Snow Comes and Goes and Comes Again.

January can offer a very varied menu for ridn.  January road rides during "thaws", ice biking when frozen, basement Cyclops sessions, and snowboarding.  Recently added another entree: snowshoeing.

Basement riding on the Cyclops was / is a challenge of the mind more than the body.  I tried to create some excitement enticement to get more done in winter training.  I bought some videos from SufferFest which are very good at making you work hard and have fun following real race footage.  The intervals that result are excellent for getting the most out of the stationary trainer.  I used to just do an hour playlist and did hills and time trials according to the song.  This is better.  I tried to make the basement more comfortable, but not having the outdoor wood furnace heating it down there, it became colder - 50's and lower on really cold days.  

I have not even put the studded tires on the mountain bike yet.  Instead I tried Donna's snowshoes and really liked it!  One walk was on about 14 inches of fresh snow and the sun was out and the air in the teens.  It was great!  I walked to the top of Murdock Mtn in our backyard - about 3 or 4 miles of breaking trail was a great workout and I loved the fact that you can float over all the rough terrain.  A week later I did the same track and it was just as much fun.  As a result, I bought a pair of my own, so now Donna and I can go together.  Since then the snow has melted off.  Before it was all gone, but with enough to still enjoy we hiked on regular shoes with the dogs across the street.  Another great walk in the woods, which by the way, would have been totally impossivble without my NEW KNEES.

A road ride at lunch on Monday with the temperature in the low 50's and sun out was great fun and I got to see if the intervals were helping.  They are because I hit a MAX heart rate of 172 going up and over Coregy Hill, which is an elevation of my max HR from 160's.  I need to keep going down stairs and doing the intervals.  

Snowboarding is so much fun!  I did a couple of Killington days early in the year when the terrain was limited.  Also, did a night ride with Alix, Scott, Donna at West Mountain on New Years Eve.  These were fun, but not full out blasts of snowboarding bliss.  Last Wednesday I had a business meeting in Rutland, VT.  It snowed all day and it drove me nuts knowing how good it was just a few miles away.  So, the next day I did some work early, did a conference call and quickly packed the gear and took off for Killington.  I got there at 11 and had a blast covering west to east, Ramshead to Bear.  Cruise Control was a flat out twisty bomb for 1.4 miles that I did four times in a row towards the end.  Conditions were great for carving and playing on the edges in the 6 inches of powder that accumulated there.  I tracked the day with both my Garmin bike computer in my pocket and a new App for the iPhone, so I have the stats, and can "relive" the runs on Google Earth, which is pretty cool.  

Today Donna and I will do something outside, but at this time in the morning, I don't know which entree will be chosen!