5.5 hrs of not sucking!

Rock'n it Cali style

Sweet, I rocked the new kits today!  They are awesome and I appreciate Dan from Hidden Bay makign the deliver yto the 212 doorstep right before we left!  The new kits rock and the changes to the 2010 shorts are awesome!

So today's ride we rallied up Mt Tam and then back down to Stinson Beach, up Muir Wood, then finished at the coffee shop!  Mmmm!  Gotta love it!  Michelle even finished the day with a big smile on her face and set bunches of good power numbers today!  She seems to be enjoying the bike again and her competitive spirit is taking over!  Here are some shots of the day! 

The group leaving in the morning!

Here we are rolling down to Stinson Beach! Kept wanting to look around and ride off the edge!

A look at the city!  Is their food down there!  I am getting hungry!!

An awesome day and things are just getting going!

Care package

So this is the Adventure 212 Team Care Package.  Thanks to Specialized and Hidden Bay!! 

Building Character

So everyone has those rides, well mine came today!  I have always had it explained to me as a spring, the further you push it down the further it rebounds.  You try not to push it down too fast though cause it will break!  Well I hit bottom at the end of a 3 week block, so perfect!  Guess bossman hit that one right.  Now it is some riding the Denzer way tomorrow with Ryan, Lisa, and gang, then a nice recovery week before heading off to Cali for Training camp round 2!  Sweet.  Not sure what bossman has in store for me but he said he is bringing in some ringers to beat up on me cause he doesn't want to work too hard!  Guess we will see about that one! 

On other news I have a Quarq set up for Michelle when we get into camp!  Will be good for her to have a nice power meter.  She has been training hard and starting to look very fit.  Watch out this year girls! 

Detour

So yesterday was a tough day to keep pushing forward on the training schedule.  I am nearing the end of week 3, I am sore, and I am tired.  Needless to say mother nature has not cooperated on the rain front this time.  I guess at least it is not 20 and just dumping snow, but with the roads the way they are I am just ripping through bike products with all the sand and wet.  Today seems to be more of the same with visibility down to a half mile and rain in the forecast for the next 3 days. 

So yesterday out on the ride I came to that turning point of the day!  So what do you do? 

P.R.O

So got my liscense yesterday and for the 3rd year it has those 3 letters on it, PRO?  So what does that mean?  I have seen it explained on several different websites and it is always different.  I have seen everything to explaining our riding abilities to the fact that we make money doing this?  Both are disputable cause I have seen a lot of PRO riders that cannot ride and I sure do not make any money at this?  So what does it really mean?  After a day of pondering I think I might have it figured out:

Probable Riding Obsession

Roster set......

Lots of riding with the early spring.  Have been loving every minute of it!  Also been getting set for heading out West and some of the last minute prep on getting everyone's stuff for the upcoming season.  For the upcoming season, our roster is set.  I really appreciate all the interest for joining the team this year.  I saw lots of great race resumes and I really wish that I could of brought everyone to the team, but have to keep to the budget.  With that said, here is the list, it is going to be an awesome season!!!

                 

Fair weather cycling!

So all the fair weather people are coming out with the warm up in weather.  It is great to see, I think that the overall mood of the entire community has increased 10 fold!  This last couple days though I have to complain about this one guy on a bike.  He keeps drafting off me for hours on end and when he does finally pull through he must be riding one of those UCI banned TT bikes cause I do not get any type of draft!!  Not fair.  He is also fast!  Whenever I put the hammer down he sticks with me like glue.  It is kind of annoying that he has showed up just these last couple days cause it would of been nice during those long snowy rides!!  I have heard others say that they have seen him as well and it is nice to see he's out, and I must agree, lets hope for many more rides with him....................

Shread'n

Tires that is.  I got out about an hr on my ride and flatted up front.  Started to fix the flat and noticed that the entire tread was coming off the tire!  Guess I should change tires more often, that one was put on the bike last May!!  Since it was so early in the ride I ended up turning around and changing the tire out and grabbing a fresh tube.  Once going again, I felt like Eeyore!

The dang snow clound would never leave me!  I felt like it snowed the entire time and when I looked at the radar there was just a small patch of snow out there.  I wish I could go back and follow the snows route, it would probably match the Garmin file I have!!

On the team front, sounds like everyone is training pretty hard to get ready for the new season.  I know Big D has been training down in Indiana.  When we were headed to Kentucky he mentioned that he was riding with some guys getting prepped for the Little 500!  I am waiting to hear the news that he got on a team for that!!  I would drive down there to watch if that was the case!  I would take my own heckling crowd as well!! 

Joy and excitment!

So there is one question I always get asked either by other cyclists or by those that do not understand the sport at all, "How many miles did you go?"  That is where the mistake begins, it is not at all about the number of miles, but the time!  Whenever it is thought about in miles it feels like it is a quantified amount of work that must be done.  Whenever I think about a ride as time, I think about the amount of time I get to spend doing one of the best activities out there!  I love to ride my bike.  It has even been better this year.  The past 3 years have been really busy for me, 3 years ago I built Adventure 212, 2 years ago our house, last year I did a huge Crestron System that took me 11 months to complete.  This year, nothing but bike riding!  I finally feel like I have a complete work team that allows me to just check in with them in the morning, answer any questions, then it is time to go ride!! It is awesome and relaxing! 

