Early Birthday!

Chopper Shows Us The Way.

Snowshoe Adventures.

Today was the day to try a few new things.  Snowshoeing up in the mountains and also our new Flip video recorder...will be a fun little tool to record the madness of life on the road this season.  Enjoy these first few, I'm off for a nap!

Two Steps Backwards And Ten Watts Forward.

 "There's no such thing as over-training, only under resting"

  Allen Lim.

Some wise words that I have applied this week, taking the foot off the accelerator for a little R&R.  Since mid October its pretty much been full gas with the training, and after struggling to hit all the necessary targets last week it's time for a short mid preparation break to recharge.  And to be honest I'm excited about it.  I'm excited that the preparation has been spot on so far that I can afford to do this, and also excited that I have the confidence to make smart, educated training decisions when things aren't working out.  It is all too easy just to plow though and keep digging a bigger hole for yourself and I've seen it happen.  And for me it was simple back track of doing 6hr days at our team camp during what was meant to be my recovery week not leaving me rested enough (surprise, surprise) to start the next block.  Easy-Peasey-Lemon-Squeezey.

It's actually been the perfect week to spend a little less time in the saddle too, with work kicking up a gear signing up two new clients and a pretty decent snow storm blowing in.  So I'm going to make the most of it tomorrow with Kat and I planning to head out on my first snow shoeing adventure!  Should be a riot, and we plan to take one of the foster dogs from the Great Pyrenees rescue out with us.  Stay tuned!

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So with the buzz of my last post it was way cool to see SRAM release a new gruppo this week, being the Apex. The nice feature that will appeal to entry level bicycle enthusiasts will be the wide range 11-32T cassette ratio that combined with a compact crank, might be the nail in the coffin for triple users.

"The lower Q-factor, less gear redundancy and estimated 274 gram weight advantage of the Apex compact over the Shimano 105 5603 triple has, SRAM says, been rewarded with a number of production bike manufacturers already placing significant orders for the new group."   cyclingnews.com

Sounds pretty good to me....and looks sweet too in bad ass black...

 

  

Buzz.

Just saw this tweet from SRAM's Micheal Zellmann...

"On my way to airport, flying to Mallorca to launch a new gruppo? Stay tuned to theroaddiaries.com for more. MZ"

All the more reason to check out The Road Diaries....

Share The World.

My old man recently got back from a rather large Australian outback adventure, taking his Hilux off the beaten track to explore some more of the remote parts of Oz.  I thought a few people (especially the international visitors) would get a kick outta the photos he just sent me...pretty amazing stuff.

Rock The Fort.

 

Spent the last few days training with the team up in our home base of Fort Collins.  Dang there are some awesome roads up that way.  Great to stretch the legs and get out on the road with the guys despite some pretty chilly temperatures.

 

Back on deck in Denver this week and into the next block of training....that recovery week seemed way too short!

Recovery Week.

Down time and I am enjoying it that's for sure.  After three solid weeks of 20+hrs I finally am having a few days outta the chamois to let all the hard work soak in.  This last month has been a solid smattering of V02 intervals combined with long steady rides in between my physical therapy sessions.  Although I am tired right now I feel confident of my current condition, being exactly where I want to be at the start of February.  I must admit I'm a little itchy to race right now, but know that the time will come soon enough.

I truly can't say enough about the PT work I have been doing with Lee since December, with last week starting a new style of treatment called air cupping to the complement the regular acupuncture work.  Like acupuncture, it's another ancient Chinese practice to help release and promote blood flow to tight and.knotted muscles that have become that way over time.  If massage works by applying downward pressure to the muscle belly, then air cupping works the opposite way, pulling the tissue upwards to help break apart the fibers.  So silicon edged cups are place on the area (in my case all along either side of the spine) and the trapped air is suctioned out with a pump, creating a vacuum effect.  Sure it felt kinda weird (and left me with a human twister-mat-look for about a week) but I certainly came out of it feel pretty darn straight.  Google it for some more information, but it's pretty interesting stuff.  Onwards and upwards I say.

Heading up to the Fort tmw for a couple of days riding with the team which I am looking forward to getting out on the road with the guys.  I really think we can make an impact on the NRC schedule this year and get some results.

Album of the Week:  Oasis  "Dig Up Your Soul".

1, 2, 3...Everybody Cringe!

Ahhhh...like needles in the eyeball really. Please.  I guess I just finished reading Bon Scott's biography and then came across this article this morning over breakfast and had to check out exactly what Johnson was talking about.  Preparing myself for the worst I got exactly that.  A horrible cover version in order to inject a bit of  'cool rock music' into the otherwise dull set and keep that tacky Vegas show in business.  Okay, my vent is done for the morning, time to go pull on the tight stuff and roll out the two wheeler. Phew.