Headed East

was thinking about a route in Afton - thanks Neil - but thought that driving to the area to then ride was too much and I had to get going quick. loaded up some hammer stuff and bolted from home to do the stone arch ride and back. the ride down to stone arch was great, the trails are clean but watch out by the park area - the lower trails are under water. Once at the bridge - it was on auto-pilot. I dont care for the urban nature of riding that much but this wasnt bad...too chilly to have teams of people walking about. the new bridge was neat - but still a bit spooky.

Heading into the Univ. the winds really picked up in the face - chapped face by the time i was at Shepard Road - shoot, there was even a head wind going UP the high bridge. The loop back was nice and Ohio sucked but did it twice and Ramsey was good - did it once. The ride home was getting cold - the wind seemed to go right through my jacket. Once back into Champlin, I was home free. didnt bonk, not wiped out and had to stretch the heck out of my back. cold weather better be over but I am listening to the news now - snow tomorrow? great.

total miles are just over 85 solo...i accidentally reset my computer into the ride - correct me if I am wrong on that number.

ac

headed west

Met Jay and headed to Albertville. Great and sunny day with some stiff winds at times. Always great to spend time like this with friends. Cool thing is I am NOT working tomorrow - Tina is...means I am biking once again.

c ya.


AC

Are my kids that old?

Today was a great day for many reasons.

Tina had girl scout events to tend to with Maria so they were gone at 7 am. I knew I was not going to be able to do the group ride with the boys at home but Tina said " they are old enough to stay at home for an hour or two..." Hmmm. well, I wasnt all that comfortable with that - yet - so I opted to ride locally in the area for a few hours - always being about 10 mins away from home. With this in mind, I made sure all bases were covered..food ready for kids, phones charged, books, games etc...rules about fire, locked the doors and my cell ringer turned up to max with vibrate on.

I headed out for a few hill repeats on super prime and then thought that a lap in the park would be okay - called home - all is good. The park was nice and I opted to sprint all upward vertical parts - there are enough and then the phone rang many times and figured I should get home before the boys went fist to cuff...walked in the door and they were reading and asked why I was home so early - go figure.

Went to UPS store to ship the fit kit for Borah back - the new jerseys for TSH are going to look great. Dropped off Hammer stuff at Bernie's home and headed back for a lazy nap - I was able to catch the group at the parking lot and they mentioned many unfortunate events that took place - good day to ride though.

ac

Team Strong Heart and the Fat Tire Festival 09

Chequamegon 40
So it says, and I know one cant read the fine print from a camera phone, my check cleared last night at midnight for Cheq 40 2009. This will be round three for me at that race and I have to say, it is intoxicating to know that it will be happening...in some weird way I view the prep for and the race of RAAM is like a training program for this race. I know it is NOT but I cannot wait.

I will wear the TSH colors with pride at Cheq and will be able to try out my new carbon rigid fork on the mt bike this year - thank you Trailhead!


And so goes the training and another reason to maintain the riding I have been doing this year through Sept...Oct...and so on. I am also planning to take part in the Sunday events ... doing some orienteering and such. Should be fun and would be a blast if some others are planning to do the Sunday events. Wow - RAAM and Cheq mixed with road/mt bike races in between - this should be a good year.

Andy

sunday...a day of rest and water parks

Church, Grand Rios, install of cassette and chain, church then a night ride at 9pm for about an hour - local riding. Was able to do two up and downs on super prime in big gears to the top...headed to champlin and then around champlin then home. massive wind heading into the city...massive tail winds on the way home. nice. getting some ride time after all went to bed was a good thing.

ac

Great day to get outside

Had a tremendous day...and bad day in some respects. It started with getting up when my body got up. No alarms...no hustle...stumble to the french press coffee and then settled in with the kids reading Calvin and Hobbs books and laughed at my kids who were laughing at things they didnt understand.

