WOW, 2 Weeks

Well, it has been two weeks since the last up date. Sorry, but you know the saying, I have been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest! Besides work, I have been trying to get some regular training, and doing a project around my house before spring rolls around. I have some renovation that needs to be done before I am released to the racing season. Shelley and I both know that if it doesn't get done before the race season is hear, I will not get done this year.

The past couple of weeks I have been refinishing a ceiling in our living room, painting the living room, and laying wood floors in the living room and entry. I now need to repair the walls in the dining room, and put the new wood floors in there also. The dining room will not take nearly as long. In my estimates, maybe a week.

On the training side, I have been able to get outside some lately. A couple of gravel rides, and the other weekend there was a team training ride. Because of a meeting I was a little late, but met up with them just before Council Grove. It was nice to get out with others. Their was myself along with Matt Brown, Garret Seacat, Chris Wiggins, Jed Samsel, Lyle Reidy, Rand Smith, Bobby Wintle, Dusti Sopoci and Eric Benjamin. It was an awesome day to ride! Pretty warm, and the sun was shining. The following week I got a couple of quality hours a day, and worked on my projects. This past weekend I was unable to get on a bike due to the flooring project, but I got a lot accomplished.

This week has been nice. I have been able to get back out on the bike, and take a little break from the project. This coming weekend....possibly a group ride on Sunday, weather permitting, and start on the last room to get fixed for the year. Then, RACE SEASON CAN COMMENCE!

Review of the week? Since I am at work, and I have the pictures with me, I will review one of my favorite training tools. The Garmin 705. Since I got it a couple of years ago, I have become truly addicted and dependant on it. It this point, I don't know what I would do with out it. This little device can do everything!

Every ride, on the main screen I track speed, time on the bike, heart rate, cadence, distance, total ascent, heading and have a clock. It also tracks the route, and places it on a map so you know exactly where you were, and where you are at! All of the tracking is done by satellite, and you can look at it on Google Earth. You can also punch in where you would like to go, and it will tell you exactly where you need to turn to get there.

One other cool feature that I use on occasion is, I can track the vital statistics on the trainer! It has a handy dandy sensor on the chain stay, and a magnet for the wheel, is on those bad days, you can hook up to the trainer, and still track your speed, time on the bike, heart rate cadence, and distance, because the magnet is on the rear wheel! This thing is SLICK.

Well this thing is getting long, so I am going to let you go for this week. Check back next week to see how the project ends up, how training is going (8 weeks to the first race), and a bike review! I think since it is still winter, I will review the Trek XO next week. Remember, train hard, and keep the rubber side down.

Peace Out!

Welcome to the Mid West!

First off, Matt Brown, down at the highgear bike shop has made the "Official" announcement of this years team! I would like to say that it is a honor to be riding for Highgear this year with so many awesome riders. Matt has assembled an extremely strong team this year. It is truely impressive. I am humbled to think that I will be riding with some of these riders. I have a list of the great sponsors in the right hand column, along with the team roster. Please take some time to look it all over.

Next - Riding! I have finally been released to the outside. The roads have been cleared enough to get some gravel road rides in, and for the next week, the temperatures are suppose to get into the 40's! IN THE 40's!!! The gravel has been a blast, but with the temperatures come massive thawing. Because of this, tomorrow I will be putting road tires on the cross bike. By the weekend off road is going to be a real mess, so I am going to the road while things dry out a bit. The pictures above are from my ride this morning. Since I knew that I needed to update the blog today I stopped to take these pictures so that you could see the fun that was being had! I saw a lot of this today!

In other news, On Sunday I got entered into the Dirty Kanza 200! The entries filled in less that 12 hours this year. It is turning into one of the premier event of the year. I am very excited to participate in it this year. They have added a master's division, and this year I have qualified for this particular division, so, it will be awesome to participate in this division in the first year that It will be offered.

Now for the final business for the day. Last week I mentioned that I was going to offer a product review, so hear is the first installment. I thought that I would start with something seasonal specific. A few weeks ago, My beautiful wife got tire of listening to me complain about cold hands, and how my old gloves were so worn out, so she went down to Highgear bike shop and talked to Matt Brown.

As an end result I got this awesome pair of winter gloves by Trek. I was so excited, that I ripped into them, and forgot to get the name of them so I took a picture. They are by far, the best winter gloves that I have ever used, and are every bit as warm as mittens. They are made with Kevlar, and are wind resistant. I have now used them in temperatures that were in the single digits, with a wind chill below zero, and my fingers have NEVER gotten cold! In fact, using today as an example, when I started my ride, the temperature with the wind chill was 11 degrees. I rode for about an hour, and then stopped to take the above pictures. when I stopped to take the picture my gloves were soaked with sweat. I was a little concerned when they were wet, and I was putting them on, but my fingers never once got cold.

If you get the chance run down to Highgear bike shop, don't walk RUN as quick as you can and get a pair that look like these. If you don't live close to Emporia, go down to your local Trek dealer and pick up a pair, you will not be disappointed! Until next time, get out and train hard, and enjoy the nice weather that is to come this week.

Peace Out!

Welcome to my hood!!!

Well, it's a dry heat! What can I say. Since my last post winter has really set in quickly, and brutally. I have only been able to get outside a couple of times. Not because of the cold, but because all of the snow has made the roads unusable. I have been able to stay consistent, but I have not had anything longer than two hours due to the mind numbing that riding a trainer has on a person.

I have been stuck in the pain cave for over a week, and the rest of this week doesn't look to be any better.


We are expecting more snow today, with a wind chill of possibly 25-30 degrees below zero through the rest of the week. I am praying for a warm up next week so that when I get back to my normal work schedule I can return to the outside and get in some longer rides. The first race of the season is quickly approaching (March 28).

Last year I was able to rack up good mileage, and am hoping that this next year will be as productive. The totals are as follows: 334 total rides with 11325 total miles. This is broken down into 143 rides on the cyclocross bike with 5314 miles. With the mountain bike I had 191 rides with 6011 miles. Not bad for 49 years old.

Since we are beginning a new year, and still a little while until the race season begins, I am going to do a few product reviews of some of my favorite biking stuff. Plus, this time of year is when a lot of racers start to get all of our cool new stuff from our awesome sponsors for the up coming season, and believe me, their is some really cool stuff beginning to come in! I will give you my impressions of these products as I test then out. Until next week, stay warm and keep the rubber side down.

Peace out!