I have to admit.  I get lazy about writing on this blog.  I certainly go in spurts.  Sometimes, I feel like I have 5 posts a day to write.  Then there are times, like now, where I have to force myself to write something.  Its times like these that I feel like shutting this whole sucker down.  But I won’t.  Not really sure why.  Guess because it isn’t costing me a thing.

Either way, I have been riding just about every day in preparation for the 24 hour race that is coming up in a little over a month and the days that I do not ride (I always ride M-F because of commuting to work) after work, I am usually taking the dog for a run after work  Usually this is about 2-3 time a week I am running her.  Sometimes I ride and run depending on how much time I have.  I feel like I have the right amount of fitness for what I want to accomplish at the race.  However, the biggest thing that concerns me is that I will be traveling for 3 weeks before the race and with most events, I won’t have the time to ride like I need that close to the race.  I am not sure what to do, but I am thinking that running might be a viable option. Not sure yet because of my distaste for running.

One other exciting thing is that I just got my economy stimulus check from ‘W”.  The question now is what to spend it on?  Kelly wants me to pay bills with it but seriously, what fun is that?

Just making sure this is still working.  It has been a long since I have posted anything.  There is a good reason for that.  I have been busy and lazy.  Plain and simple.  I have been riding about 5 days a week, plus the commuting to work via single track, and hiking the dog the other 2 days, plus the days I have been riding.  I feel like I am in a good fitness level for this time of the year.

I am headed to Tennessee next week for some work and will end up riding a few days down there.  I guess I will see how “in shape” I am when I get to ride with people who do not have a hard core winter like I do.  I would guess they don’t loose much fitness over their winter like people in the northeast tend to.

In my quest to hopefully get a few endurance races in, I worked hard to get the Dart-Nuun endurance adventure racing team under the Michelin sponsorship.  Ever since I helped to broker this deal, they certainly have not let us down.  The team has racked up another win in the preparation for the Primal Quest race coming up in June.  Every time I get their Team updates, I wish I was out there doing battle with them..

This weekend certainly kept me busy.

On Friday, because of rain, I canned the recovery ride because of what looked to be like rain rolling in.  So I went home quickly and took the dog for our little run.  I can do without the hour recovery, but I can’t deal with a dog that has all of her energy pent up, so letting her burn off some steam is a must.

On Saturday, I got everything all geared up for a killer ride and off I went.  After about an hourish of climbing (some pushing some pedaling) I felt something very weird happen to my hard tail, single speed 29er.  I felt it go VERY squishy.  I thought, “hrm, this bike doesn’t have any rear suspension.  Something much have happened to my seat or seat post”.  When I looked down, it was much worse.  I broke the frame where the seat tube, top tube and seat stays come together.  SON OF A……  I pointed the bike back down hill and road the 10 miles back home standing on a single speed.  Not all that much fun, in case anyone wondered.

On Sunday, after a bunch of chores around the house, I grabbed the roadie and went for a spin.  The plan was up and down Bear Notch Road and up and down the Kanc.  Mission completed.  Neither hill was that tough (remember, most hills are as 215lb people don’t work well going AGAINST gravity) and they were certainly easier to climb than last year.  I feel as if my fitness is worse off compared to last year, but I must be wrong.  Either way, it was 65 miles of pure goodness.

Today, first thing first, I called up Vassago to get my Jabberwocky warrantied and they will gladly do it.  They are sending a call tag to get the bike so they can inspect it and all that good stuff.  They will get me a size 18″ one out as soon as they can.  Ohh, and they mentioned that “as soon as they can” would probably be “MONTHS” because they are out of stock of this current years model and they are switching manufactures.  What does that mean??  It means I will be riding my full suspension gear 26″ bike.  Ohh the horror.  I love the bike I will be riding, I really do, as it is my custom Vicious Cycles, but I would rather ride a single speed 29er at this point in the year.  Ohh well.

This week has been quite a busy one with some tired legs.  I spent the last weekend in NYC doing a bike event, which was ok at best, but I really didn’t enjoy standing there watching 30,000+ people ride bikes while I could not ride.  Its always a bummer watching people ride and not being able to ride yourself.  ohh well.

