OZARK TRI SPORT

The Past Month

2012-01-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

This past month hasn't gone exactly as I had planned training wise, but the past two weeks I have been able to put in some decent training. The highlight was this past Saturday and Sunday. Weather this previous weekend was superb, almost Spring like with temps in the middle 60's. Saturday was an off-road ride at Slaughter Pen utilizing only Phase 1 trails, the two other sets of trails just don't drain as well as Phase 1. So, I did multiple laps on a 4 mile loop. The weather was perfect and this was the first ride in a long time that I wasn't totally sucking wind.

Sunday's weather was even nicer than Saturday and I so wanted to get back on the bike, but I thought that my legs couldn't take another beating. Also, I wanted to remember how good my legs felt on Saturday's ride and not have a complete meltdown the very next day. So, I decided to take Smuckers on a trail run instead. I've been reading some other athlete's blogs brag about how warm their Winter has been in Southern Cal so I am going to join in as well. I ran Yesterday, Jan. 15th. in shorts and a T-shirt. This Winter has been so mild and I am loving it. I am counting down the days till March.

T-minus 49 days till my first race of 2012!

2012 Season

2011-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

No Training equals No Posts.

That pretty much sums up my last two months, no real training just a bike ride or a run here and there. I have to admit that I enjoyed the time off but enough is enough. I went for a 2 hour casual paced mountain bike ride last week and it near killed me. I was sore the next day and took a couple days to recover. I've been riding a few times after that debacle last week and feeling a little better about my relationship with my bike. Today was a 35 minute trail run and I am optimistic that I will not be sore come tomorrow morning as I have a short mountain bike ride scheduled after work. Let the 2012 season begin!

As in years past, I am checking several websites in order to nail down the races I will participate in this upcoming season. Xterra hasn't finalized the 2012 season yet, but it does have a few races posted that I am interested in racing. About a month ago I started fantasizing about big races in exotic locales. First up was XTERRA Guam. I've always wanted to go to Guam after hearing my Dad talk about his trips there while in the Air Force. However, the Guam race was to early in the year and I didn't think I could save enough money to get there. So then I looked at XTERRA New Zealand. It was do-able being a month later than Guam. I really started looking into the logistics. Then I came back to reasonable thinking. There are many race I would like to do here in the states before I start racing on other Continents. Moreover, my ultimate goal is to get back to Ogden and race well, my extra resources should be funnelled to achieving that goal. Next year Guam is on my list.

So far this is what my schedule looks like. I included some races that I don't have a date for yet but included them in order according to last year.

03/11/12 Du it in the Dirt Off-road Duathlon Hot Springs, AR

04/??/12 South Central Champs Waco, TX

05/06/12 XTERRA Gator Terra Ruston, LA

05/20/12 South East Champs Birmingham, AL

06/??/12 XTERRA Eureka Springs AR

06/24/12 XTERRA Dog Days Arkadelphia, AR

After this the schedule gets a bit hazy. As for the 2012 XTERRA races in Arkansas, there are no more. I'm eyeballing a couple races in TX to complete my XTERRA schedule but at this point I am undecided on which or how many I want to do.

I am excited about the two Championship races on my schedule for a couple reasons. First being a bit longer course, much like the one that kicked my ass in Utah. Second being much faster competition.

I've got my training schedule planned out through January, now it's time to do work.

2011-10-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Still haven't found the right words to describe the Xterra Nationals experience.

All I can say is that I had a great time and learned a lot.

Lance was inspiring.

Beautiful Scenery

I will be back for next year's Nationals in better shape and a bit wiser. A big thanks to my Pops, you were awesome, couldn't have done it without you.

XTERRA Lake Degray

2011-08-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the inaugural Lake Degray XTERRA and my birthday. This was the rescheduled race from early spring, moved due to massive flooding. As a bonus, my parents were able to make the trip for the weekend. A race on my birthday with my parents, it was a good weekend.

I arrived at the race venue on Friday afternoon and was greeted with 100+ temps and downright nasty humidity. I had planned just a quick 45 minute ride on the bike course and then a short t-run. The bike course started with a 1.75 section of paved road over the spillway/dam, this offered some great views of the lake.

This was the first time I had ever ridden this trail and I didn't quite know what to expect. The first mile and a half left a bad taste in my mouth, it was wide enough for a truck. That section didn't last long as after the trail crossed the paved road the real singletrack began. I really liked the trail, it was fast and flowing. I finished up the 45 minute ride and headed back to my vehicle. Being as hot as it was, I decided to bag the run and jump into the lake for a quick swim.

Race Day:

The possibility of racing in 104 degree temps had me a bit worried. The race start time was 5pm, terrible time to start a race in my opinion. However, we caught a huge break about 3:30 in the afternoon when the clouds rolled in cooling the temp to a manageable 90. There were actually some showers in the vicinity. During my swim I caught sight of a rainbow off in the distance.

My race went pretty smooth, I ended up 5th in my age group 20th overall. I had a great swim as I was 8th out of the water. I went out on the bike maybe a bit to conservatively, my rationale was to save a bit in the tank for the run. I did finish strong and I'm somewhat pleased with my effort.

Next up, I hope is an invitation to Nationals in Utah Sept 24.

Big Thank You's go out to my Mom and Dad. Thank you both for making this trip such a success. I had a great time.

Dwight at his best

2011-07-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KSSvCVplIE

I'm a big fan of Dwight, this is my favorite video of him

XTERRA Little Rock

2011-06-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

That's my bike in the middle, I got there early

My second Xterra race is in the books. Although I didn't get the result I really wanted, I left this race feeling better about my chances in future races. Again, I think one of my biggest hurdles is nutrition during races and in everyday life. I know what I need to do with my diet outside of racing, it is just a matter of putting it into practice. During races I am still a bit perplexed. I've got a few weeks until my next race so I plan to experiment with some different liquid calorie drinks. In the past races I have relied on Carbooms and water. That combo has worked for me in the past during training rides and runs, I guess it just isn't working for race efforts as my energy levels dropped late in both my races this year.

I put together 3/4ths of a solid race, here is the re-cap:

Swim:

After getting beat up during the start of the Eureka swim I was feeling a bit nervous that I may not be a good open water swimmer. I scoped out the swim course the day before and was feeling better as the distance looked short. I was in for a rud

e awakening as what I thought was the start of the straight line swim was actually only the second of four buoys. No big deal. This swim was a water start versus a beach start, I heart water starts! I picked my spot as the furthest swimmer to the right, strategery at its finest. I'm a left sided breather and was able to keep an eye on the competition and the shore the entire swim. I finished the 800 yds in 14 minutes.

Bike:

I was really looking forward to a much easier bike course than Eureka, it didn't happen. Although there weren't massive climbs like Eureka, this course made up for it with numerous rock gardens. Adding to the toughness of the course is that it is newly cut and very dry. Finished up the 13 mile bike feeling strong in an hour 12 minutes.

Run:

I started the run like gangbusters. I felt really good straight out of transition. I passed a fellow age grouper on the first climb which put me in third place out on the course. For the next two miles I was on cruise control, I passed one guy puking on the side of the trail. At the first aid station, I got a water and a sports drink, the volunteer told me I was half way finished. He was wrong, I was cooked. All the fluids and gels I had taken in just seemed to by sitting in my stomach like a brick going nowhere. My feet didn't want to turn over quickly, I had hit the wall. All I could muster was a slow jog the last two miles. At this point I started to get past by several people, at least six and three in my age group. I slipped from third to sixth in my AG in the last mile. Frustrating. This brings me back to fueling during races, I've got a few products I am going to try out in the next couple weeks.

Overall this was a much better race than Eureka and again I learned a lot about myself and what it takes to race Xterra. Less than a month till the race in Indiana, I'm really looking forward to it.

Races, Diet, and New Shoes

2011-06-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

Four XTERRA races in just over two months. Here is what it looks like:

6/25 XTERRA Dawg Dayz Little Rock, AR

7/23 XTERRA DINO Versailles Indiana

8/7 XTERRA Iron Will Jonesboro, AR

8/20 XTERRA Lake Degray Arkadelphia, AR

To put it mildly, I'm stoked. I got some time off from work in July and I picked the closest race I could find, an xterra in Versailles, IN. I have never been to Indiana and have no idea what I am getting into but that's half the fun, the unknown. I just wish I could have gotten my vacation approved for a week earlier then I could have made the trip out west to the XTERRA Mountain Championship. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. From here on out I will have a race every other weekend, then off for a month till, hopefully, the US Championships in late September.

I've been watching some clips from races on xterra.tv, great for motivation if you are struggling to gear up for a workout.

After last weeks race, I have been trying to focus on my diet a little closer. NUUN tablets in my water at work, replacing one meal with a salad, and more fruit have been instituted in my daily routine. My goal is to be back down to the low 150's by mid July, I'm sitting in the mid 160's right now. Here is one of my latest salads, cold Quinoa gives any salad "legs" so hunger doesn't follow shortly after the salad is consumed.

Smoothies in the morning. A great way to get a headstart on your servings of fruits and veggies

Start with this:

End with this:

One more item. I switched back to Brooks Cascadia running shoes. I still love my Zoots, but for serious trail running the Zoots just don't hold up. I'm still going to use the Zoots for short road sessions or track running, but I am going to race in the Cascadias.

XTERRA Eureka Springs

2011-06-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Not exactly the performance/result I was hoping for, but it felt good to actually get to a race and finish after the set backs I have had. My alarm was set for 630am, but when the first bit of daylight came through my window at 530 I couldn't sleep. I was on the road with all my supplies loaded headed for breakfast at my wake-up time. At the race site plenty early, my transition area was set up with still an hour left till race start. Plenty of time to get really nervous.
I'm not one to be long winded so I'll make this race re-cap short and to the point.
Swim:
I got knock around by other swimmers, had a tough time catching my breath, swam almost half the course breast stroke, found my stroke half way through, ended strong passing at least a dozen from the half way buoy.
Bike:
I know the course well and today rode it well. I did have heavy legs coming out of the swim and struggled up the first climb. Everything was going well until about two, three miles to the end of the bike leg. While dismounting my bike, my right hamstring cramped. Not a big deal for the bike, but the cramped leg would end up really slowing me down on the run.
Run:
Pathetic. My cramped up Hamstring slowed me to a virtual crawl. Ended up taking me almost twice as long to finish the 5 mile run. I almost didn't leave T2 because I knew what layed ahead of me, miles of suffering. I worked through the cramp and found some sort of form somewhere between mile 3 and 4. I hung in there and finished the race which now I am really glad that I did. Total time of 3:34, I was shooting for around 2:50.
I learned a lot today and I am hoping I have a better race in two weeks down in Little Rock

Almost Race Time, Finally

2011-06-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

A little over two days till my first XTERRA race of the season, Xterra Eureka Springs. This season definitely hasn't gone the way I had planned, I've missed a few races for a variety of reasons. My first race was supposed to be the South Central champs in Waco, but a conflict with work kept me from getting the time I needed to make the trip. My second race of the season was Xterra Lake Degray but it was cancelled due to flooding rainfall. Third race of the season was Xterra in Ruston LA but car trouble left me stranded for the weekend and set me back financially.

So now it is June and I have yet to secure any points towards the National Champs in Sept.

