Finally, a warm day

The weather forcast said last Friday and Saturday would be sunny and warm, they were right. I had finished putting my new wheels together and got them on my bike on Thursday so I could take advantage of the weather and get out to ride on Saturday. When I headed out for work Friday morning I looked over to admire the new wheels on my bike only to discover that my back tire was flat...crap. So Friday I got the tube patched and was all ready for Saturday. I checked with the other locals on www.utahmountainbiking.com to find out a good trail that wouldn't be totally covered in snow. The concensus seemed to be a dirt service road above the Orem cemetary. They were right, it was a great ride. Certainly not as fun as some good singletrack but I'll take what I can get this time of year. I don't have a bike computer on my K2 so I don't know how many miles I went but I rode out for about an hour then decided to head back home. I did slip a couple of times but it was almost fun to land into the soft snow banks on the side of the road. The weather was almost too good, by the time I got half way back to the car there were a lot of muddy spots on the road that had been frozen. All in all it was a great ride. We're supposed to get some more snow this week so I'm hoping it will snow enough to cover those bare spots on the road so I can get out again next Saturday. It sure beats riding the trainer in the basement.

Make It Stop

I know I live in northern Utah so it should not be a big surprise that it's snowing every day but seriously this is too much. I think it has been a month since we went more than a day without it snowing. I can't even find icemelt so I just keep the 18" wide strip down my drive way shoveled so it doesn't ice up like the rest. Needless to say, I haven't ridden a bike outside in a couple of months and with all this snow it's going to take a lot of time for it to melt away so springtime riding is delayed except for paved trail and road riding. I'd even be willing to ride on snow covered trails but it snows every Friday and I'm not about to try pusing my bike 6"-12" of new snow. I'd be panting and covered in soon to be frozen sweat before getting 100 yards down the trail. Doesn't sound like much fun.

My motorcycle may be covered in dust by my ideas for great motorcycle trips are as fresh as the snow outside. I've been thinking about doing a Death Valley ride or maybe the Oregon coast. It's apparent that I have cabin fever.

I try to pass the time by putting newly acquired parts on my bikes and working out on the trainer. I have recently purchased a new handlebar and bar ends for my hardtail GT and some new wheels for the full suspension K2. The GT will be my bike for doing XC(cross country) races and the K2 will be for the Super D races that need some decent supension for the more technical stuff. I have a few races lined up which helps with the cabin fever. It looks like I'll be doing 2 or 3 super d races at Sundance, one at Brian Head, another at Bald Mountain and perhaps one more at Deer Valley depending on the date. I'm also going to try to do about 6 of the Wed. night races in midway this summer. They have races every Wed. night, the cost is just $10. They sound like a lot of fun without things being too serious. All this racing, especially the XC races, will help to keep me in shape by providing a little motivation to not come in last place. Although they are 8 months away I'm also really looking forward to trying cyclocross racing. Crazy mad fun in the mud on a skinny tire road bike.

Getting Back Into Shape

I've been getting on the trainer again this. That means two things: getting back into shape and crotch soreness. The former being a heck of a lot better than the latter. I use a mountain bike training DVD when I'm on the trainer most of the time. The DVD is really good and can be had on www.utahmountainbiking.com for reasonable price, well worth the money. Since I can't do the heavy DVD workout every night I have found it works well to watch movies or other things on my portable DVD player. Jen bought me a video of Cream's original farewell concert, they've since gotten back together for a one night show. Anyway, it was just the ticket to keep me interested while I slaved away on the trainer dealing with soreness.

I finally got the dough together to buy my new mountain bike wheels. I broke the front wheel last fall riding at Sundance. So I really stoked to get my full suspension K2 back on the trails. I'm hoping to do some snow riding before things get to soft and mushy. It'll be good cyclocross training and help get me back into shape while having fun. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the trails and road for some actual bike riding instead of the glorified hamster wheel that I ride on most of the time. Jen and I have decided we'll have to work out some sort of compromise. I think she's sick of trainers and stationary bikes in the gym.

Downhill vs Down hill

Since it's cold and raining and I can't ride my bike and haven't been able to all week I thought I'd write a bit about the awesomeness of downhill mountain biking. My downhill is a wussy downhill since I have neither the length of travel necessary on my bike, nor the lack of concern for bodily harm to do serious downhill. So for me downhill is just that down hill, perhaps I should separate the the two words from now on just to differentiate. With that said, I should redeem myself a little and state that I am no stranger to speed and quite enjoy it. I have a 5" full suspension K2 Lithium that I bought used from Sundance. I put on a new front fork and Avid Juicy 5 disc brakes and it is now a sweet bike. I love shooting down the trail, floating over the bumps and carrying speed through the turns, it's an awesome feeling. I used to be one for catching a lot of air but the full suspension is still throwing me off a bit so I need to get a little more used to it before I really let go. Anyway, I'm all about riding the lifts and dropping down the trail, letting gravity do the work.