Never Too Old To Be A Kid

Photo taken with the iPhone Photosynth app, and edited with Camer+. Who needs a point-and-shoot camera these days?!

Heat Index = 116

Heat index of 116, and I decide to go for a mt. bike ride. I don't so much mind the heat, but today was brutal! Saw just one other hardcore person on the trails, which made sense I guess. However, I think riding 23 miles in this heat made me a better rider. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. It may have also served as preparation for the Maah Daah Hey In A Day mountain bike race in August. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to enter, but the opportunity to ride the entire 105 miles of the trail is very enticing...and scary!

Almost forgot. The reward for my Sunday ride in the 'HOT AS HADES' heat....

Hill Repeats

I was looking forward to a relaxing ride tonight, but seven miles out I discovered someone decided to lay down a layer of gravel on 1804 South. Those rat bastards! So, my original plan of an EZ 20 on nice rolling hills, quickly turned into a suffer fest of junk miles mixed in with three MARY HILL REPEATS. At 3/4 of a mile with a gradient anywhere from 5% to 8%, the Mary Hill puts a serious burn to the legs and makes the heart feel like it's going to explode...if you hammer it.

I'm actually happy my ride turned out the way it did though -- I believe rides like these make me a better rider. Good thing I enjoy climbing!  

Oh, the photo below is my latest gadget. Cool, huh? You can see what it does here.

2011 Race To Sunset

Entered the 2011 Race To Sunset this year with a three person team, and as a team we managed to complete 25 laps in 10 hours. I felt good on the bike for most of the day, but this course has a way of making me feel slow. I can't quite figure out why this is.

The local news was at the race as well, and they did a nice story on the event, and highlighted professional racer Kelly Magelky. I have a hard time wrapping my head around what this guy can do on a bike! The news story can be seen here.

Me at the start of a long and satisfying day on the bike.

What my heart did during the 10 hours.

Punta Lobos!

I'm having a real hard time getting through this mid-life crisis. However,  I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing. Therefor, this is why you see the below photo of a longboard that I recently purchased.

As a kid, skateboarding was a big part of how I spent my summers, and I'm attempting to recapture the feeling that skateboarding gave me 30+ years ago. I no longer have my G&S Fibreflex board, but the Punta Lobos will help fill that void!

Heart Rate - 238. This Can't Be Good.

Finished a long day at the office and decided to go for an easy 20 mile ride on this breezy afternoon. Little did I know that the breeze I felt during the day turned into a 30 mph headwind for the first 10 miles! No worries - the second 10 miles it was a tailwind! Weeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Legs, lungs, etc. felt great. However, if you look at my heart rate (below) during the first part of my ride, you will see that I was apparently having some sort of 'event.'  I can assure you that my actual heart rate did not max out at 238. If it had, I'd be dead. I'll chalk this up to my Garmin needing a firmware update, or some shit.

Road ID - Don't Leave Home Without It!

Went on my first long ride today in cool temps. Legs felt great. Lungs felt great. Fingers and toes froze. Oh, and I managed to forget my heart rate monitor and my Road ID. 

Forgetting the HRM was not such a big deal, although I did feel a little lost not being able to check whether or not I was in or out of my target zone.  The Road ID, however, is an item I will never forget again. I never expect an accident to happen, but if it does, I want some ID around my wrist. Forgetting this was a BONEHEAD move on my part.