Winter Riding Countinues

A mix of activities to keep in shape, continued progress on knees and winter Ridn makes January an eclectic mix. Swimming and spinning are keeping the heart and muscles strong. Winter riding in the woods on the studded-tired mountain bike and snowboarding make up the ridn.

Dan's Saturday morning spin class remains a routine for Donna and I. We get up not too early and still are at the Y in time to get signed-up for a bike. Dan is good at visualizing rides and makes the workout fun. Donna and I then head for the (Un)common Grounds coffee shop for breakfast.

This Saturday I doubled-up and went to Grafton in the afternoon to ride with the Capital Group at the WinterFest. We had 15 riders and challenging snow conditions for a great 2+ hour workout. The group stayed together going over Water Tower and Little Johnnies trails, then 8 of us rode RPI to the other end of Long Pond. We returned the length of Long Pond on the ice, dodging ice fisherman and ice holes all the way back to the beach area.

I have managed to get to Killington a couple of Fridays to enjoy excellent conditions up on the mountain. The base was solid enough to remain after a serious thaw and enough new and man-made snow has been added on top. The last time there I stayed over on Killington, Skye and Bear Mountains until my legs gave out. Cascade was in great shape with soft bumps and Skyehawk too. Later in the day as the soft stuff hardened, my legs gave out -- it was a long trip back over to the car at K-1.

A mountain bike ride on the home trails where I had to stay balanced enough to stay within 8-inch wide ATV tire tracks with 4 to 12 inch walls on the side was a fun challenge last Sunday. With the wind chill in the single digits, I had on the flat pedals in order to wear hiking boots. As a result I was warm, but the pedals kept hitting the side of the tracks. Still a great workout and fun to be in the woods under these conditions.

A trip is being planned to California next month in conjunction with work. I hope to ride some of the routes of the professional bike race Tour of California with a coworker, and then go up to Tahoe to do some snowboarding.

2007 Ridn Summary

Daily riding and other activities have been tracked, so tallying the numbers at the end of the year is easy to do. Mileage and hours for the years can be compared to previous years and used to set some goals for 2008.

Way back in 1999, when I was about a year into road cycling, I was doing an after work ride with my Pioneer manager Robin N. It was a hot, humid day near Hershey, PA and I was keeping up with Robin on this 20 mile hilly ride. Robin was in great shape and an avid cyclist, so I was happy he kept looking back to make sure he was not gapping me, and I was right there with him. At the end of the ride, which we averaged around 20 MPH, he said I had made significant progress in my riding. He asked how many miles a week I was doing, and other questions I could not answer. He suggested I start keeping a training log. Well, that was all it took, with my penchant for making Excel spreadsheets, I immediately created a training log.

Today's version of the original is called TrainLog4, because as I started doing triathlons I wanted to track running, biking and swimming. Since I stopped running, I, now track three different types of cycling - cyclocross, road and mountain; along with swimming. Total hours of all other activities are also tracked. It is simple, great fun, and informative, to go back through and read the comments and look at the patterns of activity.

Another benefit is the ease of getting to some averages and totals of different activities at the end of the year. Here are some 2007 results:

Cyclocross - 6 rides - 122 miles;
Most of these in November (4 rides, 49 miles) and April (29 miles). Foul weather riding at its best!

Road Cycling - 76 rides - 2874 miles;
September's 490 road miles were the most I have done in September and the third highest monthly mileage since tracking started in 2000.

Mountain Biking - 28 rides - 54 hours - 402 miles;
Monthly mileage records were set in January (18), May (46), June (103) and October (54).

Total Bike Miles - 3398. Behind last year's record high by 446 miles. Frigid weather since the middle of November forced me inside (spinning miles do not count as cycling). Also, no biking trips in 2007 to Georgia or California, unlike other years. Total bike mile monthly records set in August (495), September (548) and October (349). With September's 548 being the highest all bike monthly total since starting the log. It was truly a great fall for cycling in 2007!

Total hours of activity - 369. The most ever at a little over 1 hour per day average. Only averaged less than 4 hours per week since the middle of December as shoulder, knee and back are getting repaired. Last year was the previous high at 349 hours. This year 48% of the days I did some activity, so roughly 3 to 4 workouts or rides per week. Previous years have been in the 55 to 60% range, but with fewer total hours (243 to 349). Pattern has been to do fewer workouts per week, but longer hours per workout.

Other activities: Swimming - 15 times, 12 miles. Snowboarding - 22 times, 93 hours (if 4 runs per hour and each run is 1/2 miles, about 149 miles). Spinning - 14 times, 16 hours (if average 20 miles per hour - 320 miles).

Beyond the numbers. Races, Rides and other Highlights:

- Grafton Winter MTB ride
- Tahoe area snowboarding
- Golden Gate and Stockton California Cycling Club rides
- Battenkill Rubaix Race
- Bruce Rides (4)
- Cambridge Cycling Club rides (4)
- Art Rides: Alt. Plan B (2), Sacadaga, Lake Desolation MTB
- Saratoga Duathalon
- Grafton/Pittstown Mountain bike rides (8)
- Blackfly Challenge
- VT mountain biking: Kingdom Trails, Millstone, Kelly Stand Road
- MHCC Rides: Bash Bish Falls, Teddy Ride, Century
- Ti Ride Bike and Cruise
- Killington Downhill Mountain Biking
- Ididaride

It was a great year for doing different events with people that I only interact with during work or family time: Donna, Alix, Russ, Terry, Eric, Marty, Paul, Bennett, and Jim. It is very gratifying to show others the activity or locations that I am excited about. In the end I slowed down on the competitive nature of my riding in favor of savoring the time outdoors with others or just by myself enjoying pushing my physical limitations for the fun of it, not to win an award. By doing so, I enjoyed it more and achieved a greater sense of satisfaction from ridn in 2007.