Cycling in Winnesota.

I apologize for the lack of updates, the last couple weeks have been very long. I rode for a solid 18 hours last week and am only on about 9 hours so far this week, which ends tomorrow. I've been chased by no less than 20 dogs and almost hit by more than a few disgruntled motorists. I luckily haven't had any flats or crashes since my last two mishaps in the beginning of march. I managed to work in my first set of intervals as well and they felt pretty good. I'll probably throw in another set next week to mix it up.

School has been pretty busy. I auditioned for Music Ed classes and did rather poorly today. I also had three tests this week all of which went really well... I think. Outside of that I've cut my food portions down a great deal to strip off the excess before I hit the intervals hard in about 2 weeks. I've probably got my body fat down to where it was at my peak this past summer but still want to dump off another couple pounds.

I recently picked up this book called Armstrong's War, on sale for $5, and started reading that. Its a really good book and I'd recommend it to anyone, cyclists and non-cyclists alike. Well... what else can I say... I've been ridin'! though probably not enough i've still managed to get out there.....

....have you?

I went out for a 40 mile ride with my dad today and about 20 miles outside of town I wrecked hard. I was on my old mountain bike on County road F going about 30 mph and decided to see if I could bunny hop to pressure cracks that were close together. I think I cleared it but landed with the front wheel slightly crooked. I endoed the bike and flew 25 feet hitting my head hard and skidding on my rear end across the pavement. I got up right away and everything seemed to be ok...

I definetely need a new helmet...

...and I don't know how but I injured my foot somehow and busted up some blood veins which caused this nasty blood deposit. I also got some light road rash on my behind but i'm not posting any pictures of that.

The funny thing is yesterday I went out for a ride flatted ten miles outside of town with no spare tube and rode it in on the rim (remarkably I didn't ruin anything) and thought that was bad luck. It could always be worse. Though I'm a little shaken I can't wait to get out and ride again

This is all I have to say about today's ride...


...the bike stopped shifting at about mile 30, I bonked like hell, and I loved every minute of it!

Wisconsin totally just got nailed with about two feet of snow! Its really too bad that the Birkie wasn't tomorrow instead of last weekend... it would have been the best its been in ten years!!! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. One thing is for sure....

I won't be using one of these for a while because all that snow.....

Has put a STOP on the cycling season for right now!!!

GET OUT AND..... HAVE A SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!

Though the birkie was shortened to 25 km... cause anyone who did it knows it wasn't just 23... I still managed to have a great time. Since times didn't count and it wasn't really a race I decided to ski with my dad the whole way. I raced ahead on most of the hills and waited at the top. It was a great experience to ski with the guy who got me into sports and I know under normal birkie circumstances we would never get to ski together (thus being in different waves). Even though I didn't ski as fast as I could I still managed to get a workout. Skiing is some hard stuff!





On the cycling end of things I didn't ride at all this weekend just because of the ridiculous amount of snow we recieved but official training starts soon... I can't wait!!! I've continued lifting weights and avoiding bad foods as well as hitting the occasional ride. I ordered probably the last Fisher Ziggurat left at the Trek factory and got a smokin' deal on it and that came this weekend....

Who thought a bike could be so gorgeous!!!!

RIDE ON!!!!!

Earlier this afternoon I busted out the salt bike...

















...bundled up....















....and went out for a short but very cold ride. 14 degrees with 10+ mph winds! I'm lucky to have made it back without freezing my face off. somehow i figure if I can survive this... training should be a piece of cake this year.... right?

RIDE ON!

Today, after work, I went for a short ride around Shell Lake. It was kind of windy but not too bad and about 20 degrees. This is about the coldest temperature that is actually tolerable for riding any real distance (though i have ridden more than 15 miles at about 10 degrees). The unusual weather patterns of late have made it extremely difficult to work out regularly so i've been struggling a little bit. I started lifting weights with some friends just for something to do and to build some core strength to prevent back problems from riding. Other than that I've just been keepin' busy with school and workin' on the weekends.

I recently started working on a vintage Sekai 2500. the bike was made in '77 and is in ok shape. It had a pretty decent layer of grime on it when i got it from sitting around in a garage for WAY too long. I took all the components off the frame, roughly cleaned most of them, repacked the wheel bearings, trued the wheels, ordered some needed parts, and am preparing to repaint the frame. I'm really excited to see how the whole project comes out. I got the bike for free from a friend and shouldn't end up with very much invested in it (besides alot of hardwork) so I really can't go wrong. I'll get some pictures up for sure on the next blog!!!!

GET OUT AND RIDE!!!!!!!!