For more excitement, my basement looks like a bike shop.  Michelle and I went to DePere on Thursday night to have dinner with Pete and Sara at Calientes and to pick up the first round of team supplies.  There was so much, that I had to drive home with the truck bed cover open!!  It is great to have such a great relationship with an incredible sponsor like Specialized.  This year Team Adventure 212/Specialized will be rocking everything Specialized related this year.  Shoes, Gloves, Glasses, Helmets, Gloves, Tires, and bikes.  Speaking of bikes here is my new race rig!

Sorry for the poor picture, but best I can do with my cell phone and a couple lattes!!  It came straight out of the box at just a shy over 21 pounds!  Not bad, by the time I get the sweet Easton products on it, the No Tubes wheels, and mount some Renegades up tubeless it should be around 20 pounds.  Here is also a pic of a couple more team bikes, work still needed:

This year is going to be fun!!

Training Camp Take 2......Booked!

Michelle and I just booked everything to head to sunny California!  The first week we plan to head here for some fun with the bossman!  Should be a good time!!  Last year we did this in Solvang and it's the closest you can come to feeling like a pro.  You get up in the morn, breakfast is ready for you, you go ride all day with a support vehicle following, at the end of the day you hand over your bike to a mechanic, then you book your nightly massage and wait for dinner!!  If you are interested hit the link above.  This year I might be doing things a little different since my harness was on pretty tight and was not able to just let er rip!! Thinking most of my rides might be more on my own?  Guess we will see? 

For the 2nd week we will be in Solvang.  Not sure exactly all the details down here yet, but TSP and Di will be down there with some others from Duluth.  I will get to see how many trips I can get up Figueroa Mountain before complete leg shutdown!! Last year I made 3.   

On the MTB front, 3 of the 6 team bikes are in as well as a lot of the accessories!  Merry Christmas to Team Adventure 212!  Thansk Bill, Pete, and Specialized!!

In search of power!

So the last month I have been riding my Tricross with studded tires and no power meter.  Being an engineer I have always obsessed about the numbers, but this year is different.  I just have been riding bikes and loving it.  On the other hand, bossman (who still doesn't have his internet site up and running!) keeps wanting to see some numbers!  I keep telling him that he will get nothing till March and like it, but I gave in seeing that I am paying him to make me faster.  So with the warmer temps, and the melted roads I got out on the road bike yesterday and today.  I should of parked it today though!!  It snowed almost the entire ride today and was just annnoying.  Wet feet, wet butt, and just cold.  Either way this is what it looked like pulling back into the drive!

So whenever the weather sucks and Michelle asks me what my ride is, I always tell her the length plus one!  That extra one is for cleaning!  Suck!  If anyone out there is looking for some serious testing and wear and tear on your equipment, send it to a midwest rider, we can destroy anything in a single winter season!!

On a non biking front, I am off to a charity dinner for the humane society called Wags to Wishes. Thats not bad, should be good food after a long ride, the problem is that it is formal!  Suit formal!  Suck!

Laying low

So it never fails!  You ride through snow storms and whatever mother nature throws at you, then when you get a recovery week you get some of the best weather of the winter!  It is supposed to be almost 40 here today and I do not even have a ride scheduled.  Might have to pull the commuter out just to go get groceries or something!! 

Other than that, been catching up on lots of things I have been putting off.  Built a new wheel yesterday for Michelle's powertap.  The old one was flexing so bad that it was wearing the spoke nipples to the point of the caps breaking off.

Been also dreaming of a new road bike.  I have enjoyed my Tricross so much that I keep looking at one of the new Tarmacs.  As I stated earlier I am starting year number 6 on my Seven.  That has got to be a bike record for me!  Longest I have ever kept a bike, but not like you ever unload on a custom built bike!! 

On other news, Michelle was on a TV interview this morning for Project Linus cause we are donating the space here at Adventure 212 this weekend for the event.  She did a good job!

Nascar Sunday...

Never thought about it, but I love NASCAR Sunday! And to think we always make fun of TSP for driving the big conversion van with the sunoco racing stickers!!  The reason I love it is everyone must of been busy watching the race here in Wisco. cause I only got passed by somehting like 5 cars today during my ride!!  Sweet!  Now I am not making fun of it, I myself have been to Daytona and Richmond to watch races.  One of the most interesting events that I think I have ever seen in person. 

On the riding side, or recovery side??  When we built our house about a year ago, the appliance retailer sold me on our fridge cause they told me it would keep veggies and fruits fresh for 6 weeks?  Not sure how that became the selling point for me cause I am going to have the entire thing empty in about 6 hours!!!

We ride to eat!  At least that is why I do it!  OK, it is also a lot of fun too!

Rough start...

This is what I woke up to today! Empty espresso grinder!!

To those non addicts, it is like getting off the airplane, waiting at the oversized luggage for an hour, and your race bike doesn't show up!  Suck!