TIme to keep up

So I will start keeping my blog more updated.

Today was nice. The GF had a lunch at the U so I ate a 15 minute lunch and got on the bike. did 2 hours and 41 minutes. The first hour kept the heart rate low and warmed up my knee. Then I went and did kill repeats up and down Sogn Valley. NICE! Then stopped in Dennison for a couple of drinks and a PayDay. Got back to northfield and cooled down... I even won the sprint for the speedlimit sign... no one to race though.... Felt sort of like the U16 State tt when I was the only person that showed up and won by defult..... that was sort of embarassing... But made up for it when I won the U18 against some other kids. That was fun. Talked to BK yesterday. Sounds like he is adjusting well to being at home and doing school there. He is even working for a shop, so maybe he'll keep the madone from crapping out. Lets see what else can I rant on. Was having some REALLY weird noise coming from the BB of the Cow... might finally be time to replace it with something thats not 8 years old. Alright I have to stretch and go to choir... all smelly YEAH. Then I am hitting the weights after dinner and going to go watch the office. Later

So its fall

And it feels good to be back at school with all the friends and stuff.

Finally got the cow back up here and resurrected. She road nicely this evening. Maybe a few twinks and she will be great. I was surprised at my fitness, I expected to be much better than I felt... oh well.

I did the NW passage tonight it was pretty sweet with some wind. Wednesdays are gonna suck for riding. I have lab till five and the sun is setting at 7ish. So the plan from here on out might be to try and get two workouts on the bike that day. One before lunch and one after lab... should be interesting.

other than all that my weight is going fine. I look pretty good, I am only weighing myself once every two weeks... sort of a mental thing. I can see where the mountain biking is improving my riding and I need to keep doing at least one ride a week on it till there is too much snow.... oh well.

Hopefully the cow will make it through one more winter and survive to be a relic.



ON ANOTHER NOTE>

I have been taking a class this semester title the Lit. of the Poles. It is right up my alley with all my interest in the arctic and its riches. I am finding myself researching a lot about global warming. First- why do we always see research about people trying to still prove global warming when there is no one trying to do anything about it. Sure we have the Koyto shit but CO2 emitions reached a peak in the 80's that could never be undone. At this point the permafrost is melting at such a rate that at least 100 billion cubic feet of methane and CO2 will be released from it. The ice in Alaska and Siberia is a ticking time bomb right now and we are cutting the fuse to speed it up.... why not at least brain storm ideas on how to stop or slow the warming of the eaths waters.


1. Some way to disaffect the aourlobe (sp) affect that the polar ice does. We need to reflect the suns heat off of the waters. I was thinging retractable sailcloth with reflective paint.... something... we sit on our fingers and act like there is only one way.

2. We could dump salt into the polar regions to keep the gulf stream steady. At this point in the next 50 years it wont be there...

3. Listen...

enough of a rant I know there are enough stupid jackasses that refuse to believe in global warming and they can suck it. go to msnbc.com and watch the greenland meltdown. It will make you piss your pants...

later

An update

Alright, so the end of my summer has been really hectic with school and lots of work. Final news. The Zinn Frame is done, anyone want to buy a 3600 dollar frame for 3000? Built for a 6'2" to 6'6" rider. The steel Badger is in in Jig and should hopefully be going to paint this weekend. My riding has taken a toll these last two weeks due to work, lightening, and saddle sores. I need to ramp it up these next two days. I get to go home on Sunday, Ingrid and I are driving my truck south and then flying back up for school time. I've been running 4-8 miles a day while I haven't been able to ride with my saddle sores. Its been trying but oh well. My body weight is well below 210 lbs. So I am out, will post pictures of all the frames I need to sell.... here is a list


21" black Gary Fisher Rig frame

62 cm Red Magnesium Zinn

other things for sale

Ksyrium Equipe wheel set.

