Windy Winter Week

Been cold, been snowy - so no chance of any bike related shenanigins. It's been too bloody long. Both road (fixie) and the mountain bikes (2 x SSers) are spending countless weeks of inactivity hunkered down in my garage giving me scaving glances as another day passes without a ride. Course I feel guilty, especially when I occasionally see other hardy (or is that stoopid) souls out on their bikes - crikey the roads are so slick in places!

Perfect Running Conditions - Michigan Style!

Either road up! Been a week of running - since I have now committed myself to attempting to get sub 180 for the marathon at this years "Flying Pig" I have been trying to get some momentum going with the running. Basic idea right now is to get used to running hard and hurting! Last year was all about the 50 miler and so much (like pretty much all) of the running was super slow and easy. Now it's time for pain again.

Monday, ran at lunch from work. Usual 5 miler, down to cemetery, into arboretum round the trails back to cemetery, lap of cemetery and back up the hill through the technology park and back to work. All good to start out - feeling great! Once off the road life is more interesting as the link to the cemetery is virgin snow to break trail through - only 3-4 inches but the drag is there. In the cemetery the roads are slick so time for caution. Arboretum trails are rutted and slick - trying to keep an even stride is tricky and the slight hills in the park really take it out of me - I can feel the tingling in the shoulders that is a sure sign that I am entering O2 debt.

Back into cemetery and now the wind (that I hadn't noticed on the way out, cos it was behind me pushing me along - which explains why I felt so good!) is in my face - biting. In minutes the cheeks are raw and then numb. By the time I an back in the technology park I am done! Running on empty, PERFECT! Last 2/3 mile is purgatory just willing myself on. Pass colleagues going the other way, just starting their run, but can barely manage a feeble hand wave. Keep the pace to the end and am spent - slow cos of the conditions but the effort was there.

Wednesday and Friday mornings and it's an early run - 5:15am out of bed, 5:30 am and I'm out on the road. North on Okemos Road - picking up the pace to a tempo run by time I turn right. Try and maintain pace over Tacoma and Manitou to the trail head. Been meeting a fellow runner each morning (also wearing a head lamp) exchange Hi's then hang a right onto trail to Edgewood school. In the snow and before dawn the brush lined snow laden trail in the moonlight reminds me of Narnia - I'm looking out for the Snow Queen every morning. Onto Ossage, trying to lift the pace, left and up Manitou - left and lift the pace up the hill to the next trail head. Straight on onto the field - right down the hill left and across the snow covered field to Dobie. On Dobie back to tempo running - build pace steadily to railroad tracks - aim here is to achieve the shoulder tingling O2 debt by time I hit the tracks. Pause to pick up a stone from the tracks then onto the middle school field. More breaking trail - every day the snow is smoothed by the wind blown snow - over soccer fields onto XC course. Legs burning and pace bloody slow by now - but its a good strength workout and knocks the wind from you too - especially when the wind is blasting into your face, feeling like it's stripping the skin from your exposed face. Onto the trails - tough running slick and uneven. Then hang a right onto the very "rural" trails leading behind Delta Dental - running the deer trails. Final obstacle is the short sprint up onto the top of "Mount Okemos" to drop the stone gathered from the railroad onto the cairn I'm slowly building and then it's time to head home.

Wednesday the weather was a balmy 20 oF, but Friday life was a bit more challenging, 8 oF but with a significant breeze leading to a wind chill of -5 oF (them monkeys are not having any babies any time soon!)

Saturday morning and it's time to step it up with a road run with Mr fast running Mark. Bit late getting going so instead of scheduled 10 miler, time is only available for a 7 miler. BUT the weather is brutal. -8 oF with wind chill and snowing. Head out fast to try and push it, but the reality is that I am not nearly as fit as I had thought/hoped! After 2.5 miles I am done. From pushing the pace I am reduced to just trying to hang on to marks shoulder. By time we get onto Okemos Road heading south (3.5 miles) I am head down just keeping the legs moving. Don't quite see the icy ridge bordering a road entrance in time catch my right big toe on ice like concrete and suddenly I am face down spreadeagled in the road sliding on the ice. No harm from the fall but the big toe is bruised and sore. Finish the run "on fumes" another run where effort was a "10" but the speed was a solid "5". Need the hard miles to go in over the next few weeks.

