Brew'n up a Belgian Tripel

Motivation

This is the time of year to set your goals for the cycling season. It's been something I've been thinking about. What exactly is my goal. Well I have two. 1. I need to loose some weight, below 180 by the end of Feb and 2. I am going to score enough points to upgrade in cyclocross. I haven't had any goals for the road or mountain seasons.

Recently a teammate and friend told me he wanted to get upgraded on the road. Which has me very excited! For one thing he's strong enough to do it. He'll have to learn a few things about getting around in the peloton and staying in a good position on the road. I know I can help. If he's motivated and we can ride together.... that has me really looking forward to the road season.

Dave... lets rock it!

The HT 29er

29er on the way.

I've narrowed it down to the Cannondale. Great reviews, good ride, team deal and sweet looks have me sold. Not to mention that the Lefty fork is a full pound lighter than anything else on the market. The component group is solid and the brakes are good. Wheels are solid. Cannondale's been making aluminum hard tails for ... a few years. I've wanted to be a Cannondale owner and now I've reached my goal. What could go wrong.

The question.. do I get the Flash 1 or

the Flash 2

For that, I went to the specs

Frame, is the same.

The Fork, the Flash 1 has a carbon fork and the Flash 2 is aluminum. The weight difference.... wait for it.... 40 grams. 40g = nothing

Rims, Stan's Arch vs DT Swiss. Both weight 470g even if Stan's has that nice rim hook, both will go tubeless.

Hubs are the same

Both have BB30 cranksets.

The big difference are the XT shifters and derailleurs vs SRAM X-7. Cost difference $250

The differences are minor so I saved a few bucks ($800) and went with the Flash 29er 2.

Got a bike fit.. looks like I'm on the XL.

Photos and details when it arrives.

Can't wait till the weather warms up.

Kailee's Family B'day Cake

Nice Cake! Can you name everyone on the cake? Kailee can, I can't.

5 Years!?

Wow. It seams like it was so long ago but so much has happened in that short time.

To my precious baby girl, Happy 5th Birthday.

The Hunt for the Hard Tail 29er

As I posted a few days ago, I sold my old squishy full suspension mountain. I bought this bike a few years back as an upgrade to an old hard tale I was riding (it was pretty worn out). The Santa Cruz Blur LT was always a little to ... squishy for me. I tried dialing in the suspension and I believe I got it right but it still was never perfect. When I road that bike XC style, I always felt like the harder I road the more I was fighting the bike and not the trail. I didn't have or it didn't give me the confidence to lay it all out on the descends and it was a fight going back up hill. To clarify, it would climb anything but it was like a 2 year old.... the more you hurry it a long, the harder everything was. In the end, it made me not want to mountain bike. That would simply not do!

A friend let me borrow his hard tail 29er at a race last year and it was phenomenal. Every hill that we had previously raced, felt shorter. Anything that was flat, the bike just rolled through. I didn't get too crazy on the descents because.... well... it wasn't my bike. After that experience, I put my Santa Cruz up for sale. I was going to make the switch. Time to re-find my love for mountain biking again.

Now I have to figure out what to get. I was thinking about building up a bike but by the time I get all the parts, it costs more than just getting a completed bike. So, I'm going the complete bike route even though I know it wont be everything I want. As for the frame material I'm just doing aluminum. Carbon is too costly and it's particularly costly if you crash or rub a rock or hit a tree. So now it's time to find something reasonably priced that maximizes my return on investment.

So what am I looking at, basically the high end aluminum 29er from the major manufactures.

The Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29er

The Gary Fisher Paragon

The Giant XTC 29er 1

and the Cannondale Flash 29er 1

As I begin to look over the build specs for each of the bikes, all of them look pretty good. As to the general aesthetics, I like them a lot. As for what is the right price to pay for those components, we'll see. First thing first, think I'll try and track down some of these bikes and ride them.

Daddy is the Mommy

This past Sunday, "Daddy was the Mommy", as Nate described it. Melissa went to help my sister and her family get ready to sell their house. I had a day of activities planned for us to help us get through.

The morning started out with breakfast "birthday cake" waffles. Not as big of a hit as the first time. They did eat so I am saying I won. Sadly both kids had a runny nose today and Nate had a rather nasty cough. You know the kind, it kind of hurts their throat so they whine at you and cough in your face at every opportunity to make sure you understand how they feel.

After breakfast I finally got them dressed and got snacks, drinks, lunch, diapers, jackets, backpacks, shoes and car seats set up and we were off for our adventure (once Nate was done with his 8th time out of the morning for hitting). To dinosaur ridge and red rocks.