Thats all for now. Hopefully when I get home, I am going to meet up with my old coach and he and I are going to sit down and plan out my training for the next couple of months. The month in Jan. in Itasca should make it a challenge but not impossible. Its hard to ride in -60 degrees though...

out

The life

Is fine. Lots of school, chem is getting hard. I am fighting some saddle sores and riding as much as possible. My dad told me about some new stuff called Brave Soldier friction protection, so I am going to try some of that. Getting in 300+ miles a week on my fat butt has been taking its toll. I am going to bump up my milage and stuff. I have pretty much called it quits for racing the rest of the year. I realized this last weekend that I have lost a lot of weight and its taking a toll on my ability to keep a high speed for as high as my hrt is going. So the plan for the rest of the summer is to put in lots of base and some interval/TT work. My goal is to ride till it snows. Take the end of November and most of december in the Gym doing weights and core and yoga. Then in January I am going to be in Itasca state park doing research. It will be hard to do workouts there, so I will see what I can do there. I might add some frame saver to my KM and ride the single speed an hour each day while there in -20 degree weather. Then in Feb. I plan on stepping it up. I want to be well below 200 and build a strong base. That is my plan for the rest of the summer/winter into the spring. I will probably take my bike home at Christmas and do a weeks worth of base there. Anywho, anyone see any problems with this let me know :)

Got more

I have been able to get more riding in. I feel like I am in better shape. I got to ride with brandon last saturday at the nature center in F-bau then I got a couple of days in on the road this week. Hopefully I wont break my last working frame... hopefully. The bottem bracket has a crack that looks to be just the paint going around the old bond. Ben says that happens on the older OCLV frames. We'll see. Its starting to split at the top. I am keeping an I on it and if it goes Ben thinks he can get that frame replaced with a new Madone.... that would be hot. Milk Me II That would be another story. Anyways life is good and I am hoping more riding is in the future.

Mark

Ouch

Today hurt. I hadn't eaten enough. Went out for a NWP loop with Kyle and got my ass handed to me with a bonk and my left knee hurting. Not at all good. so I am gonna stretch and try to feel better. Got lab tomorrow morning and work tomorrow night so no time to ride the road bike.

Alrighty then

The summer is underway. I have been working my ass off at the coffee shop and trying to help out at Milltown as much as possible. Yesterday was my first day off and all I wanted to do was sleep. Oh well, saw the new pirates lastnight with Derek and that was a nice change.

My bike situation right now. I have a steel frame ordered from Badger Cycles, and I have a new mag from Zinn that I am going to be selling on ebay. anyone need a Large bike? Give you a nice deal. Anyways I am now riding a SS surly bike around as my day bike and I am attempting to train on the Trek as much as possible. I cant really push the bottem bracket to far, Ben and I found some age/stress cracks forming so I am just playing it easy now until I have a safe bike. Anyways. I am excited for the Badger. Its going to be sweet.

Alright, I hope this is a nice update, I dont really have any internet at my apartment so any updates will be few and far between with my ability to get online.

Harder day

So Monday turned out pretty good. Road for an hour and a half with Brandon. We did some hill sprints and stuff. Got a good burn going in my legs. Then Brandon and Finn wussed out for some longer riding, so Bria and I went and did the windmill loop for an hour. We got rained on, and it felt wonderful. Made myself work hard on every climb. I was happy with my ability to go pretty hard on most of them. I weighed in at 220 this morning. Which makes me very happy.



Later

Ok

So thursday I got a two hour ride in, hammering into the wind in almost any direction. That was that.

Friday, I had so much stuff to get done that i just ended up not getting to ride. Saturday, I went with Brandon to Marty, MN and road. Brandon won the 3's, and I got 20th in the 5's. Which makes me really mad. Because I think I could have won. I got dropped on the climb of the second lap, and hammered into the head wind on the descent and was almost back on, on the descent the follow car had gone around me, and after she went two civilian cars had gone too. There was a stop sign at the bottem of the hill and a right hand turn. The follow car went through the stop light, but the two other cars stopped. making me have to slow down, loosing all of my momentum and I never was able to catch back on. I kept within a minute of the group, and the eventual winner was a guy I had blown off the back on the second lap with my break away attempt. I could have one that race. Its frustrating.