That's all about to change. I have four races here in Arkansas scheduled between this weekend and my birthday, Aug 20th. Also, I am looking to add a race sometime in the middle of July. I have three races in mind, all are about 11-13 hours away. Not sure which race I'll attend but I am leaning towards Xterra Dino Versailles. First things first, I have to get the time off work.

More frequent posts to come and hopefully a race report on Sunday.

Fighting Mother Nature

2011-05-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

So far this year, training outdoors has been a real challenge. Don't get me wrong, we have had our share of nice, fair weather days, but they have been hard to come by if you are a working stiff like me. It has seemed like the weather, for the most part has been optimal while I am stuck at work. The last two weekends have been a complete bust, in the last 10 days we have received about 16 inches of rain, that is more than some major cities get in a year. Along the same theme, early in the year we had three major snow storms dump more snow and cold air than I have ever witnessed in NWA. Trails are in terrible condition and the ground is saturated. What little tan I had is gone. Please bring on the Sunshine.

I did manage to get on a bike ride today. My schedule called for a three hour mtb ride with some hill climb efforts. I had the day off work so when I woke up to rain showers and thunder I wasn't to bummed as I had all day to wait for the rain to stop. So, I got some housework done, surfed the internet, cooked some breakfast burritos, wrenched on the road bike, drank some coffee, surfed the interwebs(again), more housework, etc... You get the picture, it rained all day.

Finally at 4pm I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I suited up and headed out on the mountain bike. The temp was 45 with a windchill of 40, no big deal as I have ridden in much colder weather. The issue came when I cruised under the

I540 bridge and hit a foot deep puddle of water. This soaked both feet 35 minutes into a scheduled 3 hour ride, not good at all. I was dressed appropriately with wool socks but an hour into the ride, I was ready to go home to get warm and dry. My feet felt like blocks of ice as I pulled into my driveway and I was oh so happy to pull of my cycling outfit and put on dry clothes. I got a solid two hour ride with several sustained efforts/sprints on my way home.

If you are wondering about the XTERRA race in Arkadelphia, it was cancelled due to weather earlier in the week. Once again fighting Mother Nature

Ugh, So Much Rain

2011-04-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

So much rain has fallen here in NWA with rain in the forecast through Wednesday. Yesterday I was watching Weather.com constantly to find a window to get Smuckers a walk and myself a run. Finally about 2pm the radar showed no immediate threat of rain so I grabbed my dog and her leash and we hit the pavement. It was misting a bit but not enough to get us wet so we pressed onward to the park. As my luck goes, we got to the furthest point from the house and the clouds just fell. Hard rain, large raindrops. After about 10 minutes in the pouring rain, my dog turns her head to me and I swear she gives me the "stink eye" As if to say "why did you drag me out in this foul weather?"

This upcoming weekend is my first XTERRA of the season. Yesterday I had plenty of Internet time to work out the logistics of the trip, scout the race course, etc. The swim is in Lake Degray, I have been there once as a child with my Dad and I remember the lake to be exceptionally clean. Of course at that time I was used to the waterways in Louisiana so most any other body of water would appear pristine. 800 yds in Lake Degray. I couldn't find much beta on the bike course other than it consists of a two mile paved section, two 5.5 miles singletrack loops, followed by the two mile paved road back to transition. The run, 3.4 miles, will be a mix of singletrack, doubletrack and forest service roads. Should be good times and if I have enough energy left on Sunday I will ride the XTERRA Dawg Dayz bike course in Little Rock on my way home.

I've been awake now for about 3 hours, it was raining before I got up, it has rained the entire time I have been awake, and the radar shows rain for at least the next few hours. Rain

Go AWAY

Craigslist Word of the Day

2011-03-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'm a daily Craig's List follower. I love to see what kind of deals pop up each day, you never know what will come up for sale. Another hobby of mine( thanks Mom) is checking grammar. Craig's List is a cornucopia of spelling/grammar errors. Here is my latest find "tacmonitor" What? Really? Just take the easy way out and call it a computer. www.fayar.craigslist.org/bik/2282600488.html

Successful Weekend

2011-03-14T15:58:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend down in Hot Springs, I didn't win and in fact I wasn't even close. Going for the win wasn't the plan for this race. This was my first race in a really long time and I just wanted to get back to racing. Mission accomplished.
I got to pre-ride the bike course late on Saturday, a little later in the day than I would like but I couldn't have gone any earlier as the 6 hour race didn't finish until 4:30. So, I got out on the course at 5 and did a leisurely lap, 1.13 for the 10.5 miles. I've got to say that I absolutely love this course, nothing technical but it is tight through the trees at times. Not a lot of climbing just short ups and downs and lots of opportunity for speed. I will be back later in the year for a mountain bike race.
The time change coupled with partying till 1130 with my sister didn't help with the 630am wake up call. I actually felt better than I thought I would and as soon as I got to the race site I was feeling good and ready to race. It was a small field of 40-50 participants with most looking like they have done a multi-sport event before.

I lined up third row with about 10 people ahead of me. We had bout 400 yds of pavement before singletrack. When the gun fired a lead group formed and I didn't feel comfortable with their pace so I stayed back and ran at my pace. Over the 2 mile run I lost about 3 minutes on the leader. My bike leg was consistent, I passed a few riders and no one passed me.

Here is where my race got a little interesting. At the very end of my bike leg I notice someone getting closer to me. About 800 yds to the end of the bike the trail does a switchback and I was able to see who was closing in on me. It was a chick. Damnit. It is one thing to be chicked when she is way ahead of you, but to be caught is a whole different level. We entered and left transition together, basically we were running side by side into the singletrack. She let me go ahead and stuck close. We pass a guy right before the only lengthy hill of the course. I slowed a bit on the hill and she passed me with a half mile left in the race. I really couldn't keep her pace and she got me by 30 seconds. In my defense, she was the overall female winner. However, I was the first guy to get "chicked."

Me about 5 minutes post race.

I ended up with 2nd in my AG and 11th overall. Not to bad, next race there will be no adult beverage consumption for me. I had a great time and the whole experience really let a fire within me. I feel more amped to train and I can't wait till I can line up for another race

Post race fun at Oaklawn

Hot Springs Duathlon

2011-03-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

Lc and I are heading down to Hot Springs today for the Du it in the Dirt duathlon. Race kicks off at 9am Sunday. Hoping to get in a quick lap of the course today as I have never ridden Cedar Glades. Race report on Monday.

Ode to Zoot Shoes

2011-03-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

I am a self proclaimed running shoe fanatic, I simply love running shoes. However, this does not translate to other footwear. I could care less about dress shoes, I own only one pair of flip-flops, one pair each of dress shoes in brown and black. On the contrary, I am in possession of seven pair of running shoes. One for each day of the week, I guess.

Going through so many shoes gives me some right to voice my opinion, so here goes. My current favorite shoe is the Zoot Ultra 4.0. I gave this shoe a go after finding a pair on closeout online. There is no retailer carrying Zoot here in NWA and buying a then $130 shoe without trying them on seemed ludicrous. So finding a pair for $80 online I decided to risk it.

The shoes fit straight from the box. One thing I really love about these shoes is there is no break-in period. I wouldn't be worried to go out and run an hour in a brand new pair of these shoes. The first generation of the Ultra TT were not great off-road shoes, but the latest version is a bit more "beefed up" in the sole which has made for a great lightweight, off-road runner/racer. I'm hooked, great fitting and looking shoe that keeps my knees happy

2011 Race Schedule

2011-02-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

My 2011 race schedule is finalized and I couldn't be more stoked. Racing begins in exactly one month from now in Hot Springs at the Du it in the Dirt Duathlon. This will be a great way to kick off the 2011 season, a 2.5 mile run 10 mile bike and another 2.5 mile run. The distance, I think, is great to test my conditioning but not over-tax me this early in the year. I have been getting in some great training despite all the terrible weather here in NWA. The storm this past Wednesday dumped about 20" of snow with some areas receiving 2 feet of snow. All the snow is almost a distant memory as our temps reached close to 50 deg today and this next week has highs in the 50's everday.

Back to my schedule, I have 6 XTERRA races on my schedule and that is pretty much it. I may try to fit in a local running or mountain bike race if it fits my schedule, but my main focus will be the XTERRA races with my ultimate goal of qualifying for XTERRA Nationals in late September.

2011 Races:

March 13 Du it in the Dirt Duathlon

April 17 XTERRA South Central Championships

April 30 XTERRA Lake Degray

May 14 XTERRA Epic Ruston, LA

June 11 XTERRA Eureka Springs Eureka Springs, AR

June 25 XTERRA Dawg Dayz Little Rock, AR

August 7 XTERRA Iron Will Jonesboro, AR

September 24 XTERRA National Championships

I am lucky with so many races here in my home state, four XTERRA races in a state as small as AR is awesome. Big props out to the race promoters for putting on these events, it take lots of time and work and I thank each one of you. Thats all for now, bedtime is soon as I am ready to get out tomorrow and enjoy some spring like weather.

Winter Sucks

2011-02-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Big change from Saturday's 80 degree temps to today's snowy weather and temps in the teens. When does summer arrive?

Warm Weekend

2011-01-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Weekends like this in January don't happen very often. Saturday was beautiful with a high temp in the mid to upper 70's. friday was nice as well, I got to hang with the dogs in the backyard in shorts and a t-shirt. I also got my race bike for this year assembled. The Stumpy 29er is hands down the best bike I have ridden, more on that in another post. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Not looking forward to this week's weather

Smucker's hanging out in the backyard playing with her favorite toys.

My new bike at Slaughter Pen

Looking down at some riders, love this time of year on the trails, no leaves equal great views

First Snow Ride of the Year

2011-01-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

We didn't get as much snow as expected and most of it was melted by Noon, even though the temp never even got close to 32 degrees. I made it out to a local trail for a 2.5 hour ride on frozen, snow covered trails. It was awesome, there was about an inch on the trail which is about the right amount in my opinion. Followed up the ride with a 45 minute transition run with my dog. Smuckers is loving the cold weather and getting out for long walks and runs. She really is starting to get in much better shape as she made the entire 45 minute run with me today and was still out in front at the end of the run. Normally she has been crapping out around 30 minutes or so. I love having her as a running buddy, got to log the time now because as soon as the weather gets warm Smuckers just can't hang

Slackline!

2010-11-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

My new hobby. I really suck at it but I have fun doing it and I am getting better. Smuckers doesn't like slacklining at all and lets me know about it every chance she gets

Day 2

2010-11-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

Day two of the great No Drive/No Drink event is finished. I'm beat, a really tough week at work has me eyeing the bed at 830 tonight.

Ninety Days Sans Drink and Drive

2010-11-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, the next ninety days with no motorized transport(driven by me) or adult beverage.
All commuting to and from work, grocery getting, etc. will be done strictly on two wheeled, human powered transport. Any time spent in a vehicle will be documented here, however I guarantee I will not be the one stepping on the gas pedal. I have two trips upcoming, holidays, that I will be spending considerable time in a vehicle. Can't be avoided as the distance is to great over a short amount of time given to make each trip. I've done 90 days without driving before but it has been quite some time since. Frankly, I've gone soft on my commitment to commuting, my Honda has made me weak.. Here comes 90 days of commuting bliss, screw you traffic!
The no drinking is just simply a by-product. It will be easier to commute each morning waking up rested and ready to ride. Plus with no calorie laden adult beverages, I stand to drop a few lb's. Win-Win.
Commuting via human power has always been important to me. When I worked in Rogers, 25 miles away, I wished I had a local job that I could bike to and from. Now I do. I still commute via bike about 60-70% of the time now, but that is just not good enough and I am out to not only get to work via bike but do the rest of my errands on bike as well.

