Alaskan Pack Fodder

Saturday's Moose Run time trial wasn't as bad as I expected. I got exactly the same time as I got last year during the May Moose Run TT. It was frustrating to know I had more in the lungs, but having nothing left in the legs. This was the only TT I can recall finishing without rasping for air for 15 minutes afterwards. I did finish 3rd in my class (17th overall in a field of nearly 150), which isn't to bad for a guy who had a serious misfire in the engine. It's certainly something to build on.   My wife and I also recently learned that we're going to have a baby in December. At 43, this is a little daunting to me, but I grown rather fond of my other children over the years so I figure one more won't be too horrible. Maybe this child will inspire another great leap in performance and achievement. Maybe I'll be too tired to turn the pedals. In any case, it will be fun to find out, and once again I'll rely on cycling to keep me balanced and sane.  

Last week I did a Field Test, which is essentially a test to see where your training levels should be. You ride as hard as you can for a predetermined period of time, and then calculate your various wattage levels off of that. It's an exercise in will vs pain. The irony is, the harder you work, the harder you will have to work in the future.   I failed the test.   I started off with a solid night's sleep, good hydration, good fueling, and some pretty solid fitness. I was ready to go. I warmed up well, and then picked a power level that I was pretty sure I could maintain given previous experience. About 7 minutes in, my legs fell off. I couldn't maintain it anymore, so I shut it down, recovered, and rode out the session at a lower pace. The one bright spot in all of this was that even though I blew up, I was able to maintain a pretty decent average power once I reattached my legs.   The wife and daughter had been sick a few days before, and it's a...

Southcentral Alaska has 4 seasons. Summer, Dark, Winter, and Breakup. Summers are usually colder than they should be, and then it starts to rain. At least the days are long. Just when it starts to dry up, it gets colder and the light goes away. With no snow on the ground and all of the green stuff turning brown, it can get pretty bleak. Then winter hits, and the weather is usually completely wrong for whatever you want to do at that moment. Finally, Breakup hits and you burn through gallons of windshield wiper fluid, trying to see through the steady stream of dirty road spray. There's a slightly fecal hint to the air, as a winter's worth of dog poop thaws.   It really does no good to complain about the weather. You either embrace it, or you remain miserable. The weather could really care less.   For some, Breakup is just a dirty, nasty, stinky time of year. For me, it's a season of expectation. The days get longer. The long-absent sun warms you, even on days when it w...

I learned a valuable lesson about the importance of sleep this weekend.   I woke up around 9:00 AM Friday morning, got on the bike for my workout, and then took care of a few odds and ends before getting ready for work. I left early, because I needed to set the courses for the Alaska State 9 and Under Alpine Skiing Championships at Hillberg. So, I ran up and down the hill for a couple hours, then reported for a 12 hour night shift.   After work, I had just enough time to get home, eat something, and change into my ski clothes before I had to head out again to the hill to finish preparations. All day long I skied with my daughter and set courses. We finished awards late, giving me just enough time to shower and change for my next 12 hour shift. I was starting to wobble a bit.   By the time I dragged myself home on Sunday morning, I had been up for almost 48 hours. Needless to say, I decided to skip my day's workout and get the extra hour or so of sleep. Two days...

The last couple weeks I've been feeling little aches and pains. Nothing I'm worried about, though. Maybe it's from the workouts I've been doing. Maybe it's a signal that ski racing season is nearly over and the weather is changing. Maybe it's because my body has been feeding on itself for the last couple months (strange to think of weight loss that way). Maybe I'm getting old. Then again, maybe my enormous black Lab has been sleeping on me again. Could be any of those things, or a combination of them.   The weather is changing. It's getting warmer, the skies are blue more often and the sun is out longer. I'm debating adding another fan in the garage for my bike trainer. I'm holding out hope that we've seen the last serious snow of the year (not that we've had an excessive amount) and the roads will be clear enough by the end of March. I'd like to take the cross bike out and not have to dodge excessive amounts of ice or puddles.   ...

Friday I got on the scale when I woke up, as I normally do. I was half-asleep, but my eyes popped open when it read 178.0 lbs. I re-zeroed the scale and tried again, and got the same reading. I went out to the local gym and tried their scale. Same reading. I re-zeroed their scale… 178.0 lbs. It seems like an odd number to get so fixated on, but it’s pretty significant to me. What that number means is that my BMI is 24.82, which is in the “normal” range. I haven’t been classified as anything but overweight or obese since around 1998. That’s about 15 years for those of you keeping score at home. 15 years of lugging around a lot of excess weight that was slowly killing me. After peaking at around 240lbs and a BMI of 33.5, I started riding a bike and dropped to 200lbs (BMI 27.9). I went from obese to overweight just by riding around. Then I started racing, and over the next few years my weight hovered around 185-190lbs, depending on the season. Still overweight, but I was feel...

This Saturday my 6 year old daughter raced in her 2nd-ever ski race. As we drove to the hill, she talked about how she was going to win one of those medals. I told her that as long as she did her best, I would be proud of her. I decided before she ever started racing that I wasn't going to push her to be competitive, but rather encourage her to be a good participant. I'm hoping she doesn't burn out on the sport by the time she's 15, and I'm left with a daughter with bum knees that doesn't want to ski anymore. I've seen it before. The night before I had set the slalom course at the hill, so the snow would have plenty of time to set up before the race. The firmer the snow, the less chance of ruts forming after over 100 kids plow their way through it. I set a fairly mild course, since there were going to be a variety of ages represented. As she made her way down the the course for the first run, I skied down behind her and slipped the course, knocking down ...