We loafed and played outside a bit, put some drywall compound on the bathroom wall, then some bad stuff, then a bike ride with the kids up superprime into the park. Funny thing here, my son was riding a bmx style junker that he loves. I love that he is possessive about a bike. Climbing the wall at super prime - he was stalling out big time. It was their first ride of the season. I was behind him going slow and he was up off the seat making slowwwwww rotations and then he just stopped. I end up track standing and so does he...just hovering for 5 secs and then he winces and lets out a ninja grunt and pulls the rotation out of his butt and makes the hill without getting off at all. I gave him a dollar for the effort - paid in full at the stop sign.

we hit the park - hit some ice - played some pooh sticks and I sat in the sun at the bridge while they ran into the woods and such. We head back home and all three kids made it up the back side of super prime with ease - they got off their bikes and jumped around for joy that they made it! I love these guys.

Got home in time to straddle the cannondale and headed to the shop for what was a 23 person group ride. How fun is that? we ended up doing the neilorator? is that the name of that route now? 45 some miles - did some interval pulls off the front for some hard effort training and then sucked down a bottle of gatorade and a starbucks double shot thing...and about threw up 10 miles later. That cramp sucked and I owe it to starbucks.

hitting the rollers I was lucky to flat out - not a pinch flat but a worn out hole in the tire. Small stem - deep dish wheels - not a great mix and then got home to then buy new tires/tubes. Had to use the dollar trick to get back.

grilled out some burgers - caught a movie with the kids and they were wiped out - all is good and thus - my day is closing fast.

last night of spin

did the bending crank arms - loads of fun. 3 of us showed and then went to see Paul off to Iraq. We will miss him and will look forward to his return to the fold. Our prayers are with you and your family Paul. Your dedication to family and this nation are astounding to say the least and it is a privilege to be your friend. If there is anything we can do to help you or your family - let us know!

ac

New tunes for commute

Had a great time with some new tunes for the commute - thank you to the lost woman in the great north woods!

Commute to work and back - 16 miles of a group ride to get back for spin class (lead) and then had to cover some cub scout stuff so a ride home (miles included in the work/back section).

Was kinda nice to ride the road bike more. After spending so much time riding in the snow on a single speed mtbike - 120 psi is a drrrream. Taking the day off tomorrow (wed) from riding to do only squats and isometric holds and calf workouts...that is not a day off I guess.

cya

ac

feels better...

To ride a bike without a flat tire. The one thing that scares me about the Colnago/Redline is that the rear tire is bolt on and I never remember to bring a wrench...is there an option to put like wingnuts on those things? Ride to work, Ride to shop later for spin class, Ride home. 28 miles on the road by EOD and 2 hours on a spin bike. Yes, feels better!

ac

Feels so Good

I was honored with the ability to ride into work today on a 50 deg morning. Perfect. The sun crested as I was crossing the CR Dam - ducks, people fishing the quiet still of the morning was intoxicating.

Last min call of arms had me sending the word out for a last min ride on my way home. Madonna answered the call with enthusiasm and she ditched work and showed up to ride. I was struggling all day on this bike. It seemed just a bit sluggish. Never mind it is a mid twenty pound bike with some major rolling resistance and disc brakes but it just felt - odd.

Get to the shop - and man was it busy...really busy. I waited for Madonna and we headed out towards the 144 loop. It was great - and I was feeling the burn. I was not sure what was going on...still, should have checked my tire and didnt. My rear tire had a sssssssslow leak and by the time we made it half way over the 144 rollers I could feel the tire sliding side to side and bottomed out the rim a few times...Dang. Once on Dayton river road - I put some air in and then once by Life Time - all the way flat and rode the rim into the shop. I felt like I had glue in my legs.

Madonna gave me a ride home and I treated to a little wendy's and that concluded my 59 mile day of riding. It was nice. This prompted me to check my road bike - yup...two flats which is why I took the colnago out. Showed my daughter how to change tires and then bed time. Good stuff.

See ya on the road.

ac

much better...

went on today's light ride with some rest. electrolytes and it was a better day. Not sure what happened yesterday - it was not fun all around. Today i took Mr. COlnago out for hill repeats for an hour and then swung to the shop and back.

not much more time and we will be able to ride the park...

Andy

ss mt bike - not the best choice today...or was it?