I Think I am in Love

2010-10-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Installed some new bits on the single speed today and they look amazing. Silver set-back Thomson Masterpiece seatpost, silver Thomson Elite X4 stem, and a Salsa 17 deg Al handlebar. Next up is a King headset and some lightweight rotors as well as a tubeless setup. I should be able to get this SS 29er under 20lbs without resorting to non-functioning light weight tires.

A Beautiful Day and Good Training

2010-10-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

First thing, today was perfect as weather conditions are concerned. Sunny, a light breeze, not a cloud and temps in the mid 60's. I can't ask for better weather.

Training is going smooth, spending plenty of time in all three disciplines. Rode Leatherwood today for 2.5 hours. If anyone locally is reading this, go ride Leatherwood. I've never seen this trail system in better shape than it was today. Completely dry. I'm planning to ride road tomorrow but I may make the trip back to ES because I had such a good ride today.

Today Was A Good Day

2010-08-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yes it was. Got in late last night from LA, a successful trip to see my parents. The trip was fantastic, note to self: Get down there more often.

Woke early this morning, much coffee consumed and headed to Slaughter Pen. Met up with Max but didn't get to ride with him, next time my friend. Got in a solid 2 hours on the single speed. This may be the most fun to ride bike I have ever owned. Here are some pics

Can you spot the deer in this pic?

My new bike!

That's me having fun. I hope your Monday was as good as mine.

Another Satisfied Customer

2010-07-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

Had an awesome experience at the bike shop on Saturday. I'll set the scene: It's late into my shift, about 3pm, and we are getting our normal late day rush. All associates were busy as I saw an older couple enter the shop and head straight to the component section. They looked normal enough as I headed over top greet them with a polite "Can I help you find anything?" Simple enough, right? I do this every Saturday with no problem. Here is how the rest of the conversation went:

Angry Customer: "Yeah, I'm looking for a "seat stem"(use your best grumpy, angry, old man voice)
Me: "A seat post?"
Angry Customer: "Yes"
Me: "Do you know what size you need?"
AC: (Now extremely angry) "If you tell me that .2 of a millimeter is going to make a difference, I'm outta here. I've been to two other shops today told me that."
Me: "Well actually..."
AC: "That's bullshit, just show me what you got."
Me: Sir, there are several sizes, 27.2, 26.6, 30.9, and so on, I doubt you would be able to eyeball the size. Do you have the old post?"
AC: (Wicked angry at this point) "If I had the old post, do you think I would be in here?"
Me: " Sorry, thought maybe just the clamp was broken."
AC: " Don't you have a book back there that tells you what size fits Huffy's"
Me: " Sorry but no. If you can bring the bike in---"

I stopped talking at this point as Super Angry Customer had turned his back to me and was storming out the door. This was unacceptable behavior in my opinion. Why would you come to a dedicated bike shop and completly not listen to what the staff had to say? I have worked another retail job that required knowledge of the product for sale and I was never treated this way. Apparently, talking to my coworkers, this is common practice in the bike industry. All was good though, AC probably continued to have a miserable day and I got to have a few good laughs re-telling the story.

Always interesting conversation and interactions at the bike shop.

Training news: Knee feels great, no pain at all. Going to go for a 3 mile run tomorrow morning, my first in about 3 weeks.

A Short Ride

2010-06-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Finally got out on a short road ride today. Got in about 38 miles in roughly 2 hours. This was a ride just to test out the knee, to see how it would react to a decent effort. I would say that the knee acted "ok"
After being on my feet all day at the bike shop on Saturday, Sunday my knee was swollen and painful. So, I laid around the house, saw a movie and spent quite a lot of time on the couch with an ice pack. Today the knee was still a bit swollen but feeling much better, so the ride was on.
No sharp pain throughout the ride just a dull ache towards the end. I could also tell my knee swelled a bit by the end of the ride. I stopped in at the bike shop on my ride, some of the guys remarked on how much larger my right knee is than my left. Yeah, I know I look like a freak.
On a positive note, I got my dog on a walk after the ride. No pain. Running might be an option soon. Fingers crossed.

Not Good

2010-06-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

I was off work early yesterday, early enough that I had time to drive to a trail for a little off-road biking. After some thought, I decided to save gas and ride a local trail. It's been a while since I have been to Kessler so I was amped to ride it, maybe a bit to amped.

Two minutes into my ride, I come to the first intersection. I hesitated, right or left? I decided right and let off my brakes, next thing I know I am going over the bars. It was a low speed crash but my right knee took the brunt of the fall.

After the fall, I immediately hike back to the car and headed home. The pain was intense and my knee grew to the size of an orange. This freaked me out so I decided to try and bend my knee. The bent knee caused a large amount of blood to flow from a nasty 3/4" long gash. For the next hour and a half it would not stop bleeding and swelling. Upon inspection from my sister, she decided to take me to the ED for Xrays to rule out any major damage

The ED visit wasn't horrible, about three hours of sitting watching TV while waiting for the MD.

Xrays were negative. That's good, the "Not Good" part is that I will not be racing this weekend, no telling when I will be able to run again or bike, etc. I just hope it heals soon.

Right now I am off work, good timing for my scheduled day off. I have knee splint/immobilizer on and even just standing up is painful. Work tomorrow may be out of the question. I'll close with a pic of my knee. It doesn't look like much, but I assure you that it's painful.

pics!

2010-05-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

Weather here went fom Winter to Summer to Early Spring and now Summer again.

Called Out

2010-03-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

I got called out for not posting here for a very long time, kind of like how I got called out for not shaving when there were ample amounts of razors and cream to be used. Well, I'll post but I am still not shaving the beard.

It's still cold here in NWA. Yesterday I was in LA riding my bike in shorts and sleeves, I was loving the 60 degree temps with sun. Today I am back home to overcast and 40. I shouldn't complain because 40 is a lot warmer than what we have had for high's.

While visiting my folks, I did manage to get in back-to-back road rides. I haven't done that in a while. I mapped out a 34 mile route for Saturday, profile was flat as a pancake compared to NWA road rides. My ride was cut short, however, as I took a wrong turn and knocked off nearly 8 miles from the route. That was to bad as I cut off some of the best road on the route, fairly smooth and zero traffic. I mean zero traffic. I did the full 34 mile loop on Sunday and I still didn't see a single vehicle, coming or going, on Seven Pines rd. It felt good to get the two rides in and I actually felt better on the second day's ride.

The forecast for this week looks supreme, I'll definitely be putting in the miles on the road. Speaking of road, I got a new road bike. It is a demo Tarmac we had at the shop. The bike is in immaculate condition, it just didn't get used all that much. One thing I really like about it is that there aren't to many out there with this paint scheme. Here is a pic, yes it is purple.

Disaster Averted

2010-01-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

The freezing rain stayed away for the most part, there was some ice accumulation but the power stayed on. As of right now the snow is falling, hard. About 3 inches so far with another three or more inches to come.

2010 Schedule

2010-01-26T15:55:00.000-08:00

Been working on my 2010 schedule, it's pretty well dialed. 12 races so far with a few local 5k's thrown in for July. July looks really light having only one mtb race, I plan to supplement with road running races as they are abundant in the month of July.

Here are the MTB races I plan on racing, all in the AMBCS series:

May 30th Womble Classic
July 18th Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival
Sept 19th Northwest Arkansas Championship
Nov. 7th Slaughter Pen
Nov. 21 Attila the Hun

One race from the Arkansas Marathon Series:

April 18 The Rock Epic 50 Miler

Side note: I would love to do more of the Marathon Series but the other two races sold out within hours of the opening registration time. You may have heard of them, The Ouachita Challenge and Syllamo's Revenge. Maybe a spot will open up. However, I doubt it.

One off-road duathlon:

Feb. 28th Du it in the Dirt

One on-road duathlon:

Apr 3rd Iron Pig Duathlon

Last but not least, at least four Xterra events:

May 1st Xterra Epic

June 12 Eureka Springs

June 26th Xterra Dawg Dayz

Aug 8th Xterra Iron Will

I hope for more Xterra races, my results will be the deciding factor.

That's all for now. Training picks up intensity late this week, just in time for a crazy winter storm to hit the area. Warnings are already being issued and the storm isn't supposed to hit until Thursday morning. Forecasts are calling for anything from 6-10 inches of snow to 3/4 of an inch of ice. Anything but ice, please! Last year's ice storm was devastating and NWA still shows signs of the damage. I've got my fingers crossed for snow, more the better if it keeps the ice away.

Will have links to races soon.

It's cold

2010-01-06T20:34:00.000-08:00

Like most of the Nation, it is cold here in NWA. The coldest air of the season and close to breaking the records. I haven't been on a bike exactly a week. Today would have been good temp wise, but with ambient temps at 36-38 the trails were a brief sloppy mess before tonight's uber freeze. If I can stand the single digit temps on Friday, I plan to hit up some frozen singletrack at Lake Fayetteville.
Southern California is calling. Screw this uninhabitable weather, it's just not right.
Call it ironic, but I love snow. Most of all I love the crunch it makes under your shoe while running. I love being the first to lay tracks down a trail, like a pioneer discovering a new route. On the flip side, tracks in the snow reveal multiple biographies of previous adventures endured. I always try to be the first to lay tracks down after every snow, sometimes I succeed, but usually someone gets to the pristine, snow covered trail before me. I don't mind though, it makes me happy thinking how he or she had a blast cutting the first track through the trail.
New Responsibilities, I passed the RCIS test. The day I passed had to be close to the best day of my life. I'm grateful for my job and for the people who gave me the opportunity to advance to the position that I have today. I'm learning so much, every day I'm learning something new.
Should have some pics up by Sun.

Slacking

2009-12-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

Boy have I been slacking on my posts. I don't have much of an excuse other than a lack of training. I just haven't had a lot to say.

Christmas was great, thanks Mom and Dad. It was a small Christmas as most of my family couldn't make the trip down to LA. Yesterday when we left LA it was sunny and about 52 deg, today in Fayetteville it is overcast, snow is on the ground, and the wind chill is in the teens. I need a warmer climate. I got a Suunto X6HR for Christmas, I have been wanting this watch for quite some time now. As soon as I get the software figured out, I will be able to post hr/elevation graphs. I like to get all geeky with graphs and w/o data.

Here are a few pics from today's ride. I made it for 2 cold hours. How many more days till Spring?

Fresh Paint

2009-12-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

I'm still in the process of fixing up my mountain bike. I talked to a local auto body shop a couple weeks ago and they agreed to paint my frame but are booked until after the first of the year, So, I decided to paint the frame myself just for fun. I still plan to have it painted by the pros, but I wanted to see what kind of paint job I could produce with spray paint from a can. I'll tell you that the prep work took twice as long as the actual painting. I sanded and sanded the frame to get rid of all the chips in the paint, all manual no machines here. Below is a pic of the frame during the prep. I didn't take it all the way down to bare Al, that would have taken me forever and with the frame going to the auto body shop soon I decided to sand, prime and then paint. I'll let them sand blast the frame.

