going to be easy, but I just hope to do at least a little better than I have in the past. I am setting myself up for some better options than before, but work and life can be very busy and can get in the way of everything.

Hope to see you at the Gravel Grovel. You can probably find me rolling with the <5 hour wolfpack group unless they drop me. I really doubt I will feel good enough to drop them. We will have to see how the day plays out.

Three Peaks

Last weekend I made the trip to Beech Mountain to try my luck at the next round of the UltraCross series. I am not sure exactly what made me to decide to sign up for this race, but for some reason I did. it was a long trip and the plan was to head down and get in a ride on Saturday. The rain had a different plan. We had nothing but rain the whole way there and most of the night. It was nice to relax and after not riding a bike for two weeks, I am not sure how much good a ride would have done me.

It was foggy and cold Sunday morning. I was not sure what to wear. I thought I had it figured out and changed my mind last minute before heading up the hill. Once we got up there I second guessed my choices since it was so cold. I put on a little more than I planned, but didn't go too far overboard. As the day went on, I was very glad I didn't put on any more than I did, because I was too warm for most of the ride. There were some cool section, but overall I was plenty warm.

What can I say about the race? Well, that is hard. Overall I would say it was exactly what I should have expected. I knew there would be a lot of climbing and I knew how some climbs are in some areas around there. It just didn't sink in until I was climbing up the first road climb. I was way in the back of the pack, but I was not in a position to try and move up the pack. I was more worried about finishing the day.

The legs didn't feel too bad when I finally made it to the top and started to head back down. I would make up time on the down hills and trail sections. I would loose some time on the climbs if the people on CX bikes were riding. Once they had to walk, I would hold my own or make up some time since I had a smaller gear to keep me rolling. The road down hill was a little scary. I went as fast as I felt I could slow down enough to make the switchback corners. Eventually we hit a flatter section of road and I found a fast woman to help pull me along. We joined up with another guy and the three of us worked together for a while. We broke up when we hit the creek crossing and trail section.

The trail was pretty muddy with all the rain the day before. The 42's were rolling pretty good and keeping enough traction. I didn't worry about my shoes getting wet on the creek crossing and it is a good thing too. A few of the mud puddles were deep enough that my shoes got wet anyway. Once I hit the road again, it was time to climb. The road climb was pretty steep and went on for a while. I figured for sure that was the second peak and that would only leave the final climb to the resort for the third peak. Not long after this climb, I rolled in to the second rest area.

The next section I could see the leaders rolling back to hit the rest area again. That meant they had 10 miles on me. Not what I really wanted to know, but it really didn't shock me. There were a few good hills in the next section. I figured there would be, but what I didn't figure on was the gravel road climb that just went on and on. I could not believe how much climbing I was doing on this gravel road. Then to top it off, I hit the top and there was a trail section that climbed even more and more and more. I guess this was actually the second peak, but it felt like the third peak in my book. This hill hurt and I started to feel the effort. I just kept moving and soon enough I was back at the rest stop. From here it was a good down hill and then a 10 mile climb that was going to net out about 2400 feet of elevation.

The first part was wearing me out, but I managed to keep moving. I was going pretty slow at this point for most sections, but I was really starting to feel the efforts from the day. I was at the rest stop in just over 4 hours. I was pretty happy with this and thought that I might be able to get close to a 5 hour time. Not too much farther up the hill I began to hope that I could finish in a 7 hour time with my current pace. I was fighting off some cramps, but not too bad. I was hurting really back and not feeling good. I had to walk a lot of tough sections from here on out. Just about everyone who I had passed all day came riding by again. They all said they were hurting, but it looked a little different to me as they pulled away.

I had to walk way too much in this section, but I finally saw the wind mills at the top of the hill and I knew the finish was just around the corner. I was completely spent and had nothing left. But, I am happy that I finished and didn't try to pull out. I admit that if someone would have offered to give me a ride, I would have gladly took them up on it. It is a good thing that no one asked. That third peak was miserable. I have no idea how I continued to keep moving. It took me 2 1/2 hours to ride the last 12 miles. That is just pathetic.

