Thru Endurance We Conquer!

Footprints don't lie - they tell the story so clearly it's impossible to hide. That's one reason I love running or riding right after (or during!) a snow storm. The hidden life of the forest is suddenly plain to see. Epic battles revealed in the snow. On Saturday, Nick and I rode in Stratton and surrounds, making loops of all the trails. Besides the expected dog and human prints, I could see small cat tracks, rabbit and squirrel prints and deer tracks crisscrossing the trails. It was also clear where people decided they didn't need to stay on the trail - all hikers going bush wacking or in some cases just cutting the switchbacks. (I expect dogs to do that, but humans should be smarter - and have more respect.) The snow also changed the nature of the trails, adding challenge to normally easy singletrack. Fat Bike? We don't need no fat bike to play in the snow! Sunday was running - and the dusting of snow allowed the night life of the neighborhood to be seen. ...

Nick went Fat Biking today. While it maybe nice to have a fatbike, all you really need is fat. Because one - fat keeps you warm. Two - fat gives you great traction in the snow. And last but not least - fat gives you great motivation to ride your bike in the cold. That's why it's fat biking!

It is completely possible to overdress for any ride as I discovered last night. It was cold (15*) and a nice layer of snow on the trails and ice on the road. With the ProCycling night ride at Palmer Park canceled, I was planning on hiding in the garage. Snow I can handle - cold? I can deal with that. To a point. When my water bottle freezes is usually a good sign to stay inside. For some reason, I decided to wait until Nick got home to ride. I figured he join me in the garage and and we'd have a fun spin session. Wrong! He came in, dropped his work gear and proclaimed "pedaling at 5:30 - get ready!" Huh!? It's like 15 bloody degrees - to start the ride! No amount of whining or delaying could change his mind. We were heading outside and riding. Remembering what I wore the last time, we pulled this kind of stunt, I bundled up. It was a little different this time though and and worked a lot better. I was actually over dressed! My hands were toasty, my feet nice and w...

After this last race, I spent some time looking over the power files from each lap. I've started trying to analyze my workouts and my races a little more with Coach Adam's help and this was a good race to do a more thorough analysis. (I would have done this with Sage, but somehow lost most of my files...) I was initially pretty hard on myself for two reasons - I thought I was overcooking the climb, thus getting sloppy on the descents and I also thought I should have slowed down the pace a little during the technical sections. One of those is true - I should have backed off just a little on the last half of JEM trail and on Hurricane Rim. I would have been less likely to get the two flats if I had. But as far as pace, looking at the lap files reveals that I actually did a really good job. That was good to see from the files as it shows I'm getting smarter as well as stronger when it comes to 24 hour racing. Some background info first - I have a Powertap on my Specialized ...

Not my preferred companion running or riding. I did something strange today. I'm still not sure why, either. When I got up to run, the world still cloaked in darkness despite the lingering full moon, I decided I wanted try running with music. Like I said, I'm not sure what I was thinking. I've occasionally used my iPod for trainer workouts and treadmill workouts, but I've never been able to stand listening to music outside. I feel to disconnected from the world, from the experience of what I'm doing. I've tried it a few times for road rides - felt terrified. I couldn't hear the cars or my music and lost the sense of what was happening around me. Once for the mountain bike, but again, it wasn't pleasurable. I really felt out of touch and not aware of riding my bike. I've never tried listening to music outside while running. I know I can't tolerate it when on the treadmill unless I'm just running. And for those runs, I try to avoid the tre...

I haven't ridden in Ute Valley since I crashed there in January. I'm not sure why - it's a fun place to ride with some really good trails. Something about hitting the desk that hard scared me away I think. That shoulder injury could have been much worse - I was lucky. And it was a stupid crash too, as all the bad ones seem to be. Combine that with not really knowing my way around and being lazy about driving to a ride and it meant no Ute Valley for me. Time to change that. After plans to head to Buffalo Creek got laid aside - neither Nick nor I felt like driving that far to not ride much, we opted to head to Ute. An easy drive and we could ride as long or as short as we wanted. It was also a good time to work on some of the technical stuff I'm still struggling with. It wasn't pretty at first - we were on trails I haven't ridden before and I was struggling. I was both trying to keep up with Nick and pick my way through the rocks. Bad combo - after having a minor ...

It's addictive - racing. The competition, the thrill and the desire for more. It's so easy to spend the entire year racing - just traveling from place to place toeing the line and battling it out with like minded competitors. I know, I've had years like that where it seemed I was on the road more days then I was at home, that I was racing more then I was training. I'd get home, unpack and do chores. Then it would be time to repack and hit the road. I'd either be tapering or recovering and never improving. Truthfully, it got frustrating and I was losing the desire to travel for races. I was missing out on all kinds of things because I was spending all my time and money racing. At the same point, having so many races in a season was nice. It was easier to accept an off day knowing the next race was just in few weeks. But it also diminished the meaning of each race and the importance of preparation and doing well. In 2013, I really cut back on the amount of races I d...