Sunday, March 30, 2008

best of both worlds

How often do you get to go snowboarding and biking in the same weekend? Not that often, but it occurred this past weekend.

The 'core' five of us got together and went snowboarding at Stratton on Saturday. It has been too long since all five of us got to ride together. If you think spring is here and the snow is melting up north, you are wrong. Stratton got fresh snow on Friday and it was in the mid 20s on Saturday. Sounds like January conditions in late March! We rode our favorite woods (not going to reveal where) and spent hardly any time at all on the groomed trails. Rode hard for 4-5 hours. Fresh tracks in the woods (in late March!) and found some stuff to drop.

Joey showing us all up:


Myself:



I woke up this morning with every muscle sore from such a hard day of riding yesterday. Struggled to walk Omega and then went back to sleep for a few hours. Finally got moving just before noon. Two huge breakfast burritos down and then I forced myself to get out on the road bike. The original plan was to do a long, slow and mellow ride with both Matt and Tony but Tony had to ride early in the morning and Matt got food poisoning. I resorted to going solo. Temps in the mid to upper 40s and sunny. Sweet!

Stuck to my plan of riding slow to keep the heart-rate down and spin out the legs. I meandered north up through Bloomfield and cut west into Simsbury. Wound up zig-zagging north and south through Simsbury riding aimlessly with no preset direction. Snapped some cool photos in the process.




Not quite. Its a slow day so 14mph is more appropriate.


Tobacco fields in Connecticut?

I guess so..







Eventually got onto a path that lead northwest into West Granby. Cut south from there towards Collinsville (right near the Nepaug Reservoir) and had to go over an unexpected hill coming out of W. Granby. This climb was rough for I wanted to keep the pace slow and intensity super low. Three hours into a ride and I'm climbing for a good twenty minutes. Oh well, I still felt good. Down into Farmington and then back west into West Hartford. I was out for around 4-4.5 hours. I am estimating I rode around 60 miles (cycling computer wasn't working.. that POS). Feel pretty good so I'm excited.










Guess I like shadow shots..

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

three hour tour

I'm making a comeback. Dicky better watch out. Took the singlespeed out for a three hour tour of the West Hartford Reservoir. It was painful at times seeing as my fitness has dropped quite a bit over the past few months. However, my technical skills are still top notch. Whoa hoo. Those fallen trees had nothing on me.

Trail conditions were awesome. Not very wet at all and just the perfect tacky-ness for great traction.

Rode the new, custom, Seven Ti handlebar. Feels great but I think it might be a tad too low. Got all the stem shims underneath it so I'm thinking I might need a new stem. We'll get a few more rides in first before I go ordering a new stem. Also have to get around to shortening the brake lines. Oh, Stan's rimstrip is out of the rear wheel. Yup. I've gone rimstripless and relying on my Maxxis tires, three scoops of Stan's sealant and Mavic's tubeless rim construction. Gotta convert the front wheel over..



Ding Ding!




Actually rode the entire day with the glasses on. I typically can't ride with glasses. Strange...


Which way do we go George?




Two rides on the new chain and its stretched a bit. Time to take out that chain slack. ECC BB to the rescue!


Found some pictures of Omega from Christmas time.

There are times where he will actually stop being a spaz and sleep..

Sunday, March 23, 2008

dragging..... but still making the best of it

Work continues to rule me. Hopefully for only another day or two..

Found a few [very] short hours this weekend to get down to NJ for a little bit.

Omega got to spend an afternoon with one of his buddies...
Gunner:


Omega enjoying a nice walk:

Jason and Anna want me to adopt another dog. Thinking about it but I'm still not sure.




Missed all opportunities to ride within the past week. Including Sean@BethelCycle's ride earlier today. Damn work getting in my way.

On a higher note... I picked up my new bliss. I'll post more once its installed.



Thursday, March 13, 2008

commuting

Monday, March 10, 2008

catching up

I am still alive, kind of. Work has totally consumed me since returning from Colorado. I guess that is what happens when you're given more and more responsibility in the corporate world. It kind of sucks but then again I enjoy what I'm doing and the challenges presented before me.

Anyway, I spent a week in the Crested Butte Colorado area with my friend Travis back in early February. Had a blast snowboarding some of the best snow I've encountered. Spent a day demoing 2009 snowboards at Keystone. Then spent three days riding Crested Butte (amazing!). Then met up with our friend Becky and spent two days riding Telluride. Back to Crested Butte and I decide to spend my last day snoeshoeing. Here are tons of photos: http://flickr.com/photos/omega29/sets/72157603873134520/

This is one of my favorites:



I started commuting to work on the track bike again. Its so much fun. I'm glad to be riding again. I'm afraid to say I haven't ridden much this winter. A far cry from last winter. Sucks.

Swapped the bars over to old mtb bars on the track bike. Just put new Conti tubulars on her tonight.



Swapped the stem, bars, seatpost and pedals on the road bike. All in an effort to better optimize fit:



And the best one of them all..... New cranks on the singlespeed demon. New handlebars coming soon....



Working on my 2008 race schedule. I am 100% positive it includes Singlespeed World Championships and La Ruta de los Conquistadores.

Some of us are in Arizona right now. Some others are making their way to Spain for a while. I'm jealous and stuck here in Connecticut slaving for 'big brother'.....