Sunday and even freakin colder!! -(that is minus) 5 oF air temp!! when we get up. Unbelievable! Had off to Caberfae ski resort with MLW and daughters #2 and #3. Awesome day, super fun trails (from novices like us)! Well worth the 320 mile round trip! Might even get into this going down hill idea! Bit of down hill confidence wouldn't go amiss with my MTBing!

Cheers

DB

Let's try this again

O.K. so lets give it one more go at resurrecting this corpse of a blog!

Been up here in MI for nearly two years now and the cold hard honest truth is that the mountain biking has pretty much gone out the window! In MD it was just so bloody easy - great trails just a 10 minute car ride from house. Here nearest "proper" trails are 20 min away and are PANTS!

Not been completely lazy though. Done lots running since we've come up North. Did my second 50 miler in September 2010 - freakin hard despite lack of hills, might tell you about it one day.

Both MLW and I are signed up for "Flying Pig" in May - MLW for the half and me for the full marathon. Hopefully the last marathon I will ever do, hoping I can get the proper training done get under 180 minutes and e done with the whole thing.

Running pretty regular - three times last week, all just 5 mile early morning (5:30 am) affairs, mix of road, trail and the local middle school XC course - the snow on the ground has made the trail bits super fun - breaking trails each time. Turns the 5 miles into a run that feels like more like 7.

Each run finishes at the top of a newly man made "hillock" that over the winter has been a fantastic place to stand first thing in the morning (long before sunrise) and watch the stars - truly magical on these snowy mornings! Started to build a cairn at my star gazing place - add a stone each time I run the route - what a plonker!

This weekend it's been winter sports, Sat and Sun XC ski-ing (sore legs tonight), and last night it was cold enough to warrant a night outside in the tent to start acclimatization for the ice climbing trip scheduled for next month in PA! Temp got down to 8 oF not quite as cold as the -2 oF from last years camp but a bit on the chilly side!!

Till next time!

DB

Death By Raft (almost!)

Morning after my night in the back yard and it was still F'in cold - the Brass Monkeys would go childless!! But hey no excuse to creep inside and get into a warm bath. Oh No! Not the Bollux-way at all. Time for some ill-advised fun on the Grand River, what could possibly go wrong!

Kevin had asked if I fancied a trip down the river in a raft - in January, in Michigan - sounded like fun. Up for it. Dropped car off in Grand Ledge and headed back up stream to Lansing in Kev's car to the drop in. Raft, not so much a raft as a dingy - kind of thing you buy for your kids at the beach - and the oars are a kayak paddle cut in two with duck taped ends.

Alarm bells should have been ringing but were remarkably silent at this point. Drag the SS. Deathtrap into the water and clamber inexpertly in, only got a bit wet - at 11 oF how much trouble could that be? With my and Kev's weight the dingy "jack knifes" in the middle, with the bow and stern pointing skywards and us sliding together in the middle. Alarm bells heard in the vague distance.

"So.... it's about 12 miles to the car" says Kev, "how long do you think it'll take? About an hour?" Alarm bells are suddenly deafening!! In the middle of the river, already wet, freezing conditions, with more like 3 to 4 hours of paddling in front of us. Things could go seriously wrong here. But no choice other than forwards. I have a three hour window before MLW wants me home to go XC ski-ing - potential disaster. Paddled like a mad thing to pick up time but fatigue soon kicks in. Fingers and toes losing feeling, legs cramping and life is F'in super! All I can think is "if something goes wrong, I'm not even sure what I'll tell the emergency services in terms of an excuse"

Scenery is pretty spectacular - ice laden trees overhanging water, herons, even some kind of daft mammal swimming in the river - what was that all about?

After three hours though things are a little out of control - very cold, my iPhone has stopped working cos it got wet (so no GPS) and both absolutely knackered. Ice formed on gloves to point where bending fingers is difficult - gloves have hardened like cardboard. Time to abandon ship!!

