End of March Update

Downtown Buffalo from Southern Erie County

So training has been going well. I have gotten at least one long bike ride in each weekend and I have the final bike preparations under way.

I put some 700x35 cross tires on for TransIowa and ordered a new set of wheels so I can have them on a set and my mountain bike tires on another set for easy transition. My next move is to get some good lighting and am thinking about switching out either the middle or large chain ring for a larger middle or smaller large ring. Contemplate it for the next couple of days while I ride my current setup.

Me on Green Mountain in Colorado with my rental bike (Wish it was mine for real :) )

I am heading down to Ohio for 2 days this week and hopefully can get some good mileage in without interfering with family time. Should be nice if the roads are dry. If not - I get wet I guess!

This weekend I have Ellicottville as my tentative Saturday destination location. That should put me over 80 miles and then Sunday I will do around 40. In the next couple of weeks I will be doing my night ride to see how that works out.

I feel very confident about Iowa right now and am really looking forward to the race!

See you on the roads!

Actually remembered to take a couple of pictures last time out :)

Lake Erie and the wine country of Southern Erie County

Howdy Again

Well since my last post (sometime Mid January) I have been to Colorado & New Mexico (and returning again next week) for work (and a little play also). While home the last time, my sister Michele and I went skate skiing up at Breckenridge Nordic Center. This was a great time and the people there are superfriendly - especially my new Half-Mother Mary for feeding me some of her homemade chili after I was done :). That is my sister above. She would not take any pictures of me because I was the better skier that day :)

I also stole my sister's, way too small for me, mountain bike and went riding at Green Mountain. I did something I never knew I was capable of - ride without a helmet. Not the smartest thing but it is not real technical so I was not too worried. Just won't ever do that again!

Then I drove to Pueblo and then Albuquerque for the day. This is a picture from my drive. I miss the mountains when I see them like this. I do not miss having to spend so much time on the highway just to get to the ski area though :(.

Training for TransIowa is going good. Been on the bike just over 500 miles already this year. That number will keep growing with my commutes and long rides on the weekend. One of these days I will remember to bring my camera with me so I can take some pictures and make this blog cool like others out there.

Have a great day.

Cross Country Skiing

I have found a new winter love! Cross country skiing at Sprague Brook on the hiking trail. It is a great workout, you get away from all the people on the regular trail, and you get to see some beautiful scenery! What more do you need.

I just wish snowshoe running was as easy as cross country skiing is. I do not realistically seeing myself competing this year in that snowshoe marathon. I am having trouble hitting 6 miles on the snowshoes, much less 26 miles. There is a 10K race this weekend in Rochester that I am hopefully doing and that will give me a good gauge on my snowshoe running fitness level.

I really need to bring my camera with me though so I can provide some nice pictures to this blog of mine. Would make it look a lot neater than just my stories!

Happy New Year

Well training has begun in ernest for the TransIowa. I took the bikes out over the weekend and got over 50 total miles in. It should be more, but it is better than nothing right now with how the weather can be this time of the year. My plan is to ride both weekend days and then a couple days during the week - weather and work permitting. I will ride before I go swimming when possible or at night after work. Then I will run on the opposite schedule.

One thing for sure is that I will have to increase my caloric intake. I dropped 2 pounds last week being sick and I need to regain that. I do not want to be any lighter right now.

I need to remember to take my camera with me because there were some beautiful pictures I could have snapped yesterday. Next time :)

Snowshoeing and Snowbiking

Well it is here! We got about 8" of snow today and I was out snowshoeing (painfully I might add :) ) and then I had the bike out the last 2 days also. I feel like taking it out again but I don't think Jane will be too hip with that so I am going to take it easy and let the legs rest.

I wish I brought my camera home from work so that I could take some pictures and post them but I forgot! Maybe next week I can get some good pictures for this blog!

I am doing some maintenance on the bike right now. I want to keep it running smooth this winter even thought it is going to get salt and grime all over it. I think I will take it to the shower and give it a good once over!

You guys have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Weather

This is my first rant in this blog so I figured it might as well be about the weather.

So we have had some awesome snow falling this early in the year and then we get this disgusting heavy rain that ruins the good base for snowshoeing and cross country skiing!!! And I am not very happy about it either!

Then yesterday I get to go to Houston, TX for 1 day and it is 43 degrees there. Now I don't mind 43 degrees in Buffalo (especially if it is not raining) but when I travel for 20 hours in 1 day I would like to see the sunshine and be able to enjoy being outside without a coat on!

Now it is snowing again and we are supposed to get some heavy snow this weekend also. I hope the rain stays away because my sister is coming to town the week after Christmas and I would like to do some skiing or snowshoeing with her.

Training is progressing for the snowshoe marathon and TransIowa. Just working on building up the base to be able to complete both and will look to competing in both next year with more speed over that type of distance and time!

This is all about the journey to the destination right now. What that destination is? I will let you know when I figure it out!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year if I don't post again!

Training Has Begun In Ernest

Well this weekend the training has really begun for both the snowshoe marathon and TransIowa.
Yesterday I did a 4 mile snowshoe run then took the mountain bike out in the afternoon during a lovely lake effect snow storm and got in a little more than 1 1/2 hours ride time. I bit it hard in the park on some ice on the road but all was good.

Today I was going to do some cross country skiing but Jane was having a party and I felt I should help her out so I did a workout after Jake's basketball game (which he was the star of :) ) and did my interval walk, 3/4 mile swim, and 26 mile mountain bike ride home from the Y. I was pushing the Felt with low tire pressure so it was pretty slow and high effort but it was fun. The legs are sore tonight and I have a long run scheduled tomorrow. Need to figure out if I am doing it on snowshoes or the road - somehow I think snowshoes will win out in the end.

Have a great weekend.

BTW - I got sponsored by Brooks so look for more information on that coming up real soon!