Did 40 plus miles today with Steve D. we headed to the diyy time trial and did two laps and headed home. I think that is forty miles, or you add in riding to the shop and its 40 miles. Steve was scheduled to ride 15 min level 4 efforts...I was not scheduled but did them anyway. 30 mph winds, hammering down and Steve riding very strong. I felt every second of it as I had a belly of brownies tearing me up from elm creeks after race thing...i was not there today to lay the hammer down but Steve was.

the wind was interesting - the gear was heavy - single speed into headwinds sucks.

Great day to be out - tonight is pizza night however and that has me really excited.

ac

Dahlke Intervals

Dahlke Intervals: its what we do in prep for RAAM... Steve and I are heading out to the DIYY TT route in Fletcher to play cat and mouse. 15min long heavy intervals at a time. Me on my Colnago...Steve on his Mt Bike...the weather in the 30's maybe 40's...slop on the road for sure but that has not stoped us yet. This is like summer.

Will be at the shop at 10am and once Steve shows up - we are gone. All are welcome to join. Hoping to get 40 plus hard miles of intervals in today after warm up.


I look to ride after our stint as well - looking to get as much as I can provided my wife is not called into work so it may get cut short.

ac

funny how you just shut down...

So today I was a bit tired...not so much the work week but the mental rings of fire that I have been going through the past month. Details are best spelled out over wings and lemonade...in fact...not worth going over anymore. The first ring of fire is done and I am sure I will be asked to jump through more before June.

So I get home from work and picking up Dave from a Boy Scout event and I sit for a second...then started to turn into a couch blob. The family is busy about getting ready for bed and I go upstairs to tuck in Maria while Tina was already asleep by this point. I go to the couch to read the paper and poof...i wake up 6.5 hours later on the couch and I am awake at 330 am. wide awake.

Gotta love it. So - catch up on the emails - read through some blogs - finish that movie from 2 days ago (doing that next) and will partake in the goodness of a quick nap prior to more boy scout stuff at 7am then will vanish on the bike for extended riding on Sat. 40 some degrees is a bonus. Get your fenders out and ride like the wind.

The point is - its kinda funny how when you have gone too far either mentally or physically - your body knows when it is time to power down whether you are ready or not. At least I was sitting down when it happened.

see ya on the road

ac

Ice Ice Baby

As you know - the weather was "going north" to the arctic circle in a hurry this evening. I LOVE riding in snow storms - it is almost like a time warp and its almost relaxing in a weird way. So, with spin class tonight and some of the business end of TSH to contend with, I figured the ride there would be good therapy and it sure was...wet, cold and nasty. At the top of super prime I about turned around as that wind was intense. My face was raw with pain by that time and then turning left at the top and down the hill, over the new bridge and past lifetime etc... I was waiting at the stop light by Cub foods turning left to the shop and a car pulled up next to me and the ladies in the car were funny - I could clearly understand what they said " Holy $&^#, look at that, that is crazy." she forgot stupid.

I had a full sheet of ice all over my body except for my face. It was good to ride as always but I think I will prepare by checking the weather prior to leaving b/c by the time we were done with the spin class, the temp dropped to 9 deg with 30-40 mph winds. I got a ride home...I didnt need to earn the darwin award just yet. We did the "bending crank arms" work out with heavy gear for intervals and off the bike squats. It was liberating!

See ya on the road...in a day or two.


drew

External Riding

finally not having to freeze to enjoy outdoor riding....well, it was a bit chilly I guess.

Friday:

Was able to get home and head out to put some miles on the bike with my headphones. was able to beat curvey martin (20mph avg) by about 30 secs. It was nice and cold...the sun went down and rode most of it in the dark.

Saturday:

Headed to the shop by noon and got to ride with a full crew. Some on mt.bikes, some on road bikes, all were glad to be there. Did some flyers with Steve and enjoyed the cold air. Did the 144 loop with an added on TT loop. Headed to BWW for treats and wings and met up with Ryan who is crewing this summer on RAAM.

Got home in time for Yahtzee and Pictionary with the family. Good times - and fun day.

ac