10/19 to 10/25

This week I had extremely low miles on the bike. I have all kinds of excuses, none of them legitimate. The weather here has been up and down this week, warm temps, cool weather, rain, and high winds. It's Fall in the Ozarks and the weather doesn'nt know what it wants to do. Today was warm, mid 60's with a ferocious South wind, Monday calls for below normal temps and rain.

I missed the Tri-sports Van Buren train ride today. I farted around all week and didn't purchase the $30 ticket for the train ride back to Fayetteville. Oh well, it's a fun ride and I highly reccomend it, but for me I think once was enough. I did get out for a decent road ride today. Did the Whitehouse loop, 44 miles in a little over 2 1/2 hours. I had a killer tail wind for the 16 miles back home on Hwy 71.

That was it for the long rides this week, ended up with 85 miles for the week. Booo! 85 miles is not the mileage I want to be putting in this time of year. This week should be better, I'll cap off the week on Sunday with the annual TS Eureka Springs ride. I did, however, manage to get in three runs this week, 40 min. for each. I plan to do more running this winter than last and to slowly build my run time each week. I'll follow the 10% rule for adding time.

I snapped quite a few pics today

What a Sunday afternoon! I took the dogs out to Lake Wedington for a trail run. I had planned to run out for 4miles, play around on some rock formations, and hike back to the trail head. I ended up in the woods for over four hours.

It all started going wrong at the three mile mark. I was going through some tight brush and ended up kicking my dog causing her tongue to bleed. It looked pretty bad and appeared that her tooth may have gone all the way trough her tongue. I snapped a pic or two and decided to call it a day and head back to the car. To my dismay, I could not pick up the trail again. After the ice storm this trail has not seen much use, it just opened back up about a month ago. Anyway, I must have been following some game trails because I was soon lost. I thought I was heading in the right direction to connect with a doubletrack trail but after about 15-20 minutes of bushwacking I knew I was lost. It was a terrible feeling. No food or water and wearing a T-shirt and shorts I knew I didn't want to get caught out all night as temps should drop to 40 or lower tonight. I didn't panic, I started to think about what direction I should head according to the sun and took off heading to the South. I soon found a creek that was flowing in the general direction I wanted to go, so I followed it hoping it would lead me to the lake. I bushwacked my way down the stream and finally it opened up to a private lake and residence. Thankfully for me the owners were home and didn't shoot at me for trespassing. They gave me directions on how to get back to the trailhead, it was a 7 mile hike on gravel and paved roads.

I'm lucky, I should probably think about a compass or a GPS enabled watch in the near future. This is only the second time I have ever been lost in the woods, not a lot of fun and I don't want it to happen again.

Backpacking

This time of year, when the leaves begin to change and the temps start to cool down, always starts me thinking of camping. Pretty much all the camping I have done in the past 5 years has involved mountain bikes and have been in the vicinity of vehicles. This weekend I will try a single night backpack trip with Smuckers. The plan is to pack as light as possible, carrying only the essentials. I don't claim to be the most savvy camper. Like I said earlier most, if not all, of my camping experiences have been within just a few yards of my vehicle so room for error was high. Taking my lack of experience this trip will be short, probably hike/run about 7 miles the first day along with some bouldering thrown in for a little strength workout. I'll do an out and back that day, setting up camp on a bluff about 4 miles from my car. I have a compact stove, but I will not bring it for this trip. I think I have my nutrition nailed, water is a question mark. For such a short trip, I am planning on bringing just one hydration pack(about 2L) for me and at least an extra liter in a plastic bottle. This should be enough for me and my dog, given the mild temps for this sunday/monday morning. I love hiking, camping and spending time in the woods with my dog so this should be a great adventure. I'm sure I'll learn a few things and I'll share here on Monday night.

I'm really not racking up many miles on the bike right now, however I have managed to get in three runs in the last five days with no knee pain, that feels wonderful. Bike rides planned for tomorrow and early Sunday should have my weekly miles at a respectful mark.

Crazy weather in NWA tonight, as I type I can hear the tornado sirens for Fayetteville sounding. Forecasted for 3-5 inches of rain through tonight and Friday morning.

Nike, No

I have never been a huge supporter of Nike, sure I have donned a pair of shoes or some shorts from time to time, but now I will choose something other than Nike.
Here is the reason, WHAT WTF Nike? Why?
I'm not a Vick fan and now I'm not a Nike fan.
If you read the article, Nike originally reinstated sponorship but then downgraded to just offering free equipment to Vick. Still smells like endorsment to me.

Nike is off my list. I cant support a company that supports criminals

Running Season is Here

It's that time of the year, temps are cooler and the days are shorter. Which means a shift towards more time spent running, short days and cold weather cut down on my time spent on the bike. However, I will spend the next few weeks(until daylight savings) trying to get in as many quality bike rides as I can.
Today I celebrated the start of running season by taking both dogs out to Wedington Woods. This, I think, marks the first time this year I have visited this trail. It just recently opened because of damage sustained from the big ice storm in January. The trail still needs a lot of work, many spur trails have sprung up to go around downed trees instead of the trees being cleared. The dogs had a great time despite the terrible trail conditions. I was feeling sluggish, that tends to happen when you lay off running for three weeks. I put in a 45 minute effort and the body held up ok, I did start to feel a little outer, right knee pain. Most likely a tight IT Band that is brought on by my wreck a few weeks ago. The next few runs will be short, 25-30 minutes, to transition my body back into running form.
Also, we got a '10 Stumpy 29er carbon built up in the shop the other day. I will definetly be getting one for next year's races. Anyone want to buy a 09 Roubaix?