To be honest, the paint job turned out a lot better than I thought. I have logged many hours spray painting and I am better than average with the rattle can, but this is by far the best paint job I have done. The indoor pics don't do it justice, there's a lot of flake in the paint and it sparkles in the sunlight. Not bad for $22 and about 8 hours of labor.
On the training front things are going as planned. A few rides and a few runs per week, nothing major planned until late January and the first race is the last weekend in February

Thanksgiving Week

2009-11-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

I had a great Thanksgiving.

Solid Miles and Deer Hunting

2009-11-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

Solid miles- got in just at 100 miles on the mountain bike for the week. Some of that was spent commuting, but it was still a 100 mile week on the mtb. Had a solid ride at Lake Leatherwood today, my technical skills are coming back. I'm back on a 26" mountain bike after a brief venture into the 29er culture. I really do think(so far) that I prefer the regular size wheels, more on this subject as I get more time on the current rig.

It's opening weekend for deer hunting, needless to say I saw an unusually high number of deer as I made my way to the trail. Some seemed in a huge hurry, like they had been shot at, others seemed like all was well. Like this one I saw at the very end of my ride today, I popped out into a field to see this big doe. We sat there staring at each other for about five minutes. I snapped a few pics and if I would have had a gun it would have been no problem bagging this deer. Deer(especially does) are overpopulated in NWA, I could use some extra protein in the freezer, good reasons for me to get my hunting license. I'll probablyly need to purchase a gun as well.

New Trail

2009-11-09T18:38:00.000-08:00

I finally got to ride the new trail, I am impressed, it's technical, in town, and the views are outstanding. A few pics:

Swamped

2009-11-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Taking a short break from studying for the RCIS which I take this upcoming Monday. Training has been low this past week, to bad for me as temps have been outstanding here in NWA. Riding to work and a couple of runs is all I have managed for this week.

Besides work, my days are consumed with making and studying these

My study partner

I did get a mountain bike, it's a work in progress

10/19 to 10/25

2009-10-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

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?

No Pics

2009-09-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

Camera's dead, no pics. Shopping for a new camera this Sunday. Major bummer as my bruise from Saturdays wreck is showing very impressive colors, I would love to share. I have yellow, green, orange, blue, black, and red showing, my best bruise ever.

35 mile ride today, 15 miles in a rain storm, thankful and relieved to make home safely.

A Helmet For Every Ride

2009-09-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

My weekend didn't go as planned. It stared out ok. I was feeling a little under the weather with a case of sinusitis early in the week, but I was hitting my workouts as planned. Saturday was uneventful until I left the bike shop to run an errand or two. I stripped off my thick work shirt for the comfort and breathability of my undershirt to help with the 90% + humidity and hit the bike trail on my way to pick up a few items. The sky was overcast, little to no wind, and I was feeling fresh having skipped the morning training for extra sleep. I encountered many cyclists on my trip North, quite a few that I had helped in the bike shop just a few moments/hours ago, none recognized me. I just pedaled on, enjoying the fact that I had the next day off from work, free to do whatever I wanted.

And then it happened.

I made a left turn into a parking lot, it is a downhill entrance with a 180 degree turn at the bottom around a median. I travel to this shopping center often as it contains several businesses I frequent i.e; bookstore, video rental, movie theater, salon, second-hand sport store, nutrition store, grocery store. Needless to say, I have negotiated this entrance/corner/now death trap a multitude of times. Saturday was different. I entered the 180 a little hot, maybe 15mph, and didn't tap the brakes at all. I can't remember when I noticed all the spots of water or oil or whatever on the turn, but I saw them and I went down.

I went down hard.

I've crashed several times off road, this was my first crash while riding my road bike and it hurt, real bad. My tires quickly slid out and the brunt of the fall was aborbed by my hip and elbow. My shoulder and ribs took a secondary blow and are sore today but nothing like my right hip and elbow. Good news is that nothing is broken and the bike suffered very little damage, I'm lucky. I wasn't wearing my helmet, which was stupid. I used to never leave the house on the bike without my helmet, but I have become over-confident and lazy with the bike path. I managed to escape this crash sans helmet. However, I have rededicated myself to consistently wearing my helmet every time I ride, no matter how short the ride. My crash happened so quickly and violently on roads I had ridden numerous times. One never knows when a crash will happen, me thinks best to be protected. I have a great helmet that I will be wearing on every ride, commute, errand, beer-run, grocery-get, icecream-run, etc.

Sorry for no pics, my camera has finally crapped out. Bad timing as I would have some really gruesome photos of my elbow and hip.

A New Loop & Some Pics

2009-09-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

I got out this afternoon on the road bike for a new loop. I created this loop last night on Map My Ride, I love this site, it's a great way to create new routes and connect roads you know and love. My current creation is a 40 mile loop that has a short section of gravel. I like the idea of riding my road bike on gravel roads, I don't know why, I guess I think it makes me seem tough. Anyway, I didn't do the whole loop, I cut it short because I am fighting my latest bout of sinusitis. I ended up with about 32 miles today. I'm sittting right at 100 so far for the week, should end up being a 200 mile week as I have plans for both Sat. and Sun.

Here is the full route for the gravel loop

Here are a few pics from todays ride and previous rides

My New Favorite Blog

2009-08-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Trying to get into cross this year and have been reading several sites all about cross, I came across this site. This is one post that hit home with me as today's ride lacked anything in the well. http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/05/well.html

Putting in the Miles

2009-08-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Lots of miles on the road, loving the new frame. At first I thought the new bike was cursed, I had to abort the first two rides. Here is a brief recap of the two rides:

Tuesday, August 4
I didn't have a lot of time so I decided to hit up a short Black Oak loop. This is a 32 mile loop with one climb near the beginning or end depending on direction, CW or CCW. I had just finished the build the night before and failed to attach my saddle bag. No big deal, I won't flat I thought and plus I was really ready to test out the new ride. Well about an hour into the ride, I flatted. Ride aborted, sister called for a ride home.

Wednesday, August 5
This time I had a longer route planned and I made sure I had tubes and tools. Everything was going fine until I made the turn to start heading back to Fayetteville. Dark skies ahead. I knew I was in trouble when a gust of really cold air hit me. The rain started slow but after a couple miles it was a steady, hard rain and I was soaked. The situation quickly turned real bad as the winds picked up and visibility was way down. I couldn't see so I assumed cars would have a tough time seeing me. When the lightning strikes started I knew I needed to get off the road quick. I was able to find a school that provided much needed shelter as the ping-pong sized hail began. Parts of NWA received up to 4" of rain in about an hour. Ride aborted, sister called for a ride home.

Back to back rides unfinished. I finally got a ride completed on Friday, a 35 mile loop down to West Fork and back through Hogeye. Sunday was a solid day in the saddle. 68 miles at an average of 18. For the week, I ended up with 177 miles just over 12 hours in the saddle. This week should see similar numbers, however I am going to push for 200. Gotta get ready for the end of September, my friends added a possible ride the day after the century to the top of Mt. Magazine. That would top the week's mileage up over 400.

2009-08-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Where to start this post, a lot has been going on in my life but nothing all to exciting to anyone but me. I guess I'll try to narrow my topics to what I think a reader of this blog may find interesting, which will most likely turn out to be completely mundane and lame to even those closest to me.

Here I go.

The weekend turned into a total no-go on the riding front. Saturday was spent at the bike shop and then cooking dinner while enjoying a few brews. The weather was awesome, all together it wasn't a bad day. Sunday was supposed to be a killer loop with some friends and co-workers from the shop. I didn't sleep well the night before and woke feeling less than stellar so I pussed on the ride. It turned out to be a good decision. I took a good look at the state of my lawn and landscape and decided the day would be best spent on yard work. Most people hate yardwork, I love it. I worked as a landscaper for most of my career, sometime I miss the physical labor. I put in a solid 8+ hours of mowing, edging, raking, weed pulling, hedge trimming, burning limbs, tree trimming, mulching, etc. I was shelled by the end of the day, really worn out. I used to do this same work five days a week, week in and week out. Man, I am getting soft. I got tons of work done, however it is a bit discouraging to know that I could work like that every week and still have projects to do around the house. The backyard still resembles a jungle despite my best efforts.

One other exciting event this past week is my new road frame and fork. I got a killer deal on a blem from Specialized. The website read: A great condition, 95% of original condition, 09 Roubaix Pro frame, fork, and seatpost. The price was to good to pass up and I have been wanting to upgrade my road bike, as it is the only style of riding I have been doing lately. I was a little worried about the condition of the frame, the price was reduced but I was still spending a good bit of change for a frame. The frame arrived today with a huge hole poked through the side of the box, I got worried. I quickly unwrapped the frame for inspection, fearing the worst. To my surprise and relief the frame was in pristine condition, I couldn't tell that the frame had even been built up. The frame looked brand new. The guys at the shop that have been around for a while told me that when Specialized puts up a blem and says it is in near new condition, it really is in near new condition. It took me all of two hours to transfer parts from the Allez(LC's new frame) to the Roubaix. I did get to ride the 2.5 miles home from the shop, it felt super smooth. This is my first full carbon road bike and I could tell a difference. This bike is going to kick ass in rides of 4+ hrs. Going to try for a ride tomorrow, have to go by the bike shop to get all the hardware torqued to the correct specs.

Building Art

2009-07-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

On my ride home from work heading to the bike shop I pass two buildings with cycling art. These buildings are about 40 feet from each other and now have nothing to do with cycling, one is a barber shop and the other is a woman's clothing store. I always wonder what they used to be, I assume that once upon a time they were both bike shops.

The barber shop. Specialized and Bianchi are listed.

The woman's boutique. My favorite of the two.

My Next Adventure

2009-07-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to do a multiple day trip on the road bike, bringing a bare minimum of clothes and supplies, staying in hotels along the way. I have the perfect opportunity coming in the last week in September. I originally asked off from work to attend Xterra Nationals, obviously the race is not going to happen for me. So, what do I do for that week? Working is out of the question, how about ride my bike? The guys I work with at Highroller are planning to be in Little Rock on Sat. the 26th of Sept. for the Big Dam Bridge 100. Perfect, I can spend a few days riding down to LR and join them for the century on Sat. I mapped out the route the other day and it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. At just over 200 miles to the outer city limits of LR, I will do 60 miles the first two days, 80 for the final push into LR. The final 80 miles are incredibly flat, actually I was surprised at how little climbing there is on the entire route. See it here. No doubt it will be the hardest week of riding I have ever done, should be just about 340 miles for the week. That's a lot of miles for me. I'm excited about my new adventure. Many road miles to come in preperation.

I haven't been on my mountain bike in over two weeks, I just haven't had any motivation to get out in the woods amongst the poison ivy, ticks, and chiggers. Actually, I recently put my mountain bike up for sale, if you need a 17" Stumpy 29er I'm your man. The bike has been up for sale for almost a week and I haven't received one single response. The only reason I am selling is to fund a road bike project, I want a new frame(read carbon).

I had a great ride today. I met up with some friends at Highroller this morning at 830a. Last week it was only Chris and me, this week I was pleasantly surprised to have six other riders show for the ride. The pace was under control, punctuated by city limit sprints and a few rapid hill climbs. My legs felt really good, most likely due to having a low mileage week. The total time was 4hrs and a total distance of 60 miles. Overall a great day in the saddle, I can't wait to do it again.