This week did keep me busy with the activities.  Monday when I got home, I got Campy and we hit Cranmore mountain to see if the Red Tail Trail was open.  It is and let me and her get in 5+ hours of hiking in.  On Tuesday I was back to the grind and back to the single speed.  I spent about 2.5 hours total on the bike exploring trails to see if they were open and ridable.  They were.  Wednesday was spent running a 5K with the dog.  With my ever growing interest in adventure racing, I have decided to enter a weekly running series.  The distance is only 5k but you have to start somewhere.  My plan is to get in about 3 mornings running with the dog with the “races” on Thursday night.  I am thinking that running 20K a week can only be viewed as a good thing and if I do it in the morning, I am not “wasting” any good mtb riding time.  Plus it tires out the dog for the morning while both Kelly and I are at work.  Last night I took to the single speed again and went out to more trails.  I spent another 2 hours out there having at it, plus another hour hike with the dog.  Tonight will be a light recovery spin on the road bike with another 5k run with the pup.

My plan for this weekend is to hike the dog in the morning before getting in a 45+ miler on the single speed.  I rode the same route last year and it was one hell of an adventure.  It should certainly put some hurt on the legs.  My plan for Sunday is to tackle Bear Notch Road and the Kangamangus Highway, which are the first 2 hill climbs that I have scheduled for a 200 miler I have planned later this year.  I think with the route I have planned, I am expecting something like 60-70 or so miles on that ride.  That should really put the hurt on the legs.  This week and weekend will be the first real stress that I put on my legs for this season and I want to see how they react and recover.  Hopefully the weather will still be nice and I can get some killer riding in.

I have been playing around with my new Go Pro Helmet Cam and I tried mounting it on the handlebars of the mtb.  I must say, this is a no go.  Its pretty amazing how much the handle bars twitch from side to side during a normal ride.  I am the one that did the filming and even I got sick watching the video.  This morning I moved the mount up to my helmet so hopefully that will turn out some higher quality videos.  I think, in general, it is a much wiser move.  On the handlebars, you would see the bike come up to a pretty cool obstacle in the trail, then would see the sky, then the ground as I went up and over it.  I think with it on the helmet, you will be able to see exactly what I am seeing and hopefully have a better view of what it looks like to do a little mtbing.  At least, that is my thought and plan.

Yesterday and today, I have been doing a little product testing for some companies. Last year, I was sent a Seal Line Urban Backpack to try out while commuting to see what I thought and give them feedback on. While I rode the back for almost a year, it just never seemed to really rain on me while commuting. I am not sure why, as I rode just about every day, but it never really seemed to downpour on me so I couldn’t get a god feel for how it kept things dry. Today and yesterday were those days to see how it handled the water. No question about it. This sucker keeps things dry. It is nice and comfy on your back, lightweight, a decent size to fit all of my work clothes (including shoes and a Nalgene bottle), and if all that doesn’t tickle your fancy….It comes in orange… WOOHOO!!

The other little gem I have been trying out these last 2 days is the Go Pro Helmet Cam sent to me to give a whirl. This little camera takes some pretty decent videos, plus the waterproof case it comes with seems to keep out all moisture. I have a little movie in the works on my laptop and hopefully will get that posted up soon. The one major downfall of this thing is that it chewed its way through the fresh set of batteries that came with it. I would assume the camera works fine and that the batteries were close to DOA when they got there. Either way, the new batteries this morning helped me with the 25 minute commute to work.

Speaking of commuting, I have been using the MTB instead of the road bike. The trails are clean of snow but still are a little wet (especially with the flood warning we have been issued). For some reason, I find it easier to commute 25 minutes on the mountain bike than I do on the road bike, even in the down pour of rain. No idea why that is…

Well, I am finally back from Sea Otter and it wasn’t the best of times.  While I was there, the average temps were in the low 60s with Friday having a high temp of 52.  Here in New Hampshire, the average temp was around 75.  Good thing I missed that.  Stupid weather.

Back to business now as usual.  Trying to ride every chance I get and the legs are starting to feel it a little.  Not only am I trying to start to do the longer miles, but also pushing the pace of those longer miles.  I think I should really only be trying one or the other.  When will I learn??

I have been walking the dog on the single track the past few days and it seems as if they are drying out nicely.  I would imagine that by the end of this week or beginning of next week, I will be able to hit the dirt for a little…

Off to the Sea Otter Classic for the next few days, so unfortunately, no road riding for the next couple of days.  Hopefully, if weather cooperates, I will be able to get a few mountain bike rides in.  That, and I will get to enjoy some warm weather for a change.  That is the most exciting part of all.

The weather has started to turn a bit for the good recently.  It was in the low 60s today and some of the snow is melting.  Sure, we still have about 2 feet of snow on the trails, but my yard is showing some grass.  Seems like it is time to start planting some things for the garden.

With this nice weather, I have been out riding a bit more.  I have a little more than 60 miles logged since Monday, which doesn’t seem much, but I did a say with some hill climbs in it, so I am happy with wear I am.  With the better weather coming, there is only much more riding in store.  And I can’t wait.