Decide to hit the next boat ramp we see and get a ride home. Phone Kev's wife to come and get us - no idea where we are (no GPS) so she just heads out in our general direction and we will call when we hit land and have an address she can plug in the car's Garmin. Spot a ramp and paddle our frozen arses off to hit it. Getting out of boat onto terra firma - over nice ice shelf is fan-freakin-tastic. I go through the ice up to my knees and fill my boots with super-chilled water. Kev trips and goes into the water up to his elbows on both arms. Drag the boat ashore and now life is seriously F'ED UP!! And life just gets better, as we dragged the boat up to the road Kev finds he has lost his phone!! Dropped out his pocket when he tripped! So....... no way to contact Kev's LW, both very wet and getting seriously cold, dangerously cold. Stumble back to river and for the first time today the gods are smiling at us. Kev's phone is found, perched on a chunk of ice, out of the water and still operational. Wife called and back to road to wait. We accost a local dog walker to ask if we could perhaps, maybe find someplace (maybe indoors?) to avoid dying of cold. In true Michigan friendliness the walker does not even break step or make eye contact. "I suggest you call 911" is the sum total of the discourse.

In the end Kev's wife finds us, we are neither arrested or die - so it's all good really. Something to look back on as a (somewhat extreme) adventure. To be sure today we got away with one!! the gods will not always be this benign and we were lucky.

Oh the fun we had

DB

Labor Day and more Runnin'/Bikin'

So all of a sudden lots of stuff seems to be happening. Guess we are just getting more “plugged in” here in sunny Okemos.

Labor Day weekend was action packed. Tired legs from the weekly commute and I was all up for a lazy weekend, fat chance.

Sunday and off to Sleepy Hollow State park for a bit of MTB fun with Hard Runnin’ Mark and MLW. Mark as well as a damn fine runner is a pretty competitive Adventure Racer, so his biking isn’t too shabby. Hit the trails at Sleepy Hollow at a fair old clip. Mark still sporting his early 90s Specialized Stumpjumper (Biopace chain ring – a thing of great beauty) and I am on my current weapon of choice the late 80’s Specialized Rockhopper SS conversion (also sporting a Biopace chain ring) – we are the throw back twins.

We scoot along and it is the best aerobic workout on the MTB in a while. Trails are not technical but are rooty enough with sections of quite long grass and some half-decent climbs to keep it interesting. For brief sections I am totally “in the zone” just focused on staying on Mark’s wheel as he tears through the narrow and rooty single track. Not an epic but trails that are certainly worth another visit. Only downer is my rear wheel flats (again) jumping a small log about a mile from the car. Third time in a few weeks – something up with the wheel, needs sorting. So end up running with my bike the last mile hey it’s a workout! Loop was probably around 7 miles and plenty of stuff we didn’t hit this time.

"Hard Runnin' Mark" and MLW at Sleepy Hollow

Monday and it’s time to hit the trails running! Hook up with MLW’s running group at a very local trailhead (just off Dobie Rd not 2 miles from our house). Neighbor mark also joins us and we head into the woods. Trail is actually three trails in separate park areas but makes a sensible 5 mile loop. Lots of stopping and waiting for the group to gather at forks but plenty of good running. Last couple of miles is a fun fest as mark and “Yours Truly” race Dakota – the dog that accompanied us – back to the car. I suspect she would have beaten us handsomely if she hadn’t stopped periodically in the middle of the trail until she could hear her “Mommy’s” voice behind us.

Running group in Okemos Mi

Trail is certainly worth checking out on the bike too – maybe even a night-ride venue?

Tuesday and back to the commute and track club – Wow, legs are a little frazzled.

Lots going on – making the best of what is available and trying to get into some kind of shape before winter comes along and chucks a great big stick in the spokes of MTB-fun. Ho-Hum just have to stay flexible with plans and see how things pan out – an adventure if nothing else.

Mi 1000 update! Up to over 700 miles now - cutting back to 2-3 days a week commute - will be a "nail biter" to see if I can get the "1000-fixed" done before year end.

Till next time,

DB

Cool Ridin,

All bike rides are cool, night rides doubly so. But the first night ride of 2009 was to be possibly the coolest ride ever, both figuratively and literally!

With an arctic front making it's way down the East Coast the weather looked perfect! Cold as cold can be. To make matters even better Todd decided that the best way to celebrate the first ride of 2009 was to turn it into a ride from Chez Todd rather than our usual haunt Patapsco. An inch of snow during the day and temperatures never moving out of the teens just added to the excitement.