Later

Tuesday, May first

Did two hours today, and then went out with the team, Kyle flatted so I offered him a tube, and I proceeded to break the valve off trying to loosen the CO2 cartrigde... fun.

So I road a quick time trial back to school and got Jake's car and got kyle. After that, my legs had gone cold and I had a dinner date a 5 20, so I did three hill sprint and called it a day.


Later

Solo, sort of

Road out towards hampton with Brandon. We started with a spring like start towards Dan Casper's house, cuz Brandon had left his shoes... Anyways. Got the shoes, and a narly warm up. we headed out of town and about 88 Brandon said he was turning around. He had a really hard day the day before, so I was cool with that and just kept on trucking for another hour and half. Then turned around and proceeded to do time trial intervals of 3 minutes with the wind(made me feel fast). I got back in 48 minutes. Really fun. So I got pretty much a 3-330 ride in today. Plus I worked 7 hours at the Hideaway, and Aced a Math test. So felt good about today. Gonna lay down and die now. Hopefully I can get one of the boys to help drive tomorrow so I can take a nap... Brandon you down for that? no 90 mph speeding tickets though please.....


Later
mk

I realize I haven't been keeping up

Alright, so the last couple of weeks have sucked for training, thanks to school and stuff.

So Saturday was the first race for me. I got in the winning break away, and then decided that it wasn't going to make it, and proceeded to back off. Only to find myself in no mans land, and calling myself a dumb shit. Kyle, my team mate pulled out a second and I didn't do so hot. I ran out of water about the second lap and proceeded to cramp the whole third. Someone nice gave me a bottle at the feed zone and I proceeded to race on into the wind alone.


As punishment for my stupid deed. I made myself ride 5 hours Sunday. Into the headwind as much as possible.

Then today as monday. I road a 2 hour recovery/ some intervals day. Felt good. got to get on the homework. Later


mk

So

i got 45 minutes in on the trainer tonight... I hate the snow...

Running

I had a job interview at the Hideaway this morning, so did not get to ride. And this evening it was snowing/sleeting/raining. So I decided to forgo riding, and run to Carleton and back to Olaf. It was nice, got some good running in. Oh well. But I got the job though too. So I will be working this summer at one of the coffee houses on division street. FUN stuff. I love coffee, and I get free smoothies... or what I want to do is eat the damn fruit. The hardest thing about college is the shitty fruit, we have an amazing caf dont get me wrong, but I am so sick of shitty bannana. I wanna eat berries and stuff... which they never have. Anyways, I am excited. I might actually start some time before the summer... money is money. They also seem really flexable about the work schedule, so I will probably have no problem getting to race. Lovin it.

On other news, I dont feel like I have enough of a base built up, so I am going to spend the next couple of days building a base and then I have the choir tour this weekend, meaning I cant race the home race... oh well, I dont really want to do the course that was designed to kill me... thanks ass holes (j/k) Anywho, I am going to get my base together before the next weekend. Even if I dont have a lot of speed. I just got to get my body ajusted to the Zinn, I love it, but I wanna get better. Moving on, I hope everyone is doing good.

Summary

Got the new bike over spring break. Got some riding in. I am still getting ajusted to the new bike and my body is really sore after a ride on it yesterday. Just gotta get used to it I guess. Anyways. got in 2 hours and 10 yesterday. Gonna ride the trainer tonight. Its snowing in april... yuck. Looks like the rest of the week should be clear though. Which is great I will just pack on the clothes and get some good time in. Later

Who needs tan lines?

My new standard... no longer do cyclist have weird tan lines... we also have weird mud lines... Today felt like we were racing in Northern France or Belgium.... same difference... just better roads here.


