I’ve downhilled a few times & classic skied tons, but never have I ever skate skied.  Met the crew at the gate for my first foray.  AP, MT, Tupa, Bob & Josh were there to ‘help’ me learn.  They showed me a few things and then just went really really fast and I was forced to bust my ass with everything I had to keep up.

This is what I felt like out there skiing

I could go fine on the flats, better than I though on the down and totally sucked going uphill.  And there was lots and lots of uphill.  I can’t remember the last time I went that hard.  Legs were burning, arms were burning, it was dark, 9000ft elevation and I simply fell over a few times going uphill as I was just going so hard trying to keep up.

I’m pretty certain this is what my technique looked like to everyone else

Needless to say it was both the most fun and hardest thing I’ve ever done exercise wise.  HUGE thanks to Powers for lending me the skate skis and boots.  I’m super hooked on the sport and I need to get up to Ned and get a good lesson from the Brit.

Well the snow came down in bunches Thursday/Friday night and made for a good fun day this past Saturday.  I elected for my first Winter Triathlon.

Rolled out to North Boulder Park for some am skate skiing

Then jumped on the trainer for 90 minutes of Sufferfest videos with Bill & Kelly

Then home for 90 minutes of Snowshoe time with Bridget & Lake

I was pretty crushed when I finished up all 3 workouts, but damn it was a ton of fun.

I didn’t get to bust out the skis on Sunday, but instead took Bridget and Lake and the pups for some more snowshoeing up in Nederland

This tells you how deep the snow is when Lizzy was swimming in it

It was a gorgeous day out there and far warmer than you can imagine

And of course the dogs had so much fun!

Training is rolling along nicely and I’ll work on bringing everyone up to speed quite a bit more on this blog and getting some more updates up much much quicker than I have been in the past few months.  New Bikes are coming and racing is less than 2 weeks away!!

In case you didn’t know we got dumped on with snow this past Thursday. Not your typical w inches, but more like a foot or more.

As such have had to think outside the box when it comes to training. Road cycling was out for a bit as they really suck at plowing around here.

Thus, put some extra time in at the gym. Legs are getting sore from the hypertrophy phase, but definitely feeling strong. Friday with the day off for work, pulled out the classic skis & hit the local trail down the road. Was quite fun & peaceful. Will make for a great place to do recovery rides this summer.

Since I had already been skiing the day prior, busted out the snowshoes, grabbed the dogs & headed in the opposite direction on Saturday. Ended up being super warm & was crazily overdressed. The dogs sure enjoyed it, but had Lake along & he hated every minute of it. But we did have fun throwing snow balls at each other.

Finally was able to get out on the road bike today. Was enjoyable & nice to get out for some fun, but my legs were jacked from doing everything but cycling. Was a crazy temperature fluctuating day. Was 45 when I left, then would hit cold pockets and dip to 30, then back to 45-50 a few miles later.

And they still suck at taking care of the roads around here. Seriously with these temps, one thing I can say is every upstate road would be clear of snow. Around here the plows rarely come out & as such loads of drifts & icy sections on a few roads. Don’t even try to ride a side road… but alas, I’ve got mad skills from many a days of negotiating upstate roads & ice (while we had plenty of plows, colder temps made it tougher). Always fun to dive in to snow/ ice at 20+ & see if you’re gonna hit the deck or make it through.

Solidly warm temps are here for a bit & hopefully can get in some more great time playing this week & weekend!

Girl Talk- All Day

We ventured up Sunshine Canyon, down Poorman rd and 4 mile making our way up Magnolia road.  It was a climb that I’d never done before, but kinda always wanted to do.  Definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Great view of the Valley Below

It definitely didn’t disappoint.  It was uber steep in the beginning, loaded with switchbacks (enough so that some silly texan ended up in the guardrail.  Sorry buddy but 3 chicks and a skinny dude aren’t gonna push you out!).  At that point Lindsay and Caitlyn turned around and headed back while Sonya and I trudged on to Peak to Peak.

It was about here that I lost all feeling in my digits, but the views of the High Peaks were worth it!

We hit the dirt section where it was nice and rolling over the top.  Temps started to drop a bit and the winds were apocalyptic.  I was a little under prepared and had some thing gloves on, thus when we stopped to flip it at Peak to Peak, I suffered from the dreaded ‘fire-hands’.  I was kinda actually thankful though, as I knew as soon as got them my hands would be warm.  But it was a bit painful and gut wrenching, I survived though and had warm hands for the descent back to town.

