Today, the wind was gusting hard and at times sounded like a freight train roaring past the house… it was the perfect day to seek refuge in the woods.
Posts Tagged → mountain biking
Getting Closer
Back be damned! Back also be rubbed, iced, heated, stretched, rolled, medicated, electronically stimulated and cussed to hell. Things are slowly getting better in the back department, at least on the bike.
Progress
I got out on the bike for the fourth day in a row today. Starting to see some progress in the back pain area. Raising the seat post was a good move, plus I noticed a slight difference in cleat for/aft placement between my left and right shoes. The left was about an 1/8″ back. This might be playing into my imbalance issues. We’ll see, I fixed that this evening, so I will have to do more “testing” this week. I suppose there are worst places to be “testing” out new positions. The woods are coming alive and the ferns are starting to blossom. Soon the entire forest floor will be covered with them. I love that.
Psycho Weather
Wow, the Michigan weather has been even more psycho this spring than usual and today was no exception.
Ouch
After a day off the bike due weather on Friday (morning) and traveling with B-Man to his soccer match on Saturday, I got out for a quick lap at MMCC after B’s home match on Sunday. I wish I hadn’t.
High Five (why MTB racers rock)
Everyday I field hundreds of emails (not really, not even one) about why I am such a fan of pro mountain bike racing over pro road racing. Well, aside from that fact that I race mountain bikes (or a cross bike on gravel), I don’t really don’t dig the modern-day road racing vibe. On top of that, I’ve only competed in ONE (paved) road race in my entire life (A local race in which I got dropped within the first few miles and rode the next 27 miles solo). I just dig the mountain bike race vibe more than that of our skinny-tired brothers and sisters.
And as if I needed anymore evidence to justify my position, I give you the video clip below (taken via RedBull.TV at round 2 of the UCI XCO World Cup) of Alexandra Engen (Ghost Factory Racing)…
A Normal Weekend
After a long, long, LONG Michigan winter, it has been nice to get back to “normal” weekends. By “normal” I of course mean weekends that have way more riding than staring out of windows cursing the snow and ice.
Another Go At Winter
Winter is slowly letting go of its icy grip on central Michigan. Still, I wouldn’t quite call it ideal weather for big base mile road and gravel riding, but it’s becoming more doable every day.
As you may or may not have seen in my last post, up north a bit winter is still rolling along, so today I took advantage of some extra time, shot up for another fat bike ride on the nordic ski trails at Hanson Hills and had another go at winter before it’s gone. [To reiterate, Hanson is done grooming for the 2013/14 season and the trails are open to all traffic, including fat bikes, riding these trails was done legally].
The ski and tubing hills are still covered with snow, yet were void of people, the small lake was frozen over and my car was the only one in the entire lot. It was sort of eerie and a bit like I had 35 km of trails as my personal winter playground (one of the few benefits of being an active non-contributing member of society.. sigh).
Fat-ish… Spring-ish?
It seems like forever since there’s been a legit blog post about me actually riding my bike (probably for the best as far as readers are concerned). There were a couple of days here and there that I may have been able to squeeze a ride in, but scheduling conflicts and/or weather fronts jacked my chances.
The Non-Tourist
The following post was originally published in XXC Magazine No. 5 (late fall 2009) and is reprinted with permission from the author (which is me). While I no longer have goals geared towards ultra endurance racing (dwindling fitness and a series of blood clots now have me pursuing races 50 miles and under) the sentiment and my love of mountain biking remains.