Not Gonna Make It

2009-07-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

A shift in focus for this year, looks like I will not be at Xterra Nationals. Kind of hard to qualify if you don't compete in a single Xterra event. Health problems and lack of monetary funds have kept me from lining up on the starting line. I'm a bit bummed, but next year will be better in the financial category and the health issues are under control. There are still several mountain bike races that are local and one tri just 30 minutes north of Fayetteville, I plan to compete in as many as I can.

The Fourth of July weekend was superb. My parents came up from LA and rented a cabin just outside of Jasper. Like I have said befoere, Newton County is by far my favorite place to visit in Arkansas. I managed to squeeze in a solid ride into the cabin, the route passes over two substantial climbs and is the hardest 35 mile ride i've ever done. The first climb starts about seven miles in, it climbs up steep for a 1/4 mile and then levels off for about a 1/2 mile. Next is a ball buster, not sure of the grade or length but I can assure you it is not comfortable and lasts for way to long. The climb is straight up, no switchbacks here just an out of the saddle, legs burning kick in the junk. The rest of the ride is not that bad, there is a climb out of Boxley Valley but it isn't as gruesome. However, the road does pitch quite steep just outside Low Gap, but it is the last climb into Jasper so getting to the top seems like such a reward.

Most training lately has been on the road bike. I have the parts to fix my mountain bike, but I haven't gotten around to actually fixing the problem. 100+ mile weeks on the road bike are the norm, not much running or swimming and about one mountain bike a week is how my training is going now. The next four weeks have much more time spent running and swimming. Come November I plan to be under the guidance of Trevor Glavin.

Pictures!

I Learn Something New Everyday

2009-06-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

I took my busted derailleur into the shop today to get some insight on why this expensive piece of equipment broke. Jonathon, one of the full time mechanics, had a quick look at it and told me that this failure was a good thing. Turns out that the screw/bolt is replaceable, I had to take off a snap ring and the damaged part slid right out. I was lucky to find a replacement part at work for no charge. Working at a bike shop definitely has some privileges, not only do I get a price break on parts but also a lot of general bike knowledge is being bestowed upon me. I swear I learn something new everyday I work in that shop.
Just starting a new block of training to get ready for the Xterra in Jonesboro. Next couple of weeks will be spent on the road bike logging some longer rides. I still have a couple runs planned per week as well as 3 weight training sessions a week. After these two weeks I will start bike/run workouts with a focus on intensity. I'm excited and looking forward to the next 6 weeks.

That's Not Supposed To Happen...

2009-06-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

All of this could have been avoided, but I wanted to sleep in this morning. It will end up costing me at least 70 bucks. Here's the story. My friends were getting together for a road ride this morning and in order to beat the heat, they were leaving from the bike shop at 830a. That is not early by any means but it meant that I would have to get up at my normal 6a wake up time. You see, Sunday is the only day of the week that I don't work, hence my only opportunity to catch some extra Z's. I relish my Sunday morning sleep in, I look forward to it. I got my friends text about the start time for the ride as my sister and I were getting ready to head down to Dickson st. for a couple of beers. After a couple of beers, I knew sleeping in Sunday morning was in order.
I woke up this morning to absolutely gorgeous weather at 830a. I knew my friends were going to have a killer ride given the down right nasty heat we have been expierencing lately. I was happy for them but I knew I had made the right descion for me. I got the dog out for a walk, a long one of about an hour. She was happy. Next up for the day was a movie, War Eagle. This movie was shot in NWA and I recognized several locations in the film, it was good. I recomend this film, go see it.
Now comes the ride. I decided to head out to Hobb's for a mountain bike ride. My plan was to put in three 9.5 mile loops at 80-90% race pace. Like I mentioned earlier the weather was brilliant. mid 80's and very low humidity. My first lap was great, lots of bikers out. I thought some guy was going to catch and pass me, but I lost him at the first climb and never saw him again. Pulled the first lap at 51 min. I stopped for about a minute for a gel and then it was off for the second lap. I was feeling great, the cool temps had me feeling extra strong. Then it happened. About a mile to finish the second lap, I felt something get sucked up by my back tire. I heard a slight rub so I stopped pedaling and was slowing to a stop. I guess I didn't come to a stop soon enough as I heard a very distinct snap. I slammed on the brakes, came to a stop, only to find my derailuer helplessly dangling off the hanger. What? The hanger is fine, the derailuer is not. That is not supposed to happen, right? The bolt coming from the d. was snapped, half was still in the hanger, the other half on the d. I thought the hanger was designed to break first, as a hanger is a lot less expensive to replace. Anyway, if I had just gone on the road ride, I would have saved some money. I made it to the road after about a half mile hike, I did the one legged scooter push/coast back to the car for the final mile. I was lucky the incident happened so close to the end of the trail, the silver lining I guess.

Upcoming Road Rides

2009-06-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have a couple stellar road rides coming up next week, Thursday and Sunday around the Fourth of July weekend.

Here are the routes...

The long route for Sunday
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ar/fayetteville/884124598395679571

The ride in to Jasper
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ar/-fayetteville/103123958271418729

Should be an outstanding weekend

Still Alive!

2009-06-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm still here. Alive and kicking.

I had some health issues(I won't get into detail) that kept me out of the last two Xterra races. Long story short, health issues-ER visit-discharged 5 hours later-stress test-cleared for workouts. That's where I stand. I lined out a work-out plan that will build up to a Xterra race in Jonesboro, AR. I'm excited and ready to put in some serious hours training

I did pick up a new road bike, an Allez sport. This is my second Allez, I love this bike. I know there is nothing special about an Allez, I don't require a uber-fancy road bike. Riding road is just training for me, all I need is a comfortable bike that handles the road well. The Allez does it for me.

Tomorrow: Lake Leatherwood Xterra

2009-06-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

My first real race of the season is tomorrow. I took today off from work, just chilling at the house, cleaning my bike, and watching a movie or two is all I have on tap for today. A huge thunderstorm rolled through about two hours ago, the course is going to be wet and slick. I really don't even know why I bothered cleaning my bike as it will be trashed shortly into the bike course. I've got nothing else race report tomorrow.

Lake Leatherwood Pre-Ride

2009-06-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the trail was finally dried out after a solid week of no rain, sun, and temps in the mid 70's. I was stoked to ride the course with dry conditions after last Sunday's cluster. I saw a women heading up from the lake before my ride all decked out in fancy swim attire and I made sure to pick her brain on the course before I headed out. She told me the course was in ok shape and that all the climbs were do-able. She was right, I made all the technical climbs however I just wasn't feeling all that great, not really strong at all. I bagged the ride after just one lap, put in a respectful 1hr 29 min time. That's definetely not as fast as I'd like to go but like I said earlier I just wasn't feeling really strong.

Big decision coming up for this weekend, pre-ride again on Sunday or race Hobb's. Hmmm. Don't know yet what I'll do. I'd really like to get in another ride and run on the course, but it is kind of hard to pass up a race in your backyard on an awesome trail.

On another note, I found a good deal on a pair of Zoot shoes, I've always wanted to try these shoes. I'm not sure how they will perform on the trail, I'll find out in a couple days.

Here are a couple pics from Leatherwood. This one is close to where the swim will start

Here's me crossing the dam

Dry Week to a Wet Weekend

2009-05-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

A dry week here in NWA led to rain on Saturday and Sunday. The week was absolutely gorgeous weather wise and of course I was sick. I did get some training in through the week, two runs, a swim, and a mountain bike ride. Saturday morning I got out for a longish trail run with Smuckers. Even after a week of no rain, the trail still had water draining. The run was solid, 50 minutes and the legs felt great.

Today I headed out to Lake Leatherwood, site of my first Xterra, for a timed mountain bike loop to see how I stack up against last years competitors. Average time last year among the top twenty finishers is roughly 1hr 25min, I feel this is a time that I can duplicate or better. So I headed out to Eureka with a goal in mind and to push myself to achieve it. I get to LL about 10a, I knew I needed to get my ride in quick as showers and T'storms would be moving in shortly after noon. First thing I notice is that there is a lot of standing water around the campgrounds, not a good sign. Must have gotten rain the previous night. I kit up and head out anyway. Half way up Miner's Rock climb I knew it was going to a long day on the trail. When Miner's is wet, the rest of the lower trails are really going to be wet and slick. However, I pressed on hoping for the best. Made it up and down Miner's without much trouble, a couple of downed trees I had to hike around. The rest of the nine miles was a real test of my handling/technical skills. The trail wasn't really muddy, but every rock and root felt like it was covered in slime. Any kind of technical climb had me off the bike walking, I felt like a complete newb. I limped my way through the course to finish in 1hr 45min. I road up and down Miner's Rock a few times to round out the mileage at 19 miles for the day. I'm hoping for a dry course next Sunday as I am planning ride the bike course and then follow with the run course

Hooked

2009-05-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

I managed a two hour mountain bike ride today, a major accomplishment given my sickness. I was supposed to meet some friends for a ride at Dennis Moore's trail but given my fragile state I decided to stay on the flat trails of Lake Fayetteville. It was a good choice, my legs felt great and I finished the ride wanting to go longer. That's a good sign that my sickness is about over. The weather today was perfect, upper 70's light breeze and all the sunshine you could ever want. Saw lots of people on the trail, mostly hikers but also a large amount of bikers sans helmet. What the hell? Every time I see the morons bombing down the trail with no protection I want to yell at them. Sometimes I do yell "HELMET!" as I pass, just depends on what kind of mood I'm feeling.
Also, I have to say that I am loving the new bike. The bike fits. I have been riding bikes that are to big for me. My current ride is a 17" Stumpjumper 29er(I'm 5'10 with 32" inseam) and when I first saw it I thought no way is that bike going to fit me. It looked really small with a seriously sloping top tube. The bike took some getting used to, but after I got the longer seatpost everything fell into place.
My mom is in town, always good to see her. She took me out to eat tonight at Powerhouse. She had the Salmon with a spicy ginger sauce that was awesome, I had the Bleu Cheese fillet, it did not disappoint, cooked to perfection. Great meal.
Heal up LC.

Sickly

2009-05-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit under the weather, hopefully the worst has past. I managed to get out for a 30 minute run today. I felt ok, just a bit tired now.
No fever, just wicked sinus congestion, a sore throat, pressure, ear popping, runny nose, extreme Barry White voice. The latter really drives the women wild.
More content later, planning to ride tomorrow.

A New Post, A Criterium, and A Dry Trail

2009-05-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

The new seat post came in late last week. This is my first expierence with a Thomson seatpost, I have to say that the set-up was extremely easy. Getting the seat to sit like I wanted was a joy, most of the seat posts I have used in the past were frustrating and didn't always line up correctly. Did I mention it was pretty? Well it is, sleek and simple. Finally I can get the correct extension without risk of damaging the frame or seatpost. It's a long post, here it is compared to my previous post.

Sunday was the Joe Martin Crit that covered a 1.1 mile course around downtown Fayetteville and the entertainment district. I have been to this crit for the last five years and it never gets old to me. I love watching the pro's zoom down Dickson street at 40+mph in a pack of a 100. My dog and I wandered around catching different vantage points along the route for a few hours. Floyd was in town. Apparently he didn't like me taking his picture, both times I tried he was either looking away or his hand was blocking his face. Coincidence? I think not. I'll post them both and you can draw your own conclusions.