All Smiles with the Tailwinds!

We hit town and I dropped Looney off and rolled it for another hour home to Longmont.  In the sunshine with the gloves off!!

Magnolia 7% for over an hour…. like to hit it in the summer with the road bike, at least for a kick ass descent

Sunday

Sunday was gorgeously warm day.  But the winds were insane.  I couldn’t get out till later and they were at 20+ mph sustained and 45 mph gusts.  Made me feel the prior days fatigue twice as much.  Grinding away into the headwind.  I had planned to go up again.  Headed up Lefthand Canyon, but when I was doing 1.5mph as hard as I could go uphill due to the insane gusts, I flipped it.  Headed up over Olde Stage and Lee Hill.  I promptly broke my chain climbing up Lee Hill on the switchback.  I managed not to crash as I was up and out of the saddle pushing it pretty hard.  I think it’s all the mtb chains I’ve snapped, but this was my first road chain.  Something has been ingrained in my head to que on that sound and let off the gas so I don’t crush my knee or nuts on the stem.  I spent some time on the side of the road fixing the chain and let’s just say it definitely wasn’t PG-13.  Finally got it rolling, made it up over Lee Hill and rolled it back to Longmont.  Short a lil bit of time, but glad to have escaped the wind and not have ended up in a ditch!

Gonna be a killer week of warm riding, hoping the trails are rideable by the end of the week!

This weekend threw plenty of curveballs, but I knocked em out of the park (or at least hit them into foul territory, but it was still in the bleachers).

Saturday

Led my indoor cycling class at FasCat and then jumped out the door for some extra miles.  The roads had cleared up and temps were mild.  Headed north to Carter Lake to gram some extra time.  As I made the turn north of the Ute, the winds tremendously picked up and made it tough going.  Sleet and snow started coming down and decided to roll it around and head for home.

Passed TZ and he asked if I wanted to get some extra time.  Decided sure as I can tuck behind his wheel into the headwind no problem.  After a few moments, the snow/sleet and wind was coming down like crazy.  We turned to get away and in the nasty cross wind he rode away from me.  Got back together at the turn and headed south with the massive tailwind.  Even with a massive tailwind, I was doing 33-35mph on the flats and he rode away from me like I was heading in the opposite direction.  Humbling to say the least. New plan; only ride with him on the mtb where I’ll have the technical advantage!

Sunday

Sunday funday!  Since the snow came down pretty good on Saturday, we decided to head up to Brainard Lake and do a bit of Snowshoeing.  Even able to bring the dogs with us for a family affair.   Before we even hit the trails, managed to get my car stuck in the 2.5ft deep unplowed parking lot.  Decided to park and then see if I could back out, flat ground, shouldn’t be an issue with AWD.  Except it was and we couldn’t get out.  After an hour of shoveling out enough parking spots for 4 cars to fit in with my bare hands and doing nothing but slide on the solid ice underneath, finally got a tow out.  Along with the 5 other people that were stuck in there also.  Made the hike nice and warm as my gloves were frozen solid!  Both Bridget and Lake, thought I was gonna throw i the towel and head home.  But I actually kept my cool, parked on the road and went and had some fun!

Rolling thru Ward, CO

Lake is ready to rock and roll

Lake started strong , but then faded hard on the climb back up the hill.  Need to work with him on his pacing

Was nice and serene in the woods

Take a look closely, that’s Lizzy going for a swim in the 3-4ft deep snow (black head in the center)  though we were gonna have to go in and rescue her!

She made it out and was one happy dog to be running on the trails.

Needless to say, had a ton of fun this weekend.  Both Bridget and Lake are already asking to go snowshoeing again!  Gonna take some time to get over the little bit of soreness from the hiking!!  Weather is up and down this week, makes for a good rest week as this weekend is gonna be nice!

Few days last week I managed some early morning road rides along the lakefront. Something quite serene & peaceful about it. Everything is still & it’s nice to have the solitude. Unfortunately so early in the am causes some unawakened legs also, but just takes some getting used to.