My face right before I clean the dirt out of my right eye. And my face when realizing I had to buy some good glasses... FUN!


My face when I found out that Tom Boonen's sun glasses were fairly cheap and very nice... so yes I will sporting the world champion sunglasses... ;)

Anyways, two hours in the grime. Brandon and I went and did two time trial intervals. The first one I pretty much stayed with him, but I got a weird saddle sore that made me numb in one side of my groin. So I sat up some and Brandon kicked it up some. I kept my heart rate up but it was just kind of strange. He slowed down for a break and we got into some nice rollers and started the second interval... and for those of you who dont know me, I am a heavy man full of crap... so he started the second interval and promptly dropped my ass on the first steep climb. So I contented myself to conserve myself on the climbs and try and ride hard on the descents. One problem the descents were not as steep as the climbs, and the road had turned so we no longer had a nice tail wind. It was kind of frustrating in that my big ass got blown around, but it made for a nice training ride. I need to get some more base in before I do really hard intervals. I dont think I have enough endurance/weight lost. But will see. I may just end up riding into shape.

Sling a ling

So Brandon and I got horsey and went and road the wind mill loop as a warm up, and then played around. We stopped and got some coffee and did a cross word puzzle before going to meet all the others. Very nice. We had eight people out today and that was without Peter and Finn and any of the Carleton guys. St.Olaf the blossuming bike community. We even had two girls come out. Fun stuff. Well anyways, I am excited for the week to be over and I will be heading to sunny south carolina hoping to get some riding in on the new bike!!! Augie is coming as my personal cheif!!! :P Anyways I got in two and a half hours today with Brandon....

Yesterday was fun

jake, finn and I road to red wing with three old guys from the Northfield club. The guys from Northfield stopped in Cannon city, and the oles kept marching on. Our goal was to go do the Col d'Redwing, but we got to the park and there was atleast a ten foot wall of snow in front of the gate, and the road was still covered in snow. We also couldn't use the Cannon city cycling trail because after a mile, it was covered in snow... anyways. We got in almost 90 miles and it was a beautiful day, not too cold there was NO wind... It was fun. anyways


Over and OuT

Fun

I didn't feel to good on the road today. I think I am feeling the first full week on the bike/road. I got in an hour 20. Jake, Shawn, Finn, Kyle and I turned on the 23 and went up to 86 then finn and kyle turned on to three and the rest of us stayed on 86 till 47 and came on down it. Ok little ride. I need to learn the sprint areas on all the rides better. I keep getting into them not knowing what we are actually sprinting for. Oh well.

Over and out

Easy Day

Did a northwest passage loop in an hour and a half in the small chain ring, stopped for a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin, and then did another in the big chain ring. Didn't really want to push it today. Let my legs recover some, and work on my endurance. All and all I got a nice 3 hours in the saddle, and got the bike all cleaned off. Not too bad.

PLUS, on my first lap, instead of taking 86 or 272, I took 267. This is a farmers sand/gravel/dirt road. That was PERFECT, for cobble/pave training. It eventually connects back to 86, and it adds a couple of miles through some great training. I felt so bad for my chain after dooing that, that I went to mike's and grabbed some lube and go to make a special treat for my chain ;)

Talked to seth, he said he would help me with the bike put together if I needed it, as long as I can get it home in time for him to work on it some during his spring break. should be sweet!