Look at all those dino footprints! Kailee really enjoyed it and wanted to hike to all the sites.

"Daddy that 3 toed dinosaur must have been big!" At Red Rocks, I even parked at the top so they wouldn't have to climb the stairs after they hiked all of dinosaur ridge.

But that didn't matter, they immediately climbed down to the stage to check out all the action. You can see in the photo they were very interested in the show. Kailee decided she needed to workout and got her Yoga on in the first row. Then they ran the stairs back to the car while I chased. Nate crashed hard for a nap and Kailee went to play with the neighbors when we got home. I am still trying to recover.

Sold!

Finally. It only took 5 months. 29er land here I come.

The Ride

Wow we had good weather Saturday. Funny how 50's is great weather but the sun was out and it was nice to get out of the house. I'd been looking forward to this all week. For some reason I had also been a little worried about it but there really wasn't any reason.

The route we took had a few too many stops and starts at lights and other street crossings. Those always make for challenging group dynamics within the ride. I stuck to the plan. When the pace jumped, I just stayed were I wanted to be. I got dropped a few times but was always able to catch back up at the next light or when the road flattened back out. It was even easier when we went down a hill, I would keep peddling to keep the HR and power up and everyone else would coast.

In the end, I got in almost 3 hours (~2:45) and 47 miles, that's about 17 mph average. More importantly I felt pretty good. I spent a lot of time looking at my power and heart rate but I wasn't cooked at the end of the ride. I didn't have to come home and take a nap, like I have so many times in the past.

After looking at the HR data I would say it was a success. The goal was stay below level 3 and try to get as much level 2 as possible. Well, I was successful to the point were I had too much level 1 and wish I would have been able to make it a little harder. Still, the ride was great and the training appropriate. Next time my ability to get the training right should be better.

The Group Ride

During the winter months it's always a great boost, both mentally and physically, to get outdoors for a long ride. For most of the winter days it's simply not possible, too cold, snowy or dark. However when you have a quite weekend coming up and the weather is going to be nice and there's no snow on the ground, your mind starts to dream. A nice long ride.. and what could be better than riding with your friends.

So what is the problem? I haven't ridden more than a couple of hours (almost 2hrs) at a time in a few months, they have. Hell, I've only ridden outside once in the past month in a half. Sad

What I need is just saddle time. I need a good long ride to build up the aerobic base. The training issue is my competitive nature. There's no race this weekend (well there is but I only have Saturday to ride and the race is Sunday. I have the kids Sunday... would be fun to race but slow). So the question is, can a go to a team ride and get the aerobic ride I need or will I let the moment overrule my brain and mess it up?

I want to stick to the training plan... but can I? We'll see. Maybe I should just plan on getting dropped, then I wont push too hard trying to hold on to something that's not there.

As the new president, maybe I should talk with everyone and get to know them. I hope they ride slow enough..... wait a minute... I hope they ride fast enough to keep up with my minimal HR and power requirements. I don't want to have to ride too slow!

This is complicated.

Keep'n it Real

So training for next season's races truly begins next week. So far I've just been... you know... getting ready to get ready.

Last year I used Training Peaks to track and help me with my training, but things didn't go as well as I wanted. I didn't stick to the plan very well. Too much .... cheating. With no one keeping me accountable, I ultimately paid the price.

I've thought about getting a personal trainer but it costs from a little to a lot more than I want to pay. Besides, this is a hobby. Part of my enjoyment is tweaking and figuring it out myself. Do you really get as much pleasure out of something when you just pay someone else do do it for you. [Depends on what it is]

With that in mind, I have put a new link to view my Training Peaks log, on the right of the blog. Feel free to click on it and see what I've been up to. It has my work out plan and what I actually did. If you see me wavering too far off the plan, leave me a comment to shape up and fly right.

Oh and by the way, the new Training Peaks layout is pretty nice. Last year I really liked the old layout and didn't think I'd ever use the Beta version. But they've really improved it and I think I like the new setup more than the old. I'll let you know how it goes as I get more use out of it.

America's Past Time....

According to ESPN: "Mark McGwire finally came clean and admitted using steroids when he broke the homerun record in 1998, but added that he didn't need performance-enhancing drugs to hit the long ball."

So why didn't he break the record when he was younger, he would've made more money during his career. Well, that's obvious, he couldn't do it without the dope.

So, what does this teach our kids.... Do anything you can to win, including doping. All to be a sports hero. No honor and no ethics, Sad.

America's Past Time..... Cheating.... Success at any cost.

BOOOO!

Weekend Mayhem

Wow, what a rush!

All I wanted to do was ride, all I got was so much more!

Saturday I was up early to bottle two batches of homebrew, that's 4 cases of beer, 96 bottles of beer (it's not all for me, so don't worry, I don't have a problem). One batch was an Irish Red and the second was a Porter. Both tasted great! Dave and I had a good time and things went smoothly. We knocked it all out in about 3 hours. Also started planning our next brew and made a list of some additional equipment we need (anyone have a small refrigerator they're looking to unload?) The bottles should be fully carbonated in about 2 weeks. I'll give you an update then.

I rushed home so to watch Nate while Kailee and Melissa went to a Birthday party. Nate and I hung out and had some man to man time. It was warm out so we walked to the park to see how the lake and neighborhood park were doing. Don't worry, they're doing well. After that, Nate was ready for a rest.

Saturday night, Melissa and I went to the Velodrome for a TE and TER board end/beginning of the year party. It was great fun to ride the velodrome and talk with everyone. I think Melissa and I were the only ones that had ridden a Velodrome before. People were totally freaked out by the 45 degree banked turns. There were no crashes or misshapes. Everyone I saw had their fear quickly erased by a smile once they were on the track. We had a blast.

Sunday the in-laws came down and we tackled some work we needed to get done on our new/used popup camper trailer. It's in really good shape, except for the parts that don't work. We're working on those. Thanks Jack for all your help, I really do appreciate it.

After all of that, I got a ride in on the trainer in the basement Sunday night. 1000+Kj on the trainer, in the basement, on Sunday night..... not ideal. On a lighter note, after 1:10:00 my power to HR decoupling was less than 5%, all in the E2 HR range. That's good for the preparation period. Maybe 2010 will be a breakout year (break out of cat 4, ah ahah).... I can dream, it's my blog!

Sadly it all happened so fast, I didn't get any photo's. Kind of lame but I was living life like a kid in a candy store. I'll try and have some photos next time.

Watch out for that chainsaw

Nate was getting jiggy with his Christmas present last night. "Dad
I'm going to cut your leg off". What?

Your New President

A few months ago I wrote a piece on the bike team and what I should do as far as the team goes next year.

Well, I decided to stick it out. I also got a little more involved (actually even before this happened). While it wasn't my original plan...
Our 2010 president had to step down, great guy but he got a good job, approximately 3 days into his term. The team was headless and heading towards oblivion (not really but it's my blog) so, I volunteered and actually had a lot of support on the board. Thanks everyone, it was nice to see you all think I can do it. So... I'm it.

It all happened a little fast! I'm going to need some time to wrap my head around this.

Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading.

Your President........ of Team Evergreen Racing

Happy New Year

What a weekend! I sure hope it's a sign of things to come.

Thursday (New Years Eve) I took the day off and spent the day with the kids. We hit the Denver Museum of Science and History. I took both kids, which was a test of my tracking skills. Nate and Kailee had a great time and we lasted a couple of hours before enough people were there that the lines lasted longer than the kids attention span. I didn't even loose anyone... for longer than 15 minutes.

Thursday evening we were off to our neighbors great kids New Years party. We had a super time. The kids ran around and had crazy fun. There was a chocolate fountain, balloon drop!, party toys for the kids, a pinata, and adult beverages. Amy and Tim were outstanding hosts!! We are so lucky to have them as neighbors. Everyone had fun. Lucky most people had left but when we were packing up to go, Nate decided to projectile puke all over me! Sweet. Lucky we weren't on the carpet, sorry were were next to the food and back splash was danger close. So much for leftovers.


On New Years day, we had a lazy slow morning then went out to get in some sledding. Sadly there is still way too much snow laying around (nothing fresh, just old packed down snow). So we got out our Christmas sled and hit it.

That afternoon I went out for a ride; starting of 2010 right. Sadly it was too cold or at least I wasn't wearing enough. But I got in an hour before my toes were starting to hurt. Need to start using those toe covers. Training in the cold and racing in the cold are two different things. I am however, looking forward to getting back to those training rides.

Saturday we went up to Melissa's parents house. We had a great afternoon, visiting and playing around.

Saturday evening was really the defining event for the weekend. A friend of mine from work, Joe, got married. They had their reception at Dave and Busters. They gave both of the kids special cards so they can play as much as they want. Play they did! They won all kinds of stuffed animals, tickets, more stuffed animals and played all the great games. We didn't leave until 9:45. The kids were wrecked, delirious and running on fumes. We got them home and in bed while they were sleepwalking. The next morning both kids were asking "when we were going back?" Joe and Angle, thanks for setting up the kids so well. We all had a wonderful time!

Sunday it was a day of rest...not. We had a little shopping spree. See the posts in the coming days to see the exciting news.