Monday, May 31, 2010

oops

I've been busy with this and that, which means little riding and no writing. Today I decided to take some time, put my new repair stand to work, and perform the much needed maintenance on my bikes. In doing so I discovered that the front tire on the Raleigh was dead, the loud and scary way.

As in, I pumped it up to almost full pressure (90 of a max 100 psi) and about 20 minutes later it blew out. Thankfully I wasn't working on the bike anymore and it was back against the wall, otherwise I would have been changing my pants and cleaning the floor instead of blogging...

Monday, May 3, 2010

Crossfit?

I've been swapping emails with my brother, he of the Panama City Beach Iron Man, and he's been recommending that I look into Crossfit as an alternative to the standard gym-based or private coaching. I know a little about it, and know that he (and my sis-in-law) have been working out with a guy who based his program on it, but that's about it. When I did some digging I discovered an affiliate about a half mile from my office and another about two miles from my house. Neither of those is far enough away to pose an obstacle and now I'm intrigued.

Anyone have any experience with Crossfit that they want to share?

Saturday, May 1, 2010

100 (or less) Miles of Nowhere

In my last post I mentioned that I hoped I would be in shape (primarily my back) for the upcoming 100 Miles of Nowhere ride. For those who aren't aware of it, this "ride" started as a fundraising bet by the Fat Cyclist that he could do 100 miles in a single day on rollers (he won). The response was so massive that he opened it up to other participants, with the support of Twin Six and other companies. This year's official date is May 8.

The large and very stuffed goody-bag from Twin Six

I recently got my bag of stuff form Twin Six, which (morally) obligates me to ride. I won't be doing so on May 8 due to a barbeque (that I'm hosting). I may try for May 9 - it would be a good way to work off the barbeque and get me ready for my first vacation in something like two years, which starts on May 10.

The inside of the goody-bag

Either way, I doubt I'll be hitting the full 100 miles. My goal is to do 65, a metric century, to see how my training is going for the LiveStrong ride. Since I haven't been doing any training I already know the answer to that question but this might be a good way to jump start the new batch of training. One thing I do need to figure out is how I can determine my distance since I've shifted over to a GPS system, which won't measure anything on the trainer or rollers.