This weekend was great. The sun was out & got to race my bike on Saturday & get in a good ride again on Sunday. More importantly spent loads of time with Lake! Bridget is in NYC for a few days so we’ve been hanging out. Went for a bike ride, played some snow soccer & played some indoor hockey (don’t tell Bridget!) & all the fun stuff that little dudes do. He’s way too much fun, gotta keep it coming in doses though!

Thus week should be another killer week. Fitness is rapidly climbing & another giro again this weekend. Might skip Sunday & go climbing the hills of Naples for a big ride. Gonna be gorgeous! Maybe I’ll even get some pics up on thus thing & blog more than once a month!

Been riding the cross bike on the snow covered roads. Much more fun with the new powertap on her. Put in 3 hours Jens factor 4, on Saturday. It was snowing pretty good all ride. Even found a super fun deep snow seasonal road to play on.

Did a whole bunch of mtb snow riding Sunday & then again Monday night. Was good to get out on the trails and ride with the GBC crew. Plus lizzy loves it.

Last night I buried myself on the snow covered roads on the cx bike once again. At one point thought I might get buried. Was riding uphill into the blowing snow, road covered about 4 inches deep & wind howling. It was only about 1k long, but felt like an eternity climbing the thing. Much better than the trainer any day!

Weather is looking to be the same as usual. Looks like more time on the cx bike.

Hit up some snow covered roads on the cross bike last night. Way more fun the rollers. Super serene & peacefull out there.

But you see I’ve just gone and put on my ninja mask, and disappeared.

Slowly silently, I’m training. Stalking and killing will be the name of the game. It’s not about being the biggest baddest wolf. I’m thinking it’s more about being swift, & nimble and using some well timed attacks this season, like a golden eagle. For Reference: This is how you bring em down

Been quite a bit of roller time this season. I decided I had to lift my 4 year indoor bike ride boycott. Especially since my Minerva Design Cycling teammates are counting on me to be ready in the early spring, and ready for the Spring Giro’s (7 weeks away!)

I even pulled out my xc ski’s this past weekend. Thank god I don’t do that in public anywhere. I flop around a bit, but get the job done. And man was I sore for a few days….

Temps are warming up after our deep freeze, So that means loads of time on the bike outdoors this weekend! (this ain’t the south or the west, so 25 degrees is warming up)

So I took a few weeks off the bike, drank some beers, hung out with the family. Played alot of video games. Lot’s of Modern Warfare 2 and I still suck online. The only thing I could kill was the people in the airport as they were unarmed…

I’ve finally swung myself back into training mode. Been getting myself motivated enough to get into the gym for every workout. Though I swapped with Bridget and started going in the mornings. Let me tell you, getting up at 5 am really sucks. I’d much rather lift at midnight than that early. There really isn’t any amount of coffee that will awaken me enough. Though, I gotta do what I gotta do otherwise she’ll wear the dreaded sweatpants. If you’re a guy, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re a girl, why?

Seriously, can feel the raw power in the legs coming. Just wait till next week when I’ll try to get my scrawny ass to lift more than just the bar. My legs are gonna be HUGE!

I even actually dragged my ass out of bed at 4:30 am this morning in the midst of major snowstorm, and drove to the trails to ride. Mark & Suzanne couldn’t make it out due to the weather, and they had Burt’s bike. I made a unfruitful attempt to ride in the deep snow and decided to turn arond and go back to bed. Ah well, chamois time is training time right?

Maybe I’ll get some miles in this weekend on the roadie, I even bought me a new sweet blue race lite front wheel for her and everything. I don’t have to steal the one of my cross bike anymore!

Maybe next post I won’t wait an entire month!

Trails were groomed, temps were perfect was looking to be a good day.

Hmm, forgot to grab a map, guess I’ll just wing it and head to the top of the mountain. Head up the snowshoe trails and bomb down, close as I can get to singletrack today!

Looked nicer than the groomed trails, little did I know it was about 2,000ft elevation gain straight up! Damn that was tough!

At least when I got to the cabin, the lookout wasn’t very far and I was blessed with fresh tracks on the way to the tippy top!

Look ma, I’m on top of the world (close about 10,500ft or so!)

Yup, started waaay down there by those slopes

All in all it was an awesome 4 hours of xc skiing and I only crashed a few times on the way back down . 4 solid hours on the skiis and the legs are quite sore as I sit here and type this out.

Tomorrow looks like a great day (mid 40′s), should be a perfect day to nix six hours on the bike!