A Cold but Sunny Day in Southern Minnesota

Wow! have I ever fallen off the wagon with my training and my blogging! Well I am back from Pittsburgh, Spring break is over, sometimes it is not raining, spring has almost sprung, so I am back on the saddle again. Today was a nice, calm, but cold day (about 34 degrees when we finished). I rode with the Owatonna group, something I do not often get a chance to do these days. Most of them have been spending quite a bit of time on trainers this past winter. (unlike Scott, who though he has had his rode bike "stabled" at his friend Kathleen's House of Pain, a Tuesday/Thursday roller ride to nowhere, did not get very many roller miles in). I had great intentions, I really did... Anyway the Owatonna group, and my wife Kathy in particular seemed to be pretty strong today.

I rode my cross bike, because my rode bike is still idling in Kathleen's basement in Cedar Falls. I was great to get out. I think I my intensity was a little higher than it should have been, here is a link to our route and my Heart Rate data: Saturday's Ride

Hill intervals on a Nice Day

Today was a great day in Cedar Falls. It started out warm and then got warmer! I again tagged along with John and Kat on their workout. 3 sets, 9x30 sec. hill repeats with 30 sec recoveries. My cross bike is starting to get awfully noisy, I think I better give it a major overhaul pretty soon.

Todays hill intervals

Intervals and a Kayak Issue

I checked the weather last night and it looked like it was going to be warm enough to ride, so I guessed John and Kat would show up at the usual time at Cup a Joes. When I went outside, it sure felt a lot colder than the 24 degrees that the thermometer in my apartment read! Well John and Kat did show up. They planned to do 2 sets of 10x60 second intervals with 60 sec rests at 90% effort. I tagged along. It was a good workout and I manged to stay under control with a max heart rate of around 170.

Todays workout data: Intervals

On the Kayak front, I have had to go to some pretty extreme lengths to straight the bottom of the surf Kayak I am building. When I joined the top and the bottom the panel on the bottom center taco ed up about an inch. Not really understanding this sort of Kayak, I thought "wow that is an interesting design feature." However after checking with my local whitewater kayak expert Tye, I discovered this was going to be a problem and could be why the instructions said that I should not substituted thinner plywood than the 4mm Oukume that was recommended (I used 3mm :-). Hmmmm so now I have the hull filled with temporary braces and shims hoping that the outside layers of glass will hold it in place after it cures.

I mixed pigment with the resin on the bottom in an attempt to cover over the stain disaster. So far so good.

The canoe is fairing quite well. I leveled the strips with a slow rpm disk sander with 36 grit-- at little too course, but that is what I had. I am trying to decide what fiberglass to use on it S or E.

Another Good Ski

Yesterday's ski up Hylite Canyon was so unexpectedly good that we decided to go back again today. It was a little warmer and we went a little further. In fact it was so warm that we had to take off our jackets! It was another great ski. Jimmy, Ronda, and Ben were along. We went through untracked snow for the last half mile or so. It is still amazing that the snow up here could be so good considering how poor the snow is down in Bozeman.

I have never been a fan of waxless skis, but I have to say. in these above freezing, backcountry situations they are great. I still prefer waxable skis and I don't think that will change, but these waxless skis performed better than I would have imagined.

Here is my workout file: Hylite Ski 2 (I forgot to turn it off on the way back the Bozeman I see.)

Tomorrow we travel to Tacoma, and we are back to having shoes only for our exercise, so I am not sure what we will be able to accomplish. Hopefully we wil find someplace fun to explore. Too bad there was no room for kayaks.

A Long Drive and a Nice Ski

I am in the middle of a road trip to Tacoma for a college visit for my youngest daughter. The first stop (after an all night 1,100 mile drive), is Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman is sort of a second home seeing as how my son, sister and mother live here. My daughter Linnea has borrowed us her brand new Subaru Forester for the trip, and my contribution, (in addition to agreeing not to trash her new car) was suppose to be a nice Thule rack system, sort of a self-serving gift, because it would have allowed us to take bikes and skis for the trip. WELL to make a long story short Thule's online sales delivery system leaves a lot to be desired and the equipment did not arrive on time so we had to go ski-less and bike-less.

We got to Bozeman at about 5:30 am. After a short nap and attending my niece's Basketball game, Saturday afternoon my Brother-in-law decided that we should go skiing. So, I borrowed back the ski boots that I borrowed to my son and I borrowed my sister's skiis. The snow in Bozeman looked like it was barely skiiable, the south slopes were more-or-less bare and the snow on the ground in town was icy, but being always interested in an adventure I thought it would be a great idea.

We went up Hylite Canyon south of town and found a surprisingly good place to ski on the east slope of the valley. The snow was good at the start and got to be better the higher we climbed. It was not a long ski, (we didn't get started till about 3:00 pm) but it was one of those unexpected gifts. Good snow where I thought there would be none, skiing when I was not planning on it, and the company of my brother-in-law, which is always good.

In terms of exercise it was the kind of backcountry skiing that just is not possible in the Midwest, a long climb, and then a nice downhill back. Low to Medium intensity for about an hour on the way up then easy back down for 30 minutes or so. My Workout file: Skiing 2/21/09

My level 3 Is Not Their Level 3

I was thinking that today would be a good day for a ride but, lacking a certain motivation and no certainty of riding partners to spur me on, I found myself at Cup of Joe's dressed for work, not for a ride. John and Kat showed up at their usual time and said they would wait so I dashed back to my apartment and put on my bike clothes. (It sure takes longer to get dressed this time of year and those booties that go over your bike shoes, I do not think it is possible to put them on fast!) well I got back before they got too tired of waiting for me.

Their plan called for 2 30 minute zone 3 intervals. We headed toward Dunkerton. The first interval started at the NW corner of the Waterloo Airport and headed straight East. There was with a strong cross wind. After about 15 minutes it was clear that I could not keep the pace even riding Kat's wheel! When my heart rate started spending a considerable amount of time in upper zone 4 so I backed off and let them go. The second interval began just S of Dunkerton and went straight S into a strong head wind for 20 minutes before turning W. I was able to ride Kat's wheel and still keep my heart rate mostly in zone 3. Easy ride the rest of the way into Waterloo, a stop at Cottonwood Canyon for coffee, and an easy ride the rest of the way home! Great day.

I just figured out how to link to my training files so here it todays: Today's Ride

A Day of Snow and Gravel

Got a late start Sunday afternoon, but still went a 63 miles, for metric century #3. Today was cool (28 F) and clear, with a little wind out of the NNW (about 10 mph). I headed out west from Cedar Falls on 12th Street, went through Aplington, around Parkersburg, through New Hartford and home. I added a little jog on the end to get the mileage above 62. It was nice to get out today. Mostly a level 2-3 ride, (I did slip into 5a for part of the time). I got home about the time that I should have had lights! Riding my cyclocross bike on gravel is becoming one of my favorite things. A few years ago nobody would have convinced me that I would be riding snow covered gravel roads in February and loving it!

I am still trying to figure out how to make these blogs about my rides anything but boring. This time I brought along a little video camera, I think I have to do a little thinking about how I attach it, but here is my first attempt: