Bike Life Products....GO!

Not much to post, got in a nice 50 miles yesterday! Working a ton today!Remember to wear sunscreen...I did not yesterday. Thankful for the Tan lines, but not thankful for the BURN!

Check out the new products on www.shoressports.com We have added some Bike Life Products to our sites. We are featuring Cobbles for March and April in honor of the Spring Classics! Get yours why the last!

See you on the Road or Dirt!

GO!

Tough Training Block, Some Crit Racing and a New Bike!

This last week was interesting! I had a huge block of training scheduled. It was Spring Break, which meant all of our kids activities came to a screaching hault! Which in turn is good for more family time, but squeazing in training, work and family is not an easy task! I am very fortunate to be married to someone who is just as active in her competitive life as I am in my Bike Life! Otherwise this whole thing just doesn't work and I might weigh 20 - 30 lbs more and be miserable!

When I woke up on Monday, I was sick! I knew right away that the last time I felt this way, I was down for the count and had no energy to workout at all. So, I took immediate action. I went and worked for a little bit and then headed straight to the Med Clinic for some Antibiotics! I am not a big fan of taking a lot of medicine, but when you need it it is like a miracle. I also did a lot of going to bed early last week, pumped myself full of Orange Juice and dove straight into the busy week!

Work was work, not much to say, it is about to get crazy busy in both business's. So, I spend most of my time dealing with TIME! It is the thing you cannot get back, no matter what kind of money or how important you think your JOB, TIME is not on your side! So, planning is a big part of my life. Meetings, Training, Family time, and time to just hangout with my wife! I am pretty good at balancing this out, but being sick throws that off a bit.

Training:
I hit the road for some intensity this week with one long ride planned at the end of the week. Quickly followed by a Critirium race on Saturday. My focus this year has been on strength and increasing my power! The past few weeks it has been evident that this is working. I was pretty nervous adding so much strength training to my program. When I do the leg block in the gym, it totally rips me apart! Seriously, I have a hard time walking up and down the stairs. The blocks consist of 3 movements. Two focused on reps and standard strength moves (squats, lunges, etc.) the 3rd is usually some crazy plyometric (Box Jumps for example). But, we do them in a 3 movement sequence. It has been a real education for me in the gym again. But, I am seeing the results! That is really what matters and adding more intensity time on the bike has made for some weird feelings in my legs that I have not experienced in years! Not all good, but knowing that I am tearing myself down so that when I rest I am getting stronger.

The hardest part of my week was Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday concerning my training. Tuesday and Friday included riding and weights. Friday was a longer ride on the trails followed by an hour plus in the weight room. It was nice to get oin some Mountain Biking. It has been such a wet winter, the trail riding has been hard to come by around my house. Saturday was all intensity at a local Training Criterium. I had points from last week and thought, that it would be great to see how the sprinting goes this week on some pretty heavy legs. The race was actually fairly controlled this week and everyone was content to sit in and wait it out until each sprint lap for points. The 1st sprint lap was a little crazy. There were about 8 riders who were ahead of me on the final straight before the last corner and then the sprint to the finish line. I was in horrible position, but knew if I got around the corner in 6th, I could slip into that top 4 somehow? Wrong! When I hit the corner, one of the guys stopped pedalling, which is bad! I nearly took him out and had another rider pushing his bars into my Right hip. I slowed and had to bail on the points for that sprint. One down, no points! On the second sprint, I took no chances, moved up to 6th and was in 5th coming around the corner. I nipped Jim Whitaker at the line for 3rd. He is the current points leader and is the race promoter. On the 3rd Sprint, the week started catching up to me! I had little pop and struggled to hang on for 4th. Still getting a point, but it is a good lesson! I knew my legs were getting slower and heavy. So, staying in the top 3 around the final corner, allowed me to get 4th in that sprint. Sometimes not the fastest, but smartest rider wins a race or a sprint. The final lap was only 2 laps after the last points sprint. Eight places get points in the final sprint. I really wanted to go for a win, but I was lucky to get 5th in the final sprint. Ending a tough training week and managing 4th overall for the day. I am not sure where I am in the series. Top 5 get some sort of money. I will not be at the race this next Saturday. I think I can make one more for the series and see where I stand? No need to get too hyped up, it is only March, but all signs are go here for what could be an incredible season on the Road and Mountain Bike? Time will only tell on that one?

New Bike

The new bike was not for me this time. It is for that special girl in my life, well one of the special girls! My daughter and I ventured to Bikesource this afternoon. They have a great selection of kids bikes. Probably the best I have seen at any local bike shop around. You get the same maintenance warranty as a geared bike for a year. So, it is worth a little extra money for a bike that has been put together by a real bike mechanic. Remember, your kid is going to ride this bike! The last thing you want is for a wheel to fall off while they are trying to cross the street! So, of course we ended up with a Purple Bike (Giant) with a basket and a bell. This is really all she requested. It is amazing how happy a kid can be when they have a new bike! She is pretty proud of it and her brother is happy as he has now moved on to his sisters glide bike. Watchout neighborhood! My kids will be on the loose riding all over the place before you know it!

Spring has definetly sprung and my family is going to enjoy every bit of this nice weather! Get out and ride!

Go!

Montana, Skate Skiing, and Racing in Kansas!

This past week was a blur! A good blur! But, it is back to reality of work, family, and trying to train! I was in Montana last week working on a new project with a good friend, Rick Finley. I was the Best Man in his wedding years ago and introduced him to his wife while we were going to school together at The University of Kansas. We have had some Epic rides and races in our day together. It was a long overdue visit out to see him in Helena, MT. He has lived there for 8 years now! Man where does time go?

The photo above is of the Capital Building of Monatana located in Helena. Rick lives about a stones throw away and he lives on the side of a Mountain. Pretty interesting and historic town. The city was a Mining Town and there are all kinds of old beautiful homes with spectacular views. It is situated in a valley. Mountains all around. You cannot get lost, you just have to know what Mountain range is North, South, East and West of the City. For cycling it offers some pretty incredible climbing opportunities and some less challenging loops around the Valley. Pretty optimal for training on a bike most of the year around. The Mountain biking looks pretty incredible too. Too much snow for that at the moment. It is colder hear for sure than in New Mexico. But, when it is cold you go Cross Country Skiing or Downhill Skiing. Either one is fine by me!

We did a first and maybe an only when I was in town. The picture above shows us on our "Skate Ski's". It is a form of Cross Country Skiing in which you push off the ski's much like you are skating. Simple for a guy who grew up on a pair of skates right? WRONG! The first day was pretty brutal for me, a huge learning curve. You do not push off with the ball of your foot when you are trying to move forward as in inline skating. You push off with the middle of your foot with your knee pointed inward. You really work the inside of your thighs and of course your entire lower extremity. We did about 10 miles of skiing my first day. It took close to 2 hrs for this activity! I was spent!

On our 2nd day, I was getting the hang of this thing. We covered about the same distance in about 1.5 hrs. Not bad for a rookie at 6800FT! The altitude did not get me, but going up hill on ski's is a difficult task for a guy from Kansas! We of course could not leave out the bike on this trip. That afternoon, we set the road bikes up and went out for about 1.5 hrs. easy spin. So, 3 hours of training split up between Skate Skiing and cycling. I am not sure when I will have this on my program anytime soon? But, I highly recommend it! The views from the ski's and the bike were spectacular! Definetly was not in Kansas Anymore!

Speaking of Kansas!? I went over to the Spring Fling races this Saturday. I have done 2 road events in about that many years. I have really focused on the Mountain Bike and Cyclocross racing. I raced a ton of Criteriums over the 6 plus years we lived in Tampa, FL. In fact if I still lived their now, the heart of the 1st road season is right now! So, I have the Criterium Skills, but I was thinking I would be a bit rusty. You are also a little nervous when you have not done any real activities at race pace?

My Goal for each race was to finish! The first one on tap was the 35 plus open race. It started off pretty tame. The races are set up as points races. So, during the 15 lap race, they ring a bell at 13, 9, and 5 laps to go. The top 4 earn points for the entire race. You could not win the final Sprint, but still win the race. It keeps you on your toes for sure and the last lap provides 8 places for points deep. I sat out the first 2 sprint laps, just to make sure I was not going to overdue it. The third sprint, I decided to give it a go!? I jumped on Jim Whitaker's wheel around the last corner heading toward the finish line. It was the best idea! Jim pretty much pulled me to the line and about 100 meters to the line, I jumped hard and finished 2nd in that Prime. 3pts!

The rest of the race was about recovering and thinking about the finish. With some confidence and knowing that all of my weight training and riding are really coming together. I thought I might have a shot at taking the final sprint? On the bell lap, I of course searched for Jim's wheel again as was everyone else. Jim has an incredible kick and always has been one of the best sprinters in this area for years! He went a little earlier than I expected and I found myself on his wheel again! This time around the final corner, which was a right hand turn, I could not pedal, but was hanging on like it was a roller coaster. As we headed down the final straight, I hesitated for just a second and then took off for the finish line. I crossed the line in 3rd for the final Sprint. About 1 bike length off of the winner. It was a blast! I ended up in 4th overall concerning the points total, but now I am in good position for the remaining races in this series!

I did the Cat. 4 race and finished 12th. Travis Donn was 6th in his first ever road event. Doesn't surprise me, he is super strong! Jumped in the 3/4 race and pulled out 1/2 the way through. At this point I had done 57 miles of Criterium racing with an average speed of 24.5 mph. I did not see the need in getting hurt. I will definetly be back for a few more of these this year and if all goes well with the my schedule!

It snowed here today and my son has swimming lessons. Might jump on the trainer later for an easy spin, but it has been a busy work day! Back to the bike and the gym tomorrow for sure!Now you know about another day in my Bike Life.