Birke picts

Here are a few shots from the birke...

So you've probably heard it's hilly, here's some examples.






This is Bitch hill.. It comes along at the 40k marker.  After 40k, this hill looks like a mountain

Typical Views just after OO.

Finishing on main street hayward.

Did it!

3 days

3 days to the birke and the gitters are starting. I've been on rest since sunday and I'm climbing the walls. I wish i could go ride my bike like you would not believe! sleeping is near impossible. 3 or so hours then up for an hour then 3 or so more then morning. Thinking about the beginning of bike season is easier than thinking about the big finally of the ski season. So today I watched tour of california coverage. 

Thoughts of doing well have started to creep into my thinking. I am running a real risk of setting myself up for disappointment. But your supposed to think positively ... right? 

According to the weather the conditions will be the sort of snow and temps I have good days on. I am trying to have confidence that all this taper business has something to it : )

Trying to produce a consistent outcome ( other than bad) it would seem is somewhat hard. I am unable to manufacture the sort of results I would like. I am really working on allowing the outcome of this to be what it will be and not fill my mind with expectations. 

the durand road race is in 8 weeks so after this weekend you won't be subjected to race panic for a while.

back to music videos and funny shit!

monster

I went out for a ski last night and wow!

I had the fastest ski of my short skiing life last night. I did 20k in 1:28! That is 50 % faster than anything i've ever done.

The snow was fast and I was rested. But the big difference was the handfull of tiny technique changes I've made in the last few weeks. It is really amazing the cumulative effect of the smallest of improvments. This posting is boring enough without getting in to the details. I'll just say climbing and flats speeds are way up! Woohoo!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

this just in!

Here is a link to a 3d flyover of the birke trail for anyone interested.

http://www.pointnorthland.com/birkiefly.html

Cool weather returns to Minnesota.

the weather has begun to shift back to cooler, but not cold temps in the last couple days. 

Here is the bad news. the warm temps and rain have destroyed all the skiing in the twin cities so I have no snow to train on and I'm a week and a half from my event. DoH! I am officially on a taper schedule anyway so it's not like any really pivotal training was going to happen anyway but I am worried without being able to get on my skis I'll loose some of my technique and stride.

The good news is for cycling. This early thaw  means an earlier than usual outdoor cycling season maybe in the works. The durand road race is april 19th (8 weeks from now) and I'm going to need all the saddle time I can get. Skiing is great but I need to get my bike legs back in time for the first race of the season.

I am considering hiring my, on and off, cycling coach to help me with the transition. 6 weeks is what I'll have to prepare and that isn't much. So moving over as efficiently as possible is going to be important.

it's really too bad this weather put a stop to the party I was really making progress... rats! Oh well that's how the cookie crumbles.

So far the birkebeiner site says the birke trail is going to be fine for the race if the temps stay below freezing ( crossing fingers). 

Well that's the state of things. On to 60 minutes of bike trainer in the basement, Yum : )

random bit.

So this has nothing to do with cycling or skiing in any way.  This is just a funny bit from a tv show I like. Thought I would share it with the masses of viewers I have. 

It's from the show Spaced. If you haven't seen it ... do, very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7dileY9sY

I'm melting?!

We are having freakishly warm weather for february in minnesota. For just about everyone this is great news, except me and the rest of us training for the birkebeiner. I really will need to stay on my schedule until it's time to rest prior to race day. Will I end up on roller skis in february in minnesota?... Doh!

It's two weeks until the race I just need to hold it together until then. 

I skied 21 k on saturday and the trails and conditions were perfect. I had really well suited wax and it was one of those magic rounds of skiing that make the tough days worth it. 

The good news is the outdoor cycling season may come early this year. I am just about skied out for the season so that should time out just right to move over to the bike full time and start preparing for the durand road race. It is the first race os the year and when i did it last year, first race I had ever done in my life. I am looking forward to going again it will be the first time I've returned to a race course having done it once. 

City of lakes loppet 2009

Well the loppet was yesterday and I made it just fine. the time was 2:55 minutes which is 5 minutes faster than I planed. But that is not the story of this years loppet. We had really unseasonably warm weather and the coarse turned into glide-less piles of wet ice ball bearings. Very, Very tough going. Anywhere there was shade the snow had no glide at all it was like skiing on sand paper. In the sun the glide was maybe half that of normal/favorable conditions.

Me and my main training buddy.

Me hauling my totally shot ass... legs, arms, back, front, and lungs, across the line : )

That's me in the green coming through a wooded and really hilly section

Well that's enough whining about the snow. Other than that really positive experience. great people, teammates from cycling racing, family and skiing friends all there cheering each other on. The good karma was in full flow on sunday. I skied the last 4 or 5 kilometers with the mayor of minneapolis, super fun.

Below is the data from my garmin. My heart rate was in climbing threshold most of the time. 3 straight hours of threshold punctuated by max efforts will really make a guy tuckered : ) for those who may be interested my tested vo2 max is 182.

I am still digesting what happened yesterday it was to say the least a very dense experience.

On to the next.

race day!

It's here it's race day. It's 7:14 in the morning , I got up at 5. I needed to change the wax on my ski. The weather is warmer than expected and the wax I put on yesterday afternoon is for cooler snow than we have.

It should be a really nice day temp at 34 and sun.

Ok quick note on strategy:

1) DO NOT BLOW UP IN THE BACK 9!!

2) Easy on the decents it's going to be icy.

3) water and gu. Times 3

4) no bird doging

5) ready

6) set

7) GO!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]