Tuesday Night Rat Ride.

Spring is here and it was over 70 degrees today. That means it's time for the Pro Cycling group ride. Every Tuesday at 5:30 we all meet at the new Pro Cycling location and set out to suffer for about 1.5 hours. No holding back since the ride is so short. And that means pain is going to be a reality. Ummm, I had a grim realization that I haven't been riding hard too much this winter. Ouch!

Here is the sawtooth profile of this evening's adventure:

The huge wind gusts added to the fun. Nothing like descending a pot-hole filled road and having side wind gusts trying to steer you into said pot-holes. Good times!

My lovely wife coined the term "rat ride" and I like it. Just in case you were wondering.

Hiking with new toys

I just received my new i-gotU GPS (http://www.amazon.com/GT-200-i-gotU-Bluetooth-Version-Chipset/dp/B001ADEIQI/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t#moreAboutThisProduct) in the mail the other day so I decided to try it out on the Manitou Incline today with Cindy.

The snow from yesterday is already starting to melt but not before I could snap these cool pics:

Here is the interactive map of the hike. The easiest thing to do is click on the little play button on the upper left side of the page. You can also click on the faster button to speed things up.

 http://www.a-trip.com/tracks/view/45294

Everything old is new again (part 2).

One of my favorite things about being a mountain biker and having knowledge of a vast amount of fun trails and routes is taking my friends on a trail that they've never been on. I look at that same old trail as if I am the one who has never seen it before and it becomes new to me again.
Today it was Scott's turn to experience the 1000 turns of Lake Pueblo State Park:

2 feet behind him is a 30 foot drop into some cold reservoir water.

Matt was there to join the fun.

We also had an unexpected visitor.

Bald is cool!

Mission accomplished. Scott had a great time. Spring is growing ever closer and that means epic season is closing fast. Are you ready?

Sometimes you don't know what you're missing.

I'm sitting here on a Sunday night, reflecting on Saturday's activities and thought I'd pass it on.

Saturday started with the idea of driving down to Pueblo and riding at the State Park. That is a fun time but I have been recovering from a pretty nasty cold-like virus and didn't want to get there only to feel bad and have less fun. Plan B was to ride with Cindy (my wife) around Garden of the Gods and then part ways with her and just pedal around, trying to remember how after so much time on the sofa.
Thus, the inspiration for this post was born. After riding a few laps in the Garden with Cindy, I headed into Manitou to visit and drink from the 7 Minute Spring (the sacred place of our wedding almost 16 years ago!). After that, I made my way towards the Norris Penrose Events Center to visit the Bike show. On the way, I decided to detour up 26th street to Gold Camp road. I stumbled on a Pikes Peak Velo group ride and shadowed them for a while and chatted with an older gentleman who was rapidly getting dropped. He was so nice and really seemed to enjoy the ride despite being dropped by his much younger team-mates. I rolled past the other riders as they were stopped to wait for him. Continuing on the climb I saw several more cyclists and others headed towards the hills for various reasons. There sure are many ways to enjoy being outdoors in Colorado Springs on an early spring day.
Soon, I was turning around at the point where Gold Camp Road turns to dirt and coasting back down into the city. Got to the bike show and surprise, they had valet bike parking. Pure class! I saw many friends, old and new and even a former in-law (although he will always be my 'bro!). The legs were beginning to stiffen up, so I figured it was time to bail on the bike show. I wanted to get some more ride time so I headed south and then dropped back into downtown Colorado Springs, riding close to cars and pretending I was a NYC bike messenger.
It was about this time I started having deja vu feelings. When I was younger, I was always training to be a bike racer and I lived on my bike. I did rides like this all of the time and thought nothing of it. Now that I'm older, I am seeing the streets and trails from a different perspective. I found myself noticing more about the homes, the other cyclists, the huge potholes all over the streets and the traffic. It's kind of hard to explain the feeling of viewing the world from the seat of a bicycle, especially to people who's cycling experiences ended when they got a driver's license. For some reason on Saturday I was a teenager on a BMX bike, a twenty-something on a mountain bike, a thirty-something on a beach cruiser and a forty-something on a road bike.

All of those experiences added up to the indescribably unique feeling I got on a simple road bike ride around town. Pretty cool day.

Go ride your bike. Take the back roads and bike paths. Don't sweat the stop signs or lights. Stop and drink some spring water. Talk to people along the way. You never know what you are missing if you don't.

"I can't wait to ride the trainer."

When was the last time you heard a cyclist say THAT?
As strange as it may seem, I have been saying that quite frequently since I picked up a Tacx VR trainer (http://www.tacxvr.com/en/products/vr-trainers-intro) from The Colorado Cyclist.
This amazing piece of machinery will keep you entertained and working hard during your workout.

This is the setup I have: Tacx i-magic T-1900 with VR steering frame. I built the little stand that the mini-notebook sits on. I found an old Polar heartrate strap in a drawer and it works with this unit!

You will need a computer of some kind. I hooked it up to my desktop at first, but the trainer took up the whole computer room and made quite a racket downstairs in the room below. I don't have a laptop but I do have a mini-notebook which works really good if you can build a custom stand for it so it will be close to you while you ride. This also let me put the trainer in the basement workout room where it is cooler and quieter.

In your face. Just be careful not let the sweat fly onto the computer screen.

The software on this unit is fairly good....after you spend a lot of time learning how to install and use it. There are several courses in the virtual reality section and many pre-programmed riders to ride with. You can also log onto the internet and ride with people world-wide (for a fee). My favorite feature is riding against my virtual self. Every ride is saved and you are given the option to ride against your former self. Today I rode against two other me's and finished in between. I may have done better but I was also trying to get used to the steering frame which had me riding in the gutter a lot! When that happens, it gets really hard to pedal and you have to straighten up fast or lose a lot of time.

Here is one of the many courses available. There are both mountain bike and road courses in the program.

The trainer I am using doesn't let you coast, so if you ride an hour, you are pedaling for an hour. I was looking at the more expensive unit and it actually coasts down hills! That would be weird. I have noticed that time really flies on this trainer- especially with the steering frame. You can also program your own ride if you really are serious about interval training.

Let it snow, rain, sleet and blow. I can always ride the trainer.

New feature on the blog page!

The GM at work (Dean) clamped an old arm-rest in the vise next to my work-bench the other day. He said it's for all of the people who hang out and talk to me while I toil away building bikes and such.
Hmmmm, I think I will snap a cell-phone pic of everyone who uses that arm-rest and post it on my blog page. Who knows who you might see in those pics?
I shall do my best to keep it updated every so often....

Trail Ridin' with Buck (the dog)

For some reason, I thought today would be a good day to ride the Falcon Trail on the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Uhhh, it's February, it's been snowing, it's been melting and turning to ice then snowing some more....denial really helps you out the door.
I had a few volunteers to join in the fun. Matt D (of course), Daniel M, Heather E and Buck the dog!
Daniel is a coach at CTS and races in the Pro class on a mountain bike. He is a very animated rider and fun to follow.  Buck (Daniel's dog) is a German Short-haired Pointer and in phenomonal shape. He pretty much leads the ride and if he's not leading, he's looking for a line around you! If there was a Pro class for trail dogs, Buck would be factory sponsored.

Here's Buck looking to fuel up.

Trail conditions were as expected. Muddy, snowy, icy, fun. Buck led the way and took some sweet cheater lines. His all-paw-drive system was working over-time in these conditions but he never seemed to fatigue. Daniel had a flat which gave me time to grab a snack and snap this picture:

Fixing a flat with Blodgett's Peak in the background.

Oh, I also had my Helmet Hero cam mounted on my stem to catch all of the action. Grab some popcorn and click "play".

Trail Ridin' with Buck (the dog) from Alan Keeffe on Vimeo.