Weekend Update

This weekend was pretty busy, and left me feeling tired. On Friday Sean and I went up to Berkshire East, a local ski mountain, and skied from 6-10PM. This was my first time here and it was fun to ski under the lights. That being said they could defiantly use more light, as sometimes you would ski in and out of dark spots, it does not inspire the most confidence especially when we had hard packed snow (it was pretty icy) to ski on.

Saturday I went for a ride outside on my single speed. I went to this snowmobile trail, and it was all right to ride on at first, but as I got deeper into the trail less people had been there so the snow was not as packed down. I then kept on falling through, so I turned around and make it back home. Next my friend Matt from high school and college who lives in Hartford came up, and went on a hike up bear mountain. As the pictures below show, it was a very nice day for a hike.

Then on Sunday I went over to Northfield Mountain to do cross country skate skiing for the first time. I have wanted to skate ski for a while now, so although the conditions were not the best I decided that I would give it a shot. To make a long story short, I tried to learn how to skate while working my way up an icy hill, and let me tell you this, never try to learn how to skate up an icy hill. I spent about 40 minutes essentially walking really funny up this hill, but when I got to the top, that is when I was able to actually practice. I was able to get down some basics and move along pretty well on the nicer snow at the top of the hill. I then spend the next two hours enjoying myself, and by the end of the day I was extremely hungry, tired, and sore, but as any good endurance athlete, I was smiling.

After all of this it was time to do some wash, and then I had to dry it all, so I installed a three line drying rack in my bedroom, check it.

Christmas break and getting going on training for 2010

I headed back home to Michigan for Christmas. It was a busy time where I got to see lots of family and friends. I intended to ride the trainer, but with everything going on, I hauled my bike back for about 1.5 hrs of total riding. Things did get better when I went up north to the cottage, as I did a fair amount of cross country skiing as well as a great night of downhill skiing. Here are some pictures that capture the event.


Its the time of year when getting ready for the next season really starts. I kicked off it off by doing a step test, in which I systematically increase my effort until I fail to increase the effort (or until you want to pass out or get sick). Specifically, you start at a power output of 100 watts (W) and increase 25 W every three minutes. The test went all right, and it will establish my training zones for the next little while.

I have been feeling a little under the weather recently, so as opposed to heading outside to ski or ride I have been doing a considerable amount of yoga. I think that I will continue to do yoga, I have been enjoying it and I think that it is a nice compliment to riding.

That is it for now, I hope you enjoy the pictures!