Will I go back next year or at some other time? Right now I just don't know. I am sure I could do a lot better if I had been still riding the last month and a half. I would not be fast enough to keep up with the leaders, but I am sure I could take a lot of time off. But it was not all a lost. I did learn something. If I am going to ride 55 miles and be on a bike for over 4 hours, I really need to eat more. For the 6.5 hours I only ate two packages of gummy chews, two gels and a bottle of G2. Yea, that was probably not enough. I just hope I can learn from that mistake and do a better job eating for the Gravel Grovel.

Waverly Park KPS

Sorry this is so late. I hope this end of the season wind down does not continue. For months that I should be getting some of the most miles of the year, I am hardly getting any at all. I hate to waste all the miles I put in, just to let them fade away before some of the hardest races I am going of the year.

Waverly was the last race in the Kentucky Point Series. Before we even went, I think I had third place locked up for the season. Pretty good, but not as impressive to myself as it might sound. I would have been more impressed with a lot of other things that could have happened this year. But, never the less, I am still glad I raced the series. There were lots of good times had and lots of good people to spend time with. Not much more you could ask for.

The SS was rolling better than it had been. There were several SS racers in the mix. I was hoping to ride well and see what I could do. I had not been riding as much the weeks leading up to this race, but still getting out a little. With the racers I saw there, I knew a top 3 would be a miracle, but I still wanted to ride hard. It was obvious right off the start that a good finish was not going to be in the books unless a few guys completely blew up. The pace that everyone went up the hill was crazy. I felt like I was riding better than I normally would and I felt like I was sitting still. This is not a good thing with how long the climb is. That just means I am way back off of the pace before we even hit the woods.

I felt like I rode well for the race. I passed several people and didn't seem to get passed by too many. I kept hoping to find another SS racer to try and pass, but it didn't happen. So, I just was in my own little world riding my bike as fast as I could, but once again not fast enough. I ended up crossing the line in 7th place. I guess not too bad, but nothing I can get too excited about.

This brings up a thought that I continue to struggle with. Should I be racing in the SS class? I do love my SS and really want to participate to help keep the class alive. I know there are several other racers out there who could race in this class, but decide to not race at all. I just don't feel like I compete in this class for most of the races. There have been a couple races this year where I felt like there were other guys to actually race. Other than that, it is just full of guys that I don't have a chance to keep up with. Don't get me wrong. I am not looking for an easy win or anything. My problem is that I am currently a mid pack Cat 2 racer and most of the guys who race the SS class are Cat 1 racers or at the very least contenders for the win in Cat 2.

I have improved a lot this year and really hope I can step it up even more for next year. If I could get closer to the front of the Dino Cat 2 40-49 age group, I don't think I would have as much doubts about racing SS. Part of me thinks I should just race my SS in the Cat 2 class. The other part of me things if I am racing Cat 2 than I might as well race the bike that I can do the best on no matter if it is SS or geared. Most would tend to think I would be faster on the geared bike, but I have found out that I have done a lot better in some races on the SS than I did on the geared bike no matter how much faster I felt like I was going.

I guess this leaves me with a winter to get faster before I really have to decide what to do. It would be a lot easier if all you other SS'ers out there would just make the trip to the Kentucky races and help make the classes bigger. I just need to get in better shape and I will ride both bikes better than I did this year.

After the race was over and we moved on, Dean talked me in to doing something I have not done in a very long time. We made a trip to the Louisville Extreme Park. He even put a skateboard together for me to use. It really didn't take much are twisting to get me out there, but I was not sure what I was going to do. The more comfortable I got with the board, the more I did. I was rolling in on one of the bowls and trying to do some things on the coping. I eventually did a little and felt good about it, but shortly after that I didn't do as well and ended up falling to the bottom of the transition.  I did learn that concrete hurts like hell and I really should have put my pads on. I have too much to loose if I break something. The other bad thing that happened is that I am now completely ready to go back. It didn't take much to get that fire back in me. I just am not sure what I am willing to try. It had been at least 20 years since I had skated on a transition, but it sure was fun.

If anyone wants to give me the money to build a mini in my back yard, I would be all over it. I would not need anything huge. Just something to flow on and do a little grinding and stuff. Ahh.. the good old days. Once again I have to wonder why in the hell did I sell off all my old boards. I am sure I would have skated some more before now and I would not have been as rusty. If I could just go back in time.... I would still have my skateboards, freestyle bike, BMX bikes and drum set. Hard telling what I would be doing these days.