Over and out

Group Ride

It was fun. Not to taxing of a pace. Did some down hill sprinting, kyle said wee got to around the upper forties. I think it was around the 50's due to me not having enough gears left. I need a 54x11 ratio if I was going to get anything else out of my bike. Anyways. We did the Cannon City loop, saw a bunch of new rivers being created due to the massive amount of snow melting. Hopefully it wont flood too much stuff. It was about a 1:45-2 hour ride. I wasn't really paying that much attention. I am just enjoying getting to train with the guys. Later this week, I am going to talk to Ferg about maybe skipping choir practice once a week to ride in the afternoons. Probably wednesday. That way I can get in riding 6 days a week. That would be nice. Tomorrow should be fun, I am going to try and get a group of people to go for awhile at 9 in the morning. hoping it will turn out well. Try and get in a couple of hours at a lower pace/heart rate, hopefully the weather will be nice. Its amazing what riding in nice weather does for my mood. Hell just getting to ride at all is like having a drug right now. So nice. Had a blast today,

Over and Out

Shot in under an hour and a half

So I count today as my speed work. Peter, Finn, and I road out at 130ish and headed south towards Far-boat... as we would say in the south. Anywho, we had a STEADDY 15 mile an hour head wind the whole way. With up to 22 mile an hour gust... THAT was fun! Finn and Peter must have felt fresh, but I had ridden the day before and my legs felt like lead for the first 10 miles or so... ugh, so frustrating. Anyways we got to Far-boat and got something to drink and sat, basking in the sun light on a bench. At 41 degrees it was the warmest day any of us had seen in a while. We turned back, and came home a different way. Finn spanked me with this bitch of a hill that seemed to just never end, it wasn't even that steep, just when you thought you had finally reached the top, it kicked up again. I found it much more annoying/harder than Sogn, just because I couldn't adjust the amount of effort I need to put oout to survive....

Anyways, we had a 15 mile an hour tail wind the whole way home, and made it back in about 25 minutes.... SCARY. Finn and I shared attacking the rollers on the way home, just getting in a bunch of up hill sprints. I loved it! Anyways, got back and took a shower with the bike... that was hot!
Got some homework to do tonight, and a take home math quiz on game theory.

PS

I went up to the Cities on Saturday afternoon and joined a club there called MBRC

You can learn more about it at, http://www.flandersbros.com

WARNING!

This is a rant:


Its fourty something degrees outside. The sun iS SHINEING. Brandonis riding, and I am stuck here studying. It is driving me nuts. I would go ride, if I didn't have choir and studying... UGH!

Ok, rant over

Excitment in the air

Brandon walked into my room lastnight, and was way to excited for racing to be started. But everything is contagious. I can't wait for the snow to melt. Sethrie put up pictures of the Georgia Southern race. It got me gunning. So tonight I only did an hour, but I did three 1 minute pulls at 180 bpm in the 53-14. Then to finish it all up I got a 20 sec. all out sprint in. I only did an hour, so I could get in some extra bio studying.



Here you go seth. I do have some cows growing...

The Fleet in the blizzard...



This is my dorms igloo... yes, there is a bike buried in there.

Anyways. My body weight keeps going down and I am feeling good. Hope everyone is doing good.

Braveheart

Is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched the first two hours while training on the trainer sunday, and I watched the second two hours tonight while riding. It is great, I can hold a steady 130 in a 53-15/16 and go, till the music gets pumping then I will pop down to a 53-13 and try to spin it through the whole battle. Ca est prefer... It was fun. I snacked on a peanut butter and jelly lastnight with an apple, and I cut myself back to an apple for tonights ride. For now I am going for the organic foods while riding, high fructose and glucose sugars. I will leave all gels and stuff till the season gets into swing, or when its warm enough for long, and I mean long rides. If all goes to plan, the snow should be almost melted by Thursday, and when that happens, I am planning on getting 4-7 hours long rides in a day, mattering on the weather, light, and time permitted. But watch out. I plan to get to know MN really well.... Thats all for tonight!

Later this week

we had a lot of snow and I fell and hurt my hip/bum. So my riding was neglagable. I rode Saturday with Brandon in my room. Get in just under 2 and a half hours. Very Nice.

