Cross Country Skis

I got some cross country skis today! I got the Fischer Outbounds, they should be good for me because they are a backcountry (off the beaten path) model with a metal edge, so this should allow me to take them most places, and the metal edge should help with going down the hilly terrain over here in Massachusetts. They are resting in my closet for me, as all we have for precipitation is some freezing rain, but when they snow hits I will be ready to take them out for a spin! The picture below does not do them justice, but they look a lot like skis. haha

Training Update

The past two weeks have been a mix of trainer and some outside road biking. On the indoor front I have watched some good movies such as Sin City and Office Space to name some highlights. On the outdoor front I have been braving the mildly cold weather, a few rides below 40 and one ride below 32. I have also found this great climb about ten minutes from my house, its about 1000 ft of vertical gain and it runs along this great stream. So the whole way up you ride next to this New England river with lots of little waterfalls and other obstacles.
We got our first snowfall last night and today so outdoor riding is going to get a little scarce, looks like I am going to have to get some crosstraining in!

The End of an Era, The Beginning of a Season

On Wednesday night at 8:30PM an era had come to a close, my yellow mountain bike was sold to a Texan. Over the past three of four years me and my yellow bike have had many good rides, with good friends, all over the country. Over the years I have replaced nearly every part with a hand selected part, and she was just like I wanted her to be, but as with all good things they must come to an end. So goodbye yellow bike, you will be missed but never forgotten. I sent her off in style, check out the packing job!

On a brighter note I opened up the downhill ski season on Saturday at Mt. Snow in Vermont. I bought a student season pass this year, and it was a great deal, so when Mt. Snow opened on Saturday my friend Sean and I had to head up. Its about an hour or so away, so the drive was just like going up to Nubs Nob from the cottage. They had 5 top to bottom runs open, and an impressive amount of snow, more than I had anticipated. It was actually really cold and windy, but other than that it was a great day to be on the snow, and Mt. Snow seems like it will be a good place to have a season pass. I have been to Mt. Snow 4 times before, but that was on a bike, so seeing it covered with the white stuff was different, and going down was different than having to climb up, but it was most defiantly a welcome change!

New Record

Today I believe I set a record, I spent 4:05 on the trainer. I managed to watch Braveheart and half of the Simpsons movie. I mean who would not pedal for three hours watching William Wallace kicking a bunch of English guys around? Homer Simpson was also up to his ushual, so it all helped me sit there and pedal for more than 4 hours. All this means is that I am going to have to spend 5 hours on the trainer this year to break this record, and if I keep that up, well, I might start to hate the trainer as many other cyclists do.

The Trainer

This week has begun the part of the cycling season that many cyclists fear more than anything else, the long winter on the trainer. Luckily for me I actually like the trainer. This is what a typical trainer set up looks like:


So you sort of just sit there and pedal, and then you pedal some more. I usually put a movie in and sit and pedal for 2-3 hrs at a time. If all goes according to plan I hope to watch all of the Bourne movies this week, so that should be exciting.

This winter I also hope to get into the weight room more, and also I want to get some cross country skis so I could do that as an alternative to being on the trainer. Either way I am optimistic for this upcoming season and its just about time to start getting prepared.

This Weekends Interesting Rides

This was one of the most interesting weekends on a bike in a little while. Friday evening I went out on a ride to a park down the street just to get out for a little bit, and as it was getting dark I brought my light. So I rode around for a while and then decided to turn around, and it turns out I did not know which way I came from. So I went in the direction I believed I should travel in, and well I started going up hill and I was pretty sure this was the wrong way. I kept on going this way in hopes of coming out on a familiar trail, although it was totally dark so nothing looked the same. Long story short, this did not happen, I ended up hopping from rock to rock in knee deep rivers and rode in one direction until I finally came out on a road, and managed to get back home. Below is a map of where I believe I was, the red point is my exit point, the blue line is my route back home and the blue point is home (click on the map to expand). So getting lost in unfamiliar woods at night is not a good thing, but here I am telling you about it!


Saturday was a 4 hr road ride on some new roads, nice weather and overall a nice ride, until the last mile that is. I was at 68.7 miles or something and wanted to make it an honest 70, so I rode about 1 mile down the road. I turned around and then got a flat, I could almost see my house! So I fixed it, and then I needed a bit more distance so I took the long way home, and guess what, another flat! Oh man I had to walk the rest in and only ended up with 69.8 miles, oh well pretty close. Check out the French King Bridge over the Connecticut River, pretty nice view.


Sunday was a 3 hr Mountain bike ride in the local trails. It was a rough ride, I got another flat and when trying to repair it the metal washer on my rim strip was stuck, so I had to rip off the valve, ruining the rim strip and then putting a new tube in. Then on the last descent I was ripping around this corner and I slide out and hit the ground hard, and ended up digging my thumb into the ground. The thumb is not doing and well, and tomorrow I am going to head in for an xray, lets hope its not broken.

All of this adds up to another weekend of good riding, even considering all the mishaps.

First Post on the new Racing Blog

With another year of racing coming to a close I have decided to start keeping track of my progress through this blog. With fall in full swing and leaves almost all off of the trees New England is getting ready for winter, which means plenty of good riding left. This past weekend my friend Sean and I had two great ride, about 4.5 hours of mountain biking on Saturday and just over 4 hours of road bike on Sunday. Its easy to want to ride when the trail looks like this:

Riding the rocks with the leaves on the trail is a nice challenge, because rock gardens as far as the eye can see is simply not enough. The ride was great with a little rain mid day, but the single speed felt good and it was nice to see some new trails.

The road ride on Sunday took us to some of the hill towns as Sean called them. There was a few good climbs at by the end of the day we had gone 65 miles and had climbed 4000 ft, which left us a little tired after the long day on Saturday, but the weather was nice and route was very fun and had some great views.