Two Hundred Seventeen

Pictures speak louder than words...



First shots of the new tandem...

Courtesy of Tom Kellogg, Spectrum Cycles.

Two Hundred Sixteen

This week is pivotal...

Weather (ice) and family situations (Julia's work schedule) played havoc with my riding plans last weekend. And I've been a little worried (paranoid?) about whether my body is showing signs of overtraining. So I took a look at my training plan and decided to end my base phase earily, take a short break, and tack on a few weeks to my build phase. I'm also trying to use the extra time to cross off some items on my to-do list and reassess my training strategies.

Interesting things are in the works....

Two Hundred Fifteen

The race organizers for RAAM asked for a picture of yours truly when I was a baby/youth. Here's the one I gave them.

Two Hundred Fourteen

A rare treat greated us Tuesday morning... Snow!

Not only was it sticking, but there was enough to build snowmen, ramps, and lots of snow balls. School was cancelled for two days, so I "worked" from home while keeping an eye on the kids.

Riding very many miles on the road was out of the question, so I put in some more time on the rollers. Tuesday evening, Matthew and I got out the bikes with fat tires and had a blast riding around the neighborhood and behind the house. It was like 'cross with clean, white mud.

This was the view out back.



Here's David in a typical pose. Lara got hit in the eye once and bumbed in the head, but she survived. Boys will be boys, I suppose.

So how's the training going, you ask? Let's see...

There was that ride up to Woodland where I got soaked, suffered through two rear flats, a front flat, and then another rear flat before calling it a day. I hung out in a bar in some small town while Matthew, Richard, and Mike rode back to get the vehicles. Turns out there was a sliver of metal about a centimeter long hiding in the tube. It wasn't easy to find, especially in pouring, cold rain.

Last Saturday I woke up at 3:30 and headed toward Corvalis to meet up with a group for a ride. An hour into my warmup, my water bottles were completely frozen as were the tube and bite valve on my camel back. I stopped at McDonalds to thaw out the bite valve in a cup of hot coffee. Matthew caught up with me on the way about 20 miles from Corvalis and gave me a lift. Then I fried myself trying to keep up with the group before letting them go. That was an especially tough day for some reason.

During the week I've been riding on the trainer and/or lifting in the gym before eating lunch. At home I've been putting in hour+ workouts on the rollers, usually with my heart rate monitor on, so I've got good records for those rides.

Sunday I had my fit session with Sacha for the new Vanilla. This is going to be a very unique bike. If I struggle on the hills during RAAM, it won't be because the bike is too heavy, that's for sure!

Oh... Scratchy died suddenly and quite unexpectedly (sniff, sniff). I have no idea what happened. It was sad.

Those were some of the high (and low) points.

Two Hundred Thirteen

Lara helped me build a wheel last night. She threaded the spokes and tighened the nipples while I held the rim and lined up the spoke and nipple threads. She enjoyed it and I was really proud of her!

I've started riding my rollers. I'm using my heart rate monitor and a book with a bunch of work outs to add some spice to my training. Cold, dark, wet rides get old after a while.

Matthew and I rode pretty hard on Saturday.

Vacation's over. It's a new year!