In search of Chub Lake

SO I got lost today... And some guys at a muffler repair shop almost in Lakeville helped get me back on track. So I got in 25 miles in around an hour and twenty minutes. Not too shabby. I quatered the wind for the last two thirds of the ride, so that explains the good time on an easy day. I kept my heart rate around 135 for the most part. It got up around 150 on some climbs... but thats usual. I outlined my route today on route slip. It is cool. Anyways. I have a couple of pictures on how getting ready to ride in the cold looks.



How bout some vitamin D please?


The tools for survival.... cant carry a hatchet... yet that might have benefit... a hatchet and some matches.... :)


The best protection....



Me attempting to grow some Cipo hair.

Pulling and Andy Eddy, day

Today was like a mixture of Andy Hampstein and Eddy day. Andy in, that every thing on the bike froze. Eddy, because we didn't care. Brandon and I went out. Brandon went to Sogen to get some hill repeats in. I went out an hour after him. I did a 45 minute time trial at 160 beats to get to him. Then we went and did Sogen one last time. It was sweet. Nice big ass climb. Then we proceeded to haul our asses back to Northfield into a head wind. All and all I got a nice 3 hours in, bringing my total of the last three days to 6 hours. Not tooo bad, but a foot of snow. Thats all I got to say for today, but it was a BLAST.

This week

Should be chill. One of my classes is only meeting once, which is sweet. The bike is feeling good. Got some time in this weekend. I just wanted to say thank you to Seth, Brandon and Finn, for putting a spark under my ass. I haven't felt this good for a while. Seth, you just had to keep talking about riding... urgh. Brandon and Finn, thanks for all the encouragement dudes, I have never responded well to negativity, and you two have played me like a fiddle. So, I am glad to say I am now 218, and able to hold my big chain ring up for an hour with my heart rate well under 150. Its gross, my body fat is low enough that the veins in my legs are coming out, and that is awesome! So here are some pictures from tonight. Until I get tired of typing.

Some ideas.

So, the new bike from Zinn is being put on the assembly line... If thats what he does. Anyways. I am just checking out ebay and figuring out what I want on this thing.
its going to be a custom fitted Magnesium frame Zinn, with an extra long steerer Alpha carbon fork. Not sure what sort of stem/handlebar options I will have. I want some wide ones though. My current ones are to narrow, and I cant get enough of a grip to bring my back and arms into a sprint. We'll see what Zinn says, and what I say. I am pretty sure this thing will come with alumnium custom crank arms measuring around 200 mm. Its also going to have SRAM's Force components on board. I am really excited.

I sent in the color red. We'll see if I can get anything other than white for the Name lettering.

Today

I sat on the trainer for an hour. I did two 53x13 intervals for about a minute apiece. That was all. I will try and get a better ride tomorrow

wow

So I fogot how to get on this thing. Got some catch up too type.


Sunday: four hours on the trainer

Monday: ROAD OUT SIDE! hour and fifteen minutes. Nice. One sprint

Tuesday: N/a

Wednesday:N/a

Thats about it. Going to get something in today. Even if its too "cold" outside

Later

Saturday ride

Did, oone and half hours today on the trainer. It was a blast.

Thursday Morning

I road the spinner for two hourz.

It was a blast. Got a lot of homework to do today.


I did two intervals on the spinner, one I had so much resistance and speed built up that I broke out of the pedals. That was interesting...

Have a good day everyone!

Mizzed a post

Tuesday I

Ran for 45 minutes, and then road the spinner for an hour and a half.

I didn't train on Wednesday, and made pasta with my GF. I was a blast. Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day!

Day two of the blog

Alright. Today was a class day.

Feb. 13. 07

I had all four classes this morning, then kind of chilled the rest of the day. Getting my bio homework done, and not much else.

I road the bike for an hour tonight on the trainer. While watching master and commander.... yea!

Stayed in the small chain ring and made myself spin the gear.

Trainer is making some funky noises... Not good, its a brand new one....


Ogre OuT!

The first log

Alright, this will be a blog of rants and about cycling training.

Feb. 11. 2007

I road the trainer for 45 minutes. Still sore from the day before.