8:30 and Todd, George and "Yours Truly" are suiting up for the off, balaclavas, mittens, heat pads and shoe covers all in evidence tonight, as is Georges helmet-cam to catch all the action!

The mercury is telling us it is 14oF as we head out (same when we get back). It's a short ride through Todd neighbourhood, disturbing the local dogs and then into open fields. The trail dusted with snow and ice crystals shimmers with millions of specks of light, reflected from our helmet lights. It looks like a dusting of diamonds on the trail. For a few seconds I can't think what it reminds me of, then a dim and distant memory surfaces. It has the same look as I remember from the dwarfs diamond mine in Disney's animated version of Snow White! Quite magical.

As well as being pretty spectacular visually this field section allows us to turn the pedals over quickly (all three on SSers tonight!) and to build some body heat. First few minutes of a cold ride are always a bit painful, aching/numb toes and fingers until the core temp gets high enough to re-initiate a decent blood flow to the extremities. By the time we turn off the field and head into the woods feeling is just about returning to the digits.

After an initial leaf littered descent the trail is hardpack which is great as it allows more time to get some heat in the engine. Soon however the trail just disintegrates. mainly horse traffic in this area and the horses have done a fantastic job in churning up the trail into a mass of peaks and troughs. Now frozen hard as concrete it's like riding over a stormy sea that has been instantly petrified. The effect is a bit jarring with the rigid fork! Other sections (especially the steep sections) are eroded into deep trenches that have filled with several inches of leaf litter, hiding any and all obstacles/rocks. Dispite the trail conditions being challenging (both climbs and descents made super-difficult by the leaf litter) the mojo is in full effect and we ride without mishap for over an hour. Then enevitably on a steep descent I tense up and over the bars I go. banged my face enough to remove skin from nose and knocked the wind out of me good and proper. After squatting on all fours for a couple of minutes to get my breath back and ensure the pain in my ribs is nothing sinister I wipe the blood from my nose and continue. At the bottom of the hill George is there to record my bloodied face on video then we head on.

After another half an hour (and another trip over the bars for me -caught in motion this time by Georges camera) it's time to head back. Group photo taken to record our frigid ride and it's back a slightly abbreviated route to Todd's where venison sandwiches and a hot tub are awaiting. Life is good! Moving from riding at 14 oF to a hot tub at 101 oF is interesting - and the frozen feet complain initially. But, after 20 minutes and two beers I am wonderfully poached, to the point where I have to drape my arms outside the hot tub to dissipate some heat!

Just before midnight it is time to say cheers to the guys and head home for part two of tonights adventure.

End of Jan I'm heading to Pa for a weekend trying out ice-climbing, part of the fun involves a camp out on Saturday evening. Last year when the guys went it was 19 oF when they camped! In preparation for this I thought I'd better make sure my camping gear is up to winter camping - I've only ever camped in the summer before where heat rather than cold is the issue. Got myself a new tent (delivered Wednesday night and immediately erected in back yard) so tonight was the night to test out my coldhardiness. At home a quick trip inside to use the loo and check the temp - confirmed at 12 oF - and I'm in my new tent with thermals on, fleece on and my primaloft coat (not to mentions ski socks and fur lined slippers). All inside my sleeping bag!

I bring a bottle of beer with me but too tired and cold to contemplate this and it's abandonned in the tent. I'm surprisingly warm and soon drift off to sleep. At 2am I'm woken by a strange chirping, a bit like a car alarm, too cold to investigate I lie in my bag trying desperately to keep my heat inside as I move to get comfortable. the chirpig continues intermittently for the next two-three hours slowly developing into a painful keening screech. in the end I determine it must be some metal structure groaning as it contracts in the ever deepening cold. By 4:30 am I'm not omy beginning to feel the cold but I need the bathroom too! Ain't no bloody way I'm leaving my sleeping bag though, so I spend a fitful couple of hours drifting in and out of sleep fighting the cold and the need to take a leak. At 6:30 am I decide enough is enough and I rejoin civilization and warmth (in front on the pellet stove). Experiment a success - the gear 9and body) are up to the challenge of cold weather camping, temp outside at 6:30 am was 10 oF and the temp in my tent couldn't have been much higher cos my abandonned bottel of beer was frozen solid when I retrieved it.

Oh the fun we have!

Cheers

DB