Weekend update

Additional snow Saturday morning so I decided to do my scheduled interval on the trainer, 70 minutes at a target wattage if indoors, longer and a higher wattage if outside. I could tell I was getting a little bored with riding on the trainer though as I looked for excuses to delay getting on the bike. Once I actually got down to it it wasn't so bad, especially as I was watching the movie Apocalypto.

Later in the day Sandy and I went out and snowshoed around the run course I am setting up for the race on Feb 16 at Lake Orion High School. The race seems to be getting some interest and I have a meeting with the school organizer on Monday to go over what still needs to be done. I'm not certain on the actual race distance yet but the course is pretty much settled.

Today I had the same workout scheduled as yesterday but I put on the studded tires and headed outside to the back roads. Thank goodness for the studs as I could tell I would have gone down a few times without them, especially as I was pedalling hard on the downhills trying to keep the wattage up. The studded tires even allowed me to stand of the up hills. I think I probably wasted some energy concentrating on keeping the bike upright in the snow and ice but it was good balance training.

Two of our dogs were as tired as I was in the afternoon. The black one weighs close to 90 pounds but definitely kept me warm.

Fueling worksheet

People have asked me about how much of certain products they should use in races. That is a unique amount per individual but some general guidelines are available. I developed a spreadsheet that not only gives guidelines by weight but also allows you to determine the proper mix to get your hourly caloric needs.

Remember that this is something that each individual needs to work out for themselves during training. It is better to err on the low side of hourly needs.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the spread sheet to load directly to this page. Here is the spreadsheet
Once there click on the Excel icon on the left to download it as a worksheet.

SoBe returns to Cannondale

SoBe has returned to be the main sponsor for the Cannondale MTB team for 2008. Some may remember the SoBe name from a few years ago when they were the sponsor prior to the Bear Naked team. My understanding is the Bear Naked will continue to support the team but in a different capacity.

The new uniforms look sweet, much better in my opinion than the green and yellow ones from before. I haven't seen them in person yet but pictures of the kits are in the Cannondale fall/winter clothing catalog.

There has not been any formal press announcement that I know of but I would expect something before too long.

OK, it's Winter

Just a week ago I titled the blog "Seems Like Spring". And now this weekend we have had a high of 11 so far with wind chills in the negative numbers. I didn't bother to try and ride outside since my computer would probably stop working or the cold might damage the PowerTap hub.

Tomorrow it is suppose to warm up some and I may ride outside regardless since I have the day off from work. I want to get some idea of the distances and possible laps times for the course options I have set up for the race on the 16th of next month. Todd and Jay met me up at the school today to hike the course and give me their impressions. Even though it was bitter cold, Jay hung around after the hike to run a lap or two of the course.

Tonight the Cannondale Midwest Racing team is going to have a virtual team meeting. In addition to setting up a conference call Joel and Robin will also be using the computer to illustrate a few things. We should all be able to see exactly what they are doing while looking at our own computers. I have used a similar technology at work but never outside of it. It should be interesting.

Fueling for Success

I have done a few race nutrition strategy seminars for various groups and people ask me for advice fairly frequently. I am limited by my new contract with the Cannondale team as to what I can do with my previous sponsor, Hammer Nutrition, so I thought I would post the presentation I used in the hope that it can help answer some questions.

If you have questions about race nutrition strategies in general I can try to answer them, or point you in the right direction of someone who can.

If it doesn't display correctly on this page you can go here

Studly

I picked up a set of Nokian studded tires yesterday that will fit my 29'er and road bike wheels. I have a set for 26" MTB wheels but since I'm now on the bigger wheels most of the time, I needed a different set. Maybe they will help to prevent me from crashing on the roads. They do add some weight but at this time of the year that's not a big deal. The current weather forecast of temperatures in the single digits may mean that these will get a workout real soon.

Here is the text of the tire description from Peter White Cycles.

My best, all purpose, do just about everything really well, no compromise tire is the 700x40 W240 from Nokian. Let's face it, most of the time we're out there in winter, the roads are clear of snow. So a full knobby tire like the 700c Extreme (below) is going to slow you down. But when there is snow on the ground, you'd like a tire with enough tread that it can cut through and contact pavement. And, if you try to always ride on plowed roads that shouldn't develop icy ruts, there's always the odd time you have to make a detour, or the plows didn't get through, or whatever, and you find your front tire heading down a rut. Icy ruts are extremely dangerous. If your tire can't climb the side of a rut and roll out of it, you'll hit the ground, and you'll hit hard.

TheW240 has wide enough tread blocks to keep rolling resistance to a minimum, and studs in the center as well as the sides of the tread to help give you grip in all icy conditions. When the tire gets into a rut, the studs on the side can dig into the ice and you remain in control. If your tire only has studs in the center, it can slide along the side of a rut, and never climb out. That's far less likely to happen with the W240.

Winter Race February 16 at Lake Orion High School

I have been working with the local school to put on a winter mountain bike race. As a bonus there will be a running race as well. Here is the race flyer so you can mail in your registration and save a few dollars. You should be able to print it using the printer icon.

Seems like spring

Yesterday the weather seemed like spring, no snