whatcha gonna do?

Ok, so just a few days left in 2008, does your glass feel half full or half empty?  I will say that mine is half full!

I set out to race bikes in 2008, and did it.  Not well mind you, but did it.  What are you jotting down on your list of todo's for 2009?

Me:

lose 10 lbs.  (my wii will think I'm skinny then)

eat more vegetables - (like with every dinner meal, or as a dinner meal)

ride my bike(s) more with my friends

Yep, its Christmas

Merry Christmas Guys.  Its fun riding with all of you even though I'm always in your dust!

New ride is completed. Titus Racer X Limited with Fox RLC 100 fork. FSA stem and h-bar. King headset. Lizard Skins lock-on grips. Full XTR with XTR discs. The only exception is an XT front derailleur. 180mm front rotor and 160mm rear rotor. XT centerlock hubs with DT 15 ga. spokes and Mavic XC 717 disc rims. Ritchey WCS alloy seatpost and WTB Stealth V (I think...it's the light one?) saddle. Michelin XCR AT 2.2 tires. Eventually some Time pedals. Now we either need some better weather or some worse weather to go ride it?!?!

Merry Christmas

Have a Safe and Great Christmas. O ya, don't drink too many brewski's

First tracks?

Do you guys ride in this stuff?  Dmars and Greg live close enough to make it happen.  I skipped the trainer last night and played Call Of Duty - World at War on the WII.  Pretty good.  I'll log some time this weekend.  

I got up at 5 and pushed the slushy around.  This snow would make a good slurpee!

What to do this weekend...

I have an idea... Give me $10 and watch a "crappy" bowl game on TV while your ride your trainer. You know you want a reason to watch the Eagle Bank Bowl and root for Wake Forest who just barley has 6 wins this season! Bowl season Starts Saturday!

It's easy, click here, and then pick the winner of each bowl game. When you pick the winner, assign a confidence value to that pick. If you picked the correct winner, you get the confidence points that you assigned. The winner of the pot has the most confidence points at the end!

brrrr

-6 @ my house this a.m.  I'm home today, taking care of a sick kid.  Did you know that the avg temp is supposed to be 35 degrees? 

Snow is supposed to be on its way tomorrow - I hear 3 inches.  Plug in the fans boys, as it looks like we won't be outside for a week or so!  Dave, you put on your leg warmers - Jazzercise requires it!

side note:  I think I found out what was wrong with my HRM.  MANBOOBS.  My manboobs have gotten a little bigger and has cause my HRM strap to slide down my chest a little.  I found this out 8 minutes into my ride last night.  Fixed it and you can see in my numbers that it looks right now.

Did you ride on Saturday in the 60 degrees?

too lazy to ride...

I ate popcorn and cheesecake and then the sugar coma put me to sleep. I'll have to test the HRM on Sunday when its supposed to be 4 degrees! Ride outside tomorrow boys - close to 50 degrees!
I swiped this picture from here: You should read it, its a good blog! "HOW TO AVOID THE BUMMER LIFE! from SWOBO"!

This picture depicts exactly what i did at the nursurey entrance during lap 2 of the Tranq Psycowpath Race with Rob from Linclon behind me!

Ok, so I didn't throw my tire but I did bail hard on my FACE!

Broken Heart Rate Monitor?

Does anyone know how to tell if your HRM is on the blink? I think that mine is as it has given me what I think is LOW numbers in Calorie Burn the last two times that I've used it. Check the Trainer Log to see what I mean....

Riders riding similar times and distances should be close in Calorie Burn - wouldn't you think?

I rode for 33 minutes last night, 9.25 miles and my HRM said I only burned 202 calories and that my Avg Hearrate was 105. I looked down at my wrist in the beginning 5 minutes and it was only counting 58 bpm - damn that's close to a resting heart rate.

I tightened the straps last night when I took it off. I'm going to ride at the same intensity level tonight for the same time period and see what happens. Maybe the batteries are dieing?

new trainer??

does this count as trainer time. Since the cold weather has arrived, I am going to start going to the gym regularly again. Can I log this time, or is it cheating?

Monday 36 to start - 42 to end

I ventured out before the storm.  Great temps and conditions.  I again rode all of the singletrack that zorinksy had to offer.  36 degrees felt great!  As for the Storm - the winter weather advisory has been cancelled and now the weather man is only calling for 1" of snow.  They  say that we are going to dodge the big stuff.  Fine by me I guess!
This picture is of the damn.  The city put tires around all of the obsticles in preparation for sledding season.  Didn't the city ban sledding in PUBLIC AREAS a year or two ago?  When the kids get bigger, we'll be here! - ummm, if its still legal!

Saturday Night Special

Andy and I hit up Tranq Saturday night for a little night ride. It was 22 degrees when we started at about 7:20 PM from the upper PL at the ice rink and 18 degrees when we finished. We were able to get in 1.5 laps. My light ran out after a bit more than a lap, so we were relying on Andy's light, which promptly started to dim. We rode back up the hill by the apartments pretty much in the dark, but there was enough ambient light, it wasn't a big deal. The fingertips took it pretty hard the first 1/2 lap until we started generating some heat, then all was well. The frozen ground was great...gobs of traction.

Sorry, no pics...it was too cold to dig out the camera!

Monday 29 degrees, North Wind 12 mph, gusting to 16

....feels like 21 degrees.
(above... proof that it was windy!)

I was concerned that I wasn't dressed for the weather.  I had on a pair of cycling bib tights, cycling shorts, thermal longsleeve base layer, Jersey (see below), cycling socks, insulated cycling socks, shoes, thermal shoe covers, windbreaker, warm cycling gloves, nike cycling hat.  It ended up being just fine.  I rode at Zorinsky.  45 minutes 9.2 miles.     
I got this jersey from a guy at work. Last weekend was the Swiss Watch Faire. The Festina Rep brought in a few of these jerseys. One of them ended up on my desk! Sweet!
I rode all of the zorinksy single track that I could!  A few spots were damp and some even had a little dusting of snow.  All was passable!

No trainer tonight... I'll enjoy a cold one and some MNF!  

crappy weather = trainer

I know that Greg and I both settled for the trainer today. The logs on the right in case you are interested... ok, so I doubt anyone would be but....

Monday Tranq

I rode by myself yesterday afternoon. Only saw one other guy out there as I was climbing the South hill. The technical section was a bit tricky, which had me off my bike walking it.

The trail was in great shape except for the spots that Dmars told me about. I had fun and only rode 1 lap - sure beats the trainer!

New Ride

Here's a pic of my new ride that arrived yesterday. I'll be building it up over the next couple of months. Red anodized with 4 inches of rear travel and a Fox RP23 shock. I'm thinking mostly XT with a Float RLC fork and some Stans wheels.

OOO Yaaaa

Man, it was sweet ride yesterday. Very little wind and 50 degrees. There was a lot of people out enjoying the trail. I hope the weather stays nice like this for a while.

Trainer time

I logged 30 minutes on the trainer last night. I was surprise at how far I DID NOT GO.

Big Chain Ring, 15 and 13. Cadence 80

I had a good sweat going but only managed to ride 9.5+ miles. Hmmmm. I wish that I would have had on my HRM to see the calories. It sure beat running on the treadmill though.

I am going to start a trainer log. I'm going to write down the date, time ridden, miles ridden and calories - if wearing a HRM. That way I'll be able to see how many BASE miles I built over the winter! Do you guys want to join in?

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

Let's go for a ride Sunday afternoon, as of now I have the green light. We can hit the normal spot or go for a short road trip. If muddy we can always ride the hills North of town.

Dang Wind

Rode some


With these two Cats

Tranq was in good shape except for the usual winter mud holes. Soon we won't be able to ride much dirt in above freezing temps. Gotta get out while you can.

Fighting the Wind

Dave and I took of for a nice little road ride. The wind was tough for the first half but on the way back we cruised. Had a great ride

New Reroute at Tranq

Today the Tranq council members met at the North hill descent to plan out a new route. The current route is starting to erode so we wanted to nip this in the bud. We came up with a new reroute on the North hill that looks promising. We got her cut in and it is ready for riding. I had fun day today, loaded up the burly with all the tools that I needed and hit the road. The weather was great, there was hardly any wind..

Look out boys

I heard there was a mountain Lion sighting up by Blair, and in the Ponca hills area.Now I am going to be nervous riding the trails in the dark. I guess they like to eat mountain bikers... :)


Pic from NPS

Monday Night Ride

Hooked up with dale for the Monday night ride, man it was sweet. I couldn't believe how warm it was, for being November and all. I even worked up a sweat. Saw Dmars and Chris at the shop, they headed out earlier for a ride.