This was taken before the crit, the OUCH team picked a great spot to chill. FL just so happens to be looking away at nothing in paticular

This one is just after Floyd dropped out of the crit. I'm across the street, not sure what the hand gesture is all about. Is it code, perhaps a roadie gesture for don't take my picture?

I'm sure he gets bombarded every town he visits. I tried to snap two pics, with no sucsess. I talked to others that said he posed for pics with them all weekend. Guess I need to work on my approach.

Two days of no rain had me itching for some singletrack. Late on Sunday I headed out to Hobb's State Park as it is the fastest draining trail in the area. It is always the first trail to dry out and if I had any chance of an actual mountain bike ride this was it. I was pleasantly suprised to discover perfect trail conditions. This trail is an anomaly. I went for a trail run late Sat. only to abort because the trail was half submerged. I had a blast on the trail, the bike performed great. Ended up with 22 miles in a couple hours. That put me at 102 miles for the week on the mountain bike. I also put in 2.5 hours of running, and an hour of core work. 13.5 hours total for the week. Not great but I will take it given all the rain we've been having.

This week I should see a higher volume of training given that my Tuesdays and Thursday evenings are now free, no more classes!

Here are a few pics of the crit

Ergon

2009-05-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

The Ergon grips showed up at the shop today. What a relief, my hands and arms were tired of the traditional grips that came with the bike. No more pain or numbness. Seatpost and brakes should be in soon. The race bike is shaping up, now I just need some dry weather so I can get on some singletrack.

The grips look good, hope that someday I can get a pair in Ergon Green

Beyond Saturated

2009-05-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today marks the seventh day in a row we have had measurable rain and plainly put I am sick of it. The sun peaked out for about two hours today, long enough to bring on some thunderstorms just a few hours later. This weather is killing me, my brand new mountain bike hasn't been ridden off road as much as I would like.
The good news is that I have been logging some solid run time in the last week and a half. My run sessions have been kept on the short side, 35-50 minute range. This seems best for me, longer runs at this point seem to take to long to recover from. I believe that was part of my problem last year, I always wanted to go for long runs at the wrong time and I ended up injured. This year, quality not quantity.
Sunday I woke up to what I thought was just a cloudy, overcast sky until I got outside to find a heavy mist/light rain combo falling. Crap! I thought to myself, I have all day, I'll wait it out, no way this keeps up all day. That was at 8a, fast forward to 5p, same exact conditions. At that point, I was done with sitting indoors on my only day off. So, I kitted up and headed out in the rain. Three hours in the rain, on a mountain bike, on the road is not my ideal Sunday ride, but you take what you are given. I needed some quality time on the bike and I was going to get it anyway I could. Most of the ride was urban, I'm sure people were wondering wtf? is this guy doing out in these conditions. I like to think that maybe I just might motivate someone out there to get out and exercise.
The new bike is awesome, I love it. Talked with the good people at Avid and they are sending me a set of Juicy 7's to replace the ill Juicy 5's. Avid's customer service rocks, very good support for their products. Also, I have a set of Ergon GX2 grips that should arrive late this week. They can't come soon enough. The regular grips that came on the Stumpy are killing my hands on longer rides. Ergon grips really are worth the money, you can't put a price on being comfortable. One more addition, a Thomson 410mm seatpost. I have the og Specialized seatpost maxxed and I need an additional 3cm of height to achieve optimum leg extension. I really wasn't happy about shelling out 55 bucks for a new sp for just over an inch, but the fit will be just right. I'll be able to get the nice saddle to stem drop that is sometimes elusive with 29ers. I'll post a pic when I get all the new bits installed.
Hope it's drier where you are. Congrats goes to my Mom and her Airline High School tennis team for a job well done at state. Great way to go out!

First Impressions of the New Bike

2009-04-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've gotten three solid rides in on the new Stumpy and I have to say that the bike has performed well. I am becoming a fan of the 29er wheels, the most positive standout feature is that I don't get "hung up" in technical rock gardens. The larger tires just seem to float over obstacles as long as I have the strength to keep them rolling. Another positive is obstacles such as logs and rocks just seem smaller now, not that I am cleaning sections I haven't before but now I have the confidence to approach and clear those obstacles at a higher velocity. I thought tight switchbacks would be a problem with the larger wheels, not yet. I cleared all the switchbacks on my local trail with ease and a couple technical spots I consistently had problems riding w/o dabbing on my Scalpel, I crossed without putting a foot down.
Now for the things that I disliked about the new rig. Numero Uno was and still is the brakes. They are mushy, long travel before pad engagement, and the rear howls like a banshee. Gonna do some work on the rear brake tonight to see if I can get rid of the terrible noise. A new set of XT's may be in my future shortly. Second was the technical climbing, or more specifically getting back up to speed after a technical section on a climb. The bike just felt a little slow rolling after a short technical bend in the trail. Nothing major, the benefits of the big wheels far outweigh this small grievance.
Bottom line is that I am really pleased with the bike. It actually rides very similar to my old Scalpel. However, this bike fits me correctly and is a better climber. I'll have more thoughts on the ride as I get more ride time logged.

Holy Sh#t

2009-04-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

I may be the last one to see this video, I don't know how long it has been out but a friend sent it my way today. This guy is insane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

New Ride

2009-04-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Picked up the new ride for this season. Man, it's a good looking rig. I've got it somewhat dialed in, so far only short rides on pavement. I have a longish ride planned tomorrow that should point out any adjustments that need to be made. I'm excited to see how the big wheels roll on some tight, hilly, rocky singletrack. The weather looks beautiful for the rest of the week and I am stoked to put in some miles on the new rig. Maybe, possibly the first AMBCS race of the season on Sunday?

Mini Vacation in Jasper

2009-04-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Took a mini vacation to Jasper last week. Jasper is fast becoming my favorite area in Arkansas, so much to do for the outdoor enthusiast. My vacation started off with a 44 mile road ride into Parthenon. This was the toughest 44 milel I have ever ridden, there are some real hills in the Newton county area. The ride was just short of 3 hours, 44 miles in three hours is slow. Thursday and Friday we went hiking, finally got to Hawksbill's Crag. I have photos galore, enjoy.

Spring in the Ozarks

2009-04-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

The weather today was spot on. 72 degrees and sunny. The icing was that I didn't have anything to do after work. Took the road bike out for a couple of hours.

Signs of Spring are popping up all over town

Climbing up Horsebarn rd

A Sunny Sunday

2009-03-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Feeling much better today. Yesterday's weather gave me a major case of the mumps. Today was near perfect weather, at ride time temps were mid 50's with only a slight breeze and all the sunshine one might want. I took full advantage and got out for one of my favorite road loops. Right at 50 miles and a hair under 3 hours ride time.
The ride started out terrible, however, just about a tenth of a mile from my house I had a car buzz me. This car's side mirror couldn't have been more than six inches from me. I usually don't make gestures at cars, but I couldn't help my self on this occasion. Then about 200 yards later a car passes me and immediately attempts to make a right turn. WTH? This driver wasn't more than 15 feet ahead of me when she attempts to cut me off with the right turn into a church parking lot. I slam my brakes and come to a stop right beside her. I motion her to go ahead, she looks puzzled but finally takes the right into the parking lot. I don't see why cars pass and then wait for you to go around the side. I wish motorist would learn to slow down and wait for the cyclist to clear the turn area, that way there is no confusion. Anyway, both those events happened within a span of 30 seconds, I thought it was going to be a rough day on the road.
Here are a few pics from today's ride

Saturdays Suck

2009-03-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Lately Saturdays here in NWA have really sucked on the weather front. Today's weather was the epitome of suck: rain, sleet, snow, wind, and cold temps. I now work at High Roller on Sat. so my training is split into early morning and late evening sessions. Usually not a problem. Today an early morning workout would be me fighting sleet pellets and an after work session I would have been fighting heavy snow. I opted for a few adult beverages post work, my inner fat-man wants out!

Tomorrow looks promising with temps in the low 60's. Gonna take the road bike out for some good-good road lovin'.

No More Bike Path

2009-03-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

Something has been missing this year from my training routines. Commuting to work is a major part of my training. I use the commute for recovery, I can get in a short time trial, most days I will do my training rides straight from work, and most of all I can get in some hill climbing work on the ride home. The ride to work is pretty much all downhill, but coming home I can really hit some lung-busting climbs.
However, late last year the bike trail was completed all the way to work. About 85% of my commute can be done on this paved trail. Wonderful, right? Not really. The problem, the trail is pancake flat. So pretty much for the last 6 months I have been avoiding climbing on a daily basis. I've been taking the easy way home and I think it is starting to affect my climbing
Well, no more. Starting today I took the hilly way home, climbing up Woolsey by the VA Hospital and then exiting Wilson Park by climbing up to college instead of going around the park on the flat side. It's a start.
Rain is in the forecast for the next two days with some accumulating snow on Saturday. My ride at Lake Leatherwood on Sunday will probably be a no go due to wet trail conditions. I'll keep my options open and train when and where the weather dictates, gotta be flexible.

Mellow Weekend

2009-03-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

It was definitely a mellow weekend, a little training but more time was spent socializing and hanging with friends. I really enjoyed myself this weekend and had a lot of fun. I didn't worry about getting on the bike or hitting the trails for a run, for a change. I'm not saying these types of weekends will be the norm, but it is good to throw one in every now and then. I feel recharged and ready to tackle some intense training weeks. A few pics from the weekend

High atop the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs
A couple drinks with Susan

Saw this t-shirt in a gas station, only in Arkansas

Jill and Susan's child, Charles hamming it up for the camera

Hey, You Should Blog About That

2009-03-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

My sister often says this to me, I never know if she is poking fun at me(she doesn't blog) or if she is really speaking the truth. Tonight she spoke those words and I knew she was right, I should blog about this.
I've had this old Takara road bike sitting outside the house for some time. I rescued the bike from just outside a dumpster. Finally got the bike up and running tonight after over three months. She's a beaut, everything works, just a few adjustments to the set screws on the ders. I love fixing up old bikes and giving them to people who will use them. It just makes me happy to get others out on two wheels. I had a great time fixing this bike up.
Great mountain bike ride today after work. No one showed up for my off-road group ride, but I rode anyway, knocking out a solid three loops around the lake. I'm really loving my 29er singlespeed. It makes my local trails fun and challenging again.
Possible Du this weekend, link

Trails were busy today. The weather was perfect, highs in the upper 70's and sunny

First Hour on the Job

2009-03-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

First day is in the books at Highroller Cyclery, actually it was only an hour of work. I will be working for my friend/owner of High Roller Cyclery, Chris as he needed some help on Saturdays, I needed a little extra cash, overall it is a win-win situation. I went in today for a 1 hour training work day, I will need several of these training sessions before I can be on my own on Saturday, the busiest day for the shop.

Training is going along as planned, I'm hitting my planned workouts. Running form is starting to come around, 3-4 runs a week and still the knees and IT bands feel fine. Stretching and The Stick have been key to the heathly legs. If only I could find an inexpensive sauna.

Sorry for a lack of posts and the high degree of suck for this post. Plenty of rides and runs just haven't been bringing the camera along. Plan to post more, pics to come

Muy Beuno Fin De Semana

2009-03-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend, I wrapped it up with a 45 mile road ride on Sunday. Wicked head wind to begin the ride wore me out. I had a 7 mile section of wide open road into a 20 mph sustained headwind that just sucked the life out of me. Limped on home in about 2.5 hours. It was a good weekend of training and I am feeling a little puny today. Got in a commute to and from work today and that is it for training, I needed a low training day. Tomorrow starts another 6 days of training, only 34 days to Iron Pig and 89 days to my first xterra of the year.

A pic of me fighting the wind, did I mention I hate the wind? Well, I do. Actually I'd rather climb10% grades than face 15 mph winds. How come I can out climb most of my riding partners but I get shelled when it's flat and facing a head wind? Watts equal watts, right?

Some Trails Are Open

2009-03-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

There are a few trails here in NWA that are open. I got out for a two hour mountain bike ride this morning. It really worked me. I haven't been on a mountain bike in a while and I think my arms and lower back have forgotten what a workout it is to ride trails. Also, I was on a rigid, singlespeed. Anyway, all was good and I had a blast. Temps were amazing hovering at about 70, shorts and short sleeves were the smart choices for clothing today.
It's shaping up to be a great weekend, 1.5 hours on the bike yesterday, 2 today, and a tri-sports road ride planned for tomorrow should have me at about 7 hours of cycling for the weekend. Throw in a couple dog walks and a swim session and it is a solid weekend of training, for me. I haven't had a really solid weekend of training in a while, sickness and other responsibilities have kept me off the bike. Getting back in the training groove feels right, I've missed it.

Ready For Spring

2009-03-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

It's official, I'm done with Winter. Not really a cold weather person to begin with and this winter has been colder(to me) than average. I'm ready for sun and warm temps and long days. We have some really nice days ahead this week and the weekend looks ok except for some possible thunderstorms.
With the coming of Spring, I decided that the Winter beard needed to go. However I couldn't just shave it all off at once, no way, so I had a little fun with the clippers. I carved out my best "porn stache" and sported it for a day at work. I thought it looked hideous, but to my surprise many of my co-workers actually liked it. Huh? I'm sticking to the hideous description but I'll let you make up your own mind.
The "porn stache" only lasted about 24 hours. I figured while I had the clippers out, why not get the rest of the hair on my head. I came out with this look. The "warm weather do"
Got out for a ride with my friend George today and yesterday was a solid on-road run directly after my commute home from work. Another run planned for early am tomorrow and then 3 days of riding with a swim session thrown in on Saturday. Should be pretty beat come Sunday afternoon, I'll be ready for a rest day on Monday.

Trail Work

2009-03-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

Not much training the last two days just a lot of trail work. The ice storm that came through a month ago really did a number on our local trails and many are still not open. I took the dogs out on Saturday to Sequoyah. About 5 hours of solo trail work had me bushed, not to mention I was using only a hand saw. I wish I had brought my camera along as the snow was falling and would have been great for some b/w photos. The pics below are from the previous weekend on Sequoyah trails.

Big trees down at Sequoyah. Smuckers and Randy don't seem to mind

Today was another 5 hours of trail work with a few friends on a local trail. Really overwhelmed with all the trail work that needs to be done. If you count four people putting in 5 hrs that equals 20hours of trail work. In that twenty hours we cleaned a 1.5 mile stretch of trail. At that rate it will take another 120 hours of work to get just this one trail cleaned and ready to ride. That's just a guesstimate, it will probably take longer for the sections further down the hill.
This is just one trail of many that received serious damage. If you live in NWA and like to ride and run on trails, get out and volunteer some time. I know trail work isn't much fun, but the payoff is well worth it

The dogs thought it was great fun to run on, over, and under the downed limbs

There's a trail under that pile of limbs, somewhere

Calling all endurance freaks!

2009-02-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

First running of the Syllamo 24 hour. I've done a 7 hour ride on the Syllamo trail system and I have to say it was one of the toughest rides I have ever done. I can't imagine a full day of racing there. Anyway, here is a link

2009-02-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

Had a busy weekend with plenty of riding, parents in town, eating out, a Razorbacks game, studying, a long hike/bushwack, a little shopping, and finally tonight--a few adult beverages while watching the ToC. To say the least, it has been a great weekend.

The Razorback game was kind of a bust. We ended up losing by 16 points or so, and it was never even really close. I don't know what has happened to my beloved Hogs. Started the season 12-1 with victories over top ten ranked Oklahoma and Texas, now we sit last place in the SEC at 13-10. What gives?

Enough of that, on to training. Managed to get in just over 10 hours on the bike despite my sickness. Running and swimming were almost non-existent, logged in one workout in each discipline. Sickness is about 95% gone and fitness will return shortly.

Got out on the road bike today for a 2.5 hr ride. I really had to psyche me self up to get out and ride today. When I left my house the temp was 34 degrees with snow flurries. That is a big contrast to my short sleeves and shorts I was sporting on my ride Friday evening. I'm grateful for those warm days in Jan. and Feb, but damn it makes it hard to find motivation when it is snowing less than 24 hours later. I guess you just have to man-up and suffer through the nasty workouts because I just refuse to buy a trainer. The only reason I could warrant a trainer is if the snow and ice made the roads unrideable for days in a row. That just doesn't happen here, so I guess I get to suffer outside during the winter and bitch about it here on this blog.

The next two week on the bike are going to be focused on climbing and extended hours. I have some routes that are all within city limits that will challenge my climbing skills. Also, I have been averaging about 9.5 hours on the bike per week, I'm going to up the hours for the next two weeks. I'm shooting for 13 hours each of the next two weeks.

It's the Little Things in Life

2009-02-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

At the end of my ride this evening, while stopped in traffic at a red light I found this. Score! I just happened to look down to my right and there it was half burried under some leaves and debris. I got all excited and half expected it to be fake or as I went to pick the bill up, some jackass yanks it away via a string. I never have found anything of value during a ride much less actual money.

It's been a good week, I am finally getting over my sickness and feeling like my normal self. I've logged in over 9hrs on the bike so far this week as well as a couple of short runs. Parents are here this weekend so that will probably cut down on training opportunities. Planning on a trail run tomorrow morning early and hopefully a little spin on the bike after the Arkansas/Kentucky b-ball game, we have tickets, sweet! Then on Sunday I plan to sneak out for a few hours of road bike fun.

When Work Gets in the Way...

2009-02-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

Not much you can do about it. My boss just told me about a free RCIS training weekend up in Kansas City. These events are usually in the neighborhood of $300+, so I'd be a fool not to partake in such generosity. The bad news is that it is the same weekend as the Spa City Du, an event I really wanted to make. My job is important to me and attending this class is important to my advancement at work, I guess I have to be all grown up and forgo the race.

The temps have been great the last few days, setting almost record highs. I went for a road ride yesterday and got shelled because of strong South winds on my way home. I guess I just can't learn, into the wind to begin and at your back to return. Oh well, I survived. Today was a short run with my dog(Smuckers). I was showing off my pasty, white legs as the temps were in the upper 50's. With temps remaining high for the rest of the week, I have a great week of training planned.

Sickly and a new Ride

2009-02-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

I was feeling ill all week, most likely brought on by no heat and sleeping in strange places the week before. Feeling better today, Amoxocillin on board.

I sold my mountain bike today and promptly picked up a Cannondale R900. Will be strictly on road rides for the next month as I gather parts for my new mountain bike build.

Gonna get out and do some training tomorrow, finally.

The new training weapon:

Six Days Without Electricity...

2009-02-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Really sucks. Power went out Tuesday about 3p and finally came back on today at noon. I'm tired of sleeping at friends house, a night here a night there, it got really old. Thankfully I will be in my bed tonight with heat.

No training news to report, although I did manage two days of commuting, a 45 minute run and a weight training session this week. I am shelled right now, 12 hours of chainsaw work in the last two days plus stacking all the cut wood has me feeling puny and sore tonight. The sad thing is that the yard work is still not done. Also, after the yard is cleaned up, the trails are going to need a lot of attention before they are rideable. Ice storms are a real drag.

Here are a few pics of the carnage:

Ice Day

2009-01-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

Just a touch of freezing rain fell last night and this morning. Woke up this morning at 730, no power means no alarm clock. Roads are fine except for the bridges and over passes. No work for me today. Limbs and power lines are coming down but I have electricity, at least for the time being.

Icy Ride Home

2009-01-26T19:04:00.000-08:00

Don't have a lot to post at the time. Had a decent week of training last week, weather has been playing havoc with my schedule. Ended up with 8 hours on the bike, 2 hours running, and 2 hrs in the gym. Still not what I had planned. This week is shaping up just like last week as I had to skip my 2hr MTB ride today due to rain/freezing rain. I was at work this morning praying for snow so I could ride this afternoon, no good, just soggy rain.

During my ride home from work today I said hello to the pavement in the most personable way possible. It was about 28 degrees and raining, the bike trail was rideable, just wet. I did notice that the trees, bushes and grass were showing the signs of freezing rain, but it never occurred to me to check my speed heading into the first bridge. Minor oversight, as soon as my front wheel hit the ice covered bridge, I was on the ground and my bike skidding ahead, nearly traveling the entire length of the bridge. No serious injuries, thankfully, just maybe a bruised hip. Lesson learned, bridges walked thereafter. Upon returning home, a layer of thin ice covering my entire body had me shedding clothes immediately post commute and dreaming of warm Spring days.

Added another race to my schedule, the Spa City Du. I'm really excited about this race, been wanting to participate for a couple of years but it never has worked out. This year I am putting it as a priority race and I will make the start line.

As I type, freezing rain continues, I hope power doesn't go out.

Spring Like

2009-01-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

Today's high hit 60 degrees! It hasn't been this warm here in a long time and the bonus was that the wind was light to non existent. Went outside for lunch today and really seriously thought about hopping on my bike and just riding away. I ended up cutting away from work 30 minutes early, Smuckers and I had a solid run. A few pics:

A Solid Week and a New Look

2009-01-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

I was growing tired of the look of the blog so I decided to do a few changes. I wish I new a little more about computers so I could really customize the look, right now I'm stuck with the pre-made templates.

The new pic on the header was taken today during a ride on Kessler. There is a tree that lays over the trail at a height of bout 6 feet, just perfect height to take self photos. I think it turned out ok.

This past week was absolutely terrible for training, Friday was the only day above freezing with a couple days only seeing highs in the low 20's. I still managed 6 hours on the bike(all outdoors), 3 runs(2.25 hours total), and 2 weight training sessions. Not near the volume I wanted, but given the circumstances, I'll take it. This week I have gotten off on the right foot with a 2.5 hour mountain bike ride at Kessler. I threw in a few hill repeats to test out the legs. They responded better than I expected. I climbed strong and cleaned several technical sections I usually have to dab once or twice.Headwaters Challenge is just two and a half weeks away. I need my climbing legs for this ride. HC is an awesome ride through some really rugged country led by How Kuff and Ira White. How lives in the area and Ira grew up there. They have both constructed some really killer trails. The ride is just over 34 miles but will take close to five hours to complete, you have to earn every mile here.

Where's My Money?

2009-01-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

The Bicycle Commuter Act. A step in the right direction. I'm going to ask my employer to participate, I encourage you to do the same, let's get the word out.

One of my favorite websites, Copenhagen Cycling Chic, shows commuting as it should be.

Recovery

2009-01-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

This past week I posted the lowest training volume I can recall. I logged 6 hours on the bike, no running, no swimming, and only two short dog walks(sorry Smuckers). That's it. I felt like I was behind the eight ball all week after getting in late Sunday/early Monday from the race in Shreveport. I really didn't sleep that night, I'm not sure why, my mind and body just wouldn't settle down. I was zombie like the next day at work. Next time I will schedule a vacation day for the day after a race. I did manage to commute to work everyday last week with some extended trips on the way home, no intensity.

I had big plans for this weekend, a long slow mtb ride at Lake Sequoyah to scout a route for the FTS group ride that will start next spring. I woke on Saturday morning to 30 degrees and a strong north wind, I cracked. Just had no motivation to get out and ride. My body still felt a little fatigued, so I decided to just rest. I ran a couple errands and cooked a good dinner, other than those two things I did pretty much nothing. I did take a nap, that's something, right? I guess I just needed the day to fully recover

Today I woke up feeling great. I had two things to accomplish today, ride my mountain bike for at least 2 hours and get my dog on a long hike. The ride came first, I got to Hobb's at 1030 and it was cold but I wasn't going to let that stop me. When I left my house it was 25 with a wind chill of 17, brrr! I was dressed appropriately with only my toes being uncomfortable by the end of the ride. Hammered out two large loops of 10 miles a piece with a ride time of 2 hours feeling really good. Next came the dog, I took Smuckers and Randi out to the trail and let them loose for about 1.5 hrs.

After the hike, my legs were feeling a little heavy so I went home and broke out the new recovery aid. I have to say I am impressed so far. About ten minutes with the Stick and then 30 minutes stretching have my legs feeling snappy. I was surprised when I worked on my calves, I found several spots in both calves that needed much attention. Also, my new hydration pack worked well. I didn't notice it at all and that's a good thing.

Time to get ready for the work week. Here are a few pics of the trail at Hobb's, sweet singletrack.

A New Era

2009-01-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

I don't get caught up in having the latest, greatest equipment. I ride a bike frame from 2002 and only replace parts when they break or stop functioning properly. Ride it till it breaks has always been my motto. My lack of current technology really was magnified this past weekend as both my travel companions were sporting brand new bikes. I immediately felt the need to procure a new ride, however, I have come to my senses. My Scalpel is more than adequate for my skill level. As long as this bike is functioning properly, I will continue to ride and race my Scalpel 1000.

This brings me to the reason for the title to this post and the motivation for typing. I won a new backpack hydration system at the raffle drawing at the Dustbuster MTB Race. It's a nice North Face pack, solid black with a lot more storage than my old Camelback MULE. The extra storage will be welcomed in the summer when long rides from work are the norm. I feel that I need to say something about my outgoing pack. Yeah, I'm a little nutty. It has been a great pack and nothing is wrong with it. It has been bombproof. Me and that pack have been through many adventures, some good, some bad, and some unforgettable. The pack is a very important piece of equipment and I hope my new pack performs as good as the Camelback.

Old Pack: Trusted, Proven, Still Kickin

New Pack: Unknown, Flashy
I plan to put the new pack through some long rides this weekend to see how it performs. Gonna hold onto the old CB till then.

Goin' Down to Shreveport

2009-01-05T15:56:00.000-08:00

Sing the title in your best Waylon Jennings voice. I headed down to Shreveport with a couple of friends, Max and Mike, for the Dust Buster mountain Bike race at the Monkey Trail. River City Cycling and Fitness put on the race and did a fantastic job.
We took off from Fayetteville early Saturday morning with a pit stop in Van Buren to pick up Mike. About five hours later we arrived in Shreveport and the mid 80 degree temps seemed suffocating in pants and fleeces. However, I was stoked to ride in shorts and sleeves and to show my friends this absolutley awesome trail. It didn't disapoint. They both loved the trail, it was fast! The race loop was 8 miles, they cut the last two really technical miles out. At first I was mad they had shortened the loop, race day I would be thankful. After two laps, we headed over to my parents house for some awesome eats and some well deserved rest. Mom killed the dinner, sauteed veggies, Steak Tornadoes, squash casserole, cranberry salad, rice with spinach and capers, grainy wheat bread and more, I am sure I left something out. Bottom line it was great, thanks Mom.
Race Day:
It is both a blessing and a curse to have a race start at 2p. We had a very chill morning, talking bikes, telling race stories and drinking plenty of coffee. We made it to the race site by 1145, plenty of time, no rushing around trying to get ready. This year I have to decided to do more focused warm-ups. Previous years I just got out there and moved around for 15-30 minutes, I always felt like crap the first thirty minutes of a race. For this race, I warmed up for a solid 45 minutes with a few race pace, short climbs that really taxed the legs. The result, I had one of my best starts. By best start I mean I was able to hang within sight of the leaders without feeling like I wanted to puke. My class(sport) had two waves, I was in the first. The race starts, vigorous pace, and I enter the singletrack 11 visible riders ahead of me. In the next 3 miles I manage to pass eight racers due to them not being able to handle the technical sections. They were very gracious to move out of the way when they dabbed a section. For the next five miles I hung on to a wheel of a fellow racer only to pass him at the start finish line. I felt good for most of the second lap, only passed twice, once by the eventual winner, only to fade in the last three miles. Both my legs and my upper body became fatigued, also a nagging pain in my lower back. I was out sprinted at the line, actually I didn't even respond, just watched him ride past me to the finish line. I finished 7th and only two minutes off of 2nd. I was pleased. I didn't have high expectations for this race, I just wanted to get in an effort, mission accomplished.

Edit- results are posted here

New Years Day

2009-01-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

I took it easy last night so I would be ready for the group ride today hosted by Chris of Highroller. You never know what you will get on these rides, sometimes there is a large group of very fast mountain bikers and then sometimes it is a mellow relaxed ride. Today only three showed, including me. The pace stayed mellow and I ended up with right at 20 miles total in 2.5 hours. Kessler will wear you out, it is a technical trail with a lot of climbing. I am feeling the effort in my entire body. I need to ride there more often.

Chris showed us the man-made cave he found while scouting a new section of trail. He thinks it was used as cold storage many years ago for a nearby resort. This thing is amazing, I can only imagine the hours of hard labor that went into building this. On top is about 4ft of dirt, so much that full grown trees have enough to anchor themselves. Both ends are open now, but you can tell that the cave used to be closed on both ends. There is also remnants of a trail that leads in the direction of the old resort.
The race is on for this weekend! It will be a quick trip, leaving Sat morning and returning on Sunday after the race. The problem with this is that the race doesn't start until 2p. Ugh! Should arrive home sometime around midnight. I haven't raced my mountain bike in a long time, I have almost forgotten what it feels like. My division will be racing 2 laps of an ~8 mile loop, the race website says 8 miles but I remember it being 9 miles. Any way, should be fun. I'm just looking to throw down a solid effort.

Happy New Year!

Back Home

2008-12-28T15:52:00.000-08:00

I'm back home now from visiting family, to much food and to little activity. I was able to get out on a few hikes, two "bushwacks" and one trip up Roundtop Mountain. My camera went dead half way through the trip so I wasn't able to get many pictures. Roundtop was awesome. I hiked this trail last spring with my sister when the trees were all leafed out. The trail is a totally different expierence during leaf off. The trail follows a bluff line, you hike up to it then follow at the base. Incredible views of 75 vertical feet of bluffline. Then the trail takes you on top of the bluff. I wish I had pictures, maybe my Dad will send me a few. The trail tops out at 2050 feet, storms were moving into the area so the cloud ceiling was about 1950. It was odd walking into the clouds, kind of like fog but the wind was blowing the clouds around you.

I got some really thoughtful presents, my family rocks. My aunt Judy saw the post about my Snappy Cap getting chewed and contacted Susan to make me another one. Thanks Judy, awesome gift. My Grandma also came through with a much needed gift and my parents hooked me up with a planter, can't describe it in words, only a pic will do it justice.
I love it. This spring, an asparagus fern is getting planted for his hair. Kind of looks like Side Show Bob. Not in the picture is a bicycle planter my Mom got me for my birthday some years ago. I love to garden/landscape and I am stoked to have a house this year where I can do those activities. Large veggie garden is in the works for 2009.

Today I got out for a two hour road ride on the mountain bike. Temps were really not bad,48 deg., I was in shorts, two jerseys and arm warmers. I was a little under dressed as I started to get uncomfortably cold as the sun began to set about 4p. A big weekend coming up, my first mountain bike race of the year! This was a spur of the moment type of decision. A buddy of mine wanted to race and is willing to drive, also the trail is about 45 minutes from my parents home. How could I say no. Should be interesting, I'm not exactly in the best shape right now. Oh well, I'm just going to make it a spirited group ride.

Avoiding The Crowds

2008-12-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

I had some last minute Christmas shopping to wrap up today and was really dreading fighting the masses. I hate crowds and really despise heavy traffic, so I hit up the bike trail and avoided all the traffic. Not to mention I was able to park literally at the front door of all the places I shopped today, no hunting for parking spaces.

Photos!

One more day of work and then off to Jasper to spend some time with the family. No riding for the next few days, however, I should get in a run or two and some kick ass hiking. Newton County has some of the best hiking, I truly love this part of Arkansas. I'll have some photos on Saturday. Happy Holidays.

A Cold Ride on Mt. Kessler

2008-12-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

When I woke this morning, I was greeted with very warm temps. 55 degrees to be exact. These are the clothes I picked out for my ride today.
I knew there was a cold front coming through sometime today, I just didn't know when. The last thing I wanted to happen is getting caught out in shorts when the temp drops 20 degrees. So, I checked the weather channel's hour by hour, sure enough, I would have froze in the above outfit about half way through the ride. I decided to run some errands and gear up for a winter weather mountain bike ride. By the time I got to the trail, the temp was 32 with a strong north wind. The current wind chill is 20. I felt fine on the trail, but the ride home was frigid. Total elapsed time was 3hrs, my computer says 2.5hrs. The reason for the discrepancy, I took a lot of pictures, enjoy.

Enjoy it While It's Here

2008-12-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

Warmer temps are here. It has been a tough week dealing with the frigid temps during my commute to work. Not much training so far this week other than the ride to and from work. I do try and pick out a hill or two, going out of my way to find an incline. Tonight I was able to get out on a short run with Smuckers. The temps were balmy, I was out in shorts and long sleeves as temps were in the upper fifties. I managed to snap a few pics while we were out.
The square looks great

Here are a few of Smuckers from Saturday
These two pics were taken on a steep downhill section of trail. The pics don't show how steep.

The weather looks ok for outdoor activities this weekend. Saturday's forecasted high is 60, awesome. Sunday it turns cold again with a high of 30. Wacky weather.

TG Points

2008-12-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

Do I get any tough guy points for commuting to work this morning? Air temp was 17, wind chill of 2, head wind the entire ride in, does this count? I guess it depends on who you ask and where they live. The fact that I was riding yesterday in shorts and sleeves made this ride so tough. Everyone at work thinks I'm crazy, but they had those feelings from the beginning when I told them I rode my bike to work.

I apologize to anyone who reads my blog that lives somewhere that it actually gets really cold in the winter and still manages to ride their bike. You are probably scoffing at my rants about how "cold" it is here. Sorry. It's all relative. To me and what I'm used to, it's cold, damn cold.

Tomorrow morning will be a repeat of today, cold and windy.