Sunday @ the lake

As I noted in my comment on Greg's post. I was FINALLY able to get out on my bike this weekend. The weather was awsome - my conditioning.... well, that's another story. I rode the skinny bike around zorinsky. There were quite a few folks out enjoying the weather. 1 lap around the lake and I was shot. The 6 sick days took any cycling fitness that I had left out of me. I'll have to work to get some of it back before the snow falls!

I guess I'll hit the treadmill tonight - I've been enjoying a bit too much of my daughters trick-or-treat goodies!

Fall ride

I love when it is 70 degrees out and everywhere you look the leaves are changing and crunching beneath you tires. Hear is the new roller coaster section at Tranq

Monday Night ride

Met up with Dale, Paul, and Eric, for a nice brisk ride down at Tranq. Checked out the new roller coaster section on top of the South hill that Chris created. Pretty sweet, I can't make it thru that section yet. Its a flow thing I guess. Took some pics of the new section, but they did not turn out, too dark.

Ready for a ride, lets go

I have not blogged much lately as you can tell, but I am back at it again.

Is there anyone out there.

Anyone up for a bike ride Sunday afternoon, or Monday evening. Tranq should be dry Sunday. Hey Rob Sunday would be a perfect time for you to trek down to Omaha for a ride.

crazy downhill

Yep, i'm still alive - just not talkative! I think that these cats have ridden this before!

Mondial Du VTT Descente de Venosc caméra embarquée
by 103TuRtLe

Hattip to BORK!

First Night Ride

Tuesday was the first night ride of the fall. My sister and I started around 7, and rode till 9 pm. It was a blast. I forgot how much different it is riding at night, and I gave my light a good work out. Here is a picture

Thanks DMars!

DMars, thanks for letting me bike-jack you at the race on Saturday. My older 2 kids were out pre-riding the kids race course and got lost all the way out by the turn around on the registration side of the trail. My oldest son crashed and had a visit from the dreaded chain suck monster! Andy was out looking for them but wasn't able to find them. Doug Larson came up and told me where they were...he ran into them while pre-riding the course. Paul Eichler was hanging out with them until I got there. I needed a bike so I could get out there and help them them out.

You're a life saver! I know it's not always easy to lend someone your ride, especially when it's as new as yours! I promise, I didn't crash it or scratch it!

The rapid rise shifting was throwing me off though, but that's another story altogether.

I'm out

Boys, I am not going to be racing with you this weekend.  I have not had the time to put in training to do anything other than come in last at the race.  I think that I've been on my bike 4 times since Tranq, and we all know that's not gonna cut it.

You guys race and ride strong.  I'll hookup with you for some good fall riding homeboy style.  

Capital City challenge

The Branched oak race was yesterday, and Rob and I were the only ones there to represent team Gibson. I hope to see Team Gibson in full force at the Manawa race.
I enjoyed most of the race except for the mile long up hill gravel start!! One mile on gravel seems a little long for an off road race. It was like the Maskenthine start, but 4 times longer. I felt pretty strong through out the race, but the start took some out of me. I finished 5Th, and rob finished 6Th, overall pretty good. I do wish I would have been closer to the 4Th place guy, he was about 10 minutes ahead of me. It was a fun race, good training, and nice to ride somewhere new.


I almost forgot, I was half way home before I realized that I had left my front wheel sitting in the grass where my car was parked. I turned around, drove 35 miles back to the race to find my wheel leaning against the registration tent. Thank you whoever turned it in I owe you a beer or two !!

Hot lunch Lap - Thursday

tranq

Meet me at the rink access trail @ 12:15.  I'm riding one lap and then heading back to the office.

You game?

Racing saturday?

I am going to race this saturday, any of you guys going? Rob, will I see you there?

Anyone up for s sunday ride

Since the race was postponed, and I probably wont be able to race next weekend, you guys want to meet for a Team Gibson ride tomorrow?

Lunch Lap results

Besides seeing 1 runner and 2 other MTBikers, I saw tons of these and 1 of these. The trail was perfect. I don't recall ever riding Tranq and not seeing DUST.

Those hoppers were CRAZY. I think that they landed on every body part and even got into my jersey. I was wondering what someone would do if they were afraid of "bugs"! It would be funny!

Is the city making another parking lot or more soccer fields at bottom of the hill? I THINK it took out some singletrack but I'm not sure as I was still able to ride along the edge and stay on a path?

Does anyone know what the city is doing?

Hot Lunch Lap

Sorry guys - I've been busy with things that were not really realated to bikes, so i spared my limited audience stories about the zoo and sandbox. What I do know is that there is a race coming up this weekend, right?

Dmars will be representing TEAM GIBSON with an utter desire to finish well. He will, I know he will. Crewcabrob has similiar desires. You guys give them hell and report back.

I don't recall the last time I was really ON my bike. Its been 7 or 10 days I think. Therefore changes need to be made. I'm skipping lunch tomorrow and riding. As it sits, I have 2 options:

1. Papio trail ride (if others from my office join in - they are roadies and will probably kick my ass.)
2. Tranq hot lap (if my office mates decline, I'll ride a hot lap at tranq)

YOU are welcome to join either way. 12 or 12:30 tomorrow. The weather will be PERFECT! come on!

Standings are out.

The Psycowpath point standings are out, and big surprise, I am 3rd!! Rob you re second , but becareful, I am coming for you :). I am sure I will get dropped in the standing after the last 2 reces. Ray you are 22 out of 25, but they only have you down for the Maskenthine race, so when they get you other races in (swanson and tranquility) you should move up inside the top 5! Greg you are 9th even though you missed 2 races, good job!! The manawa race should move you up to the top 5. Over all Team Gibson Is making a good showing. Good job guys.

edited: link to the standings

Long weekend?

I haven't been on my bike since Sunday. But I hope to change that this weekend. Shall we try and get together for a little riding?

Great a.m.for a ride

Parker and I commuted to the grocery store but stopped off for some fun first!

all show and no go

Just like me on race day! All show but no GO!

Trail day at manawa

any one want to hit the thor trail day at manawa this friday night or saturday morning? We could car pool. I am thinking friday night, so let me know. Also are you guys racing the branched oak race? Care to show us areound for a preride on the weekend of the 30/31 Rob?

is it possible, bad bike posture?

Now I'm no expert, but I have seen the EXPERT CLASS RACERS zoom by. They all look very fluid and "layed out" on their bikes.

How's my form here? Is my geometry wrong?

TTT the aftermath.

Well, the race is over, and I had alot of fun. I was really pleased with the new bikes performance. It just seems so darn fast. I finished 9 th (I could have passed a guy right at the end, but there was not a good place to pass.) Rob finishing just behind me at 10 th. Rg crashed which caused a mechanical problem on his bike, but he showed tenacity, and finished the race anyway. good job guys!!
I think my second lap was faster than the first, When I crossed the start finish line after lap one I wasnt pleased with my time ( kind of P.O. d in fact). So I turned it it up on the second lap, and finished by a time of 55 minutes on my odometer. Which isnt my best time, but there is always next time.
My sister finished third in her first race. She could have taken second, but she thought she was way ahead and slowed down near the end . Well as luck would have it, the girl was right behind her, and passed her. She was bummed, but I told her its all part of racing, and she learned something today and to remember it during your next race. never let up!! My neice had fun in the kids race she did really well. She rode over the log that was on the kids loop for the first time that day.
What about you guys, what did you think.

'HOT LUNCH' Lap @ Tranq tomorrow!

Meet at the ice rink @ noon. Ride two laps with the Sausage King and me. I'll be trying to keep up. He won't let me ride the beginner loop!

Towel off in the lot and head back to the office to finish the work day. This will be my last ride there prior to the Psycowpath Event!

Here's some Race Information and Map link:

you gotta plan?

Tranq Sunday

I'm going to try (read again TRY) to get out this afternoon during nap time. I plan to ride 2 laps. I am going to ride the beginners loop as this will be the only time to ride them prior to the race on Saturday.

I'm shooting to start @ 2p.m.

I rode at 2 p.m., and all though I rode by myself I was not alone.

The Goal: Ride the beginner loop twice and see the time/distance. Being as I now know both time and distance I will not be posting them here! You will have to go out and ride the course for yourself! I'll give you a hint, two laps of the beginner loop is > 9 miles.

These guys were hanging out in the nursery on my first lap. I didn't see them in the same spot on the second lap. They were further down the trail and up in the trees. One actually startled me as it flew down from its perch (which was located directly above the trail). I actually ducted my head - although I'm not sure that it would have hit me.


I leave you with this last picture. It is a picture of the second hill climb that we beginners won't be climbing. I have to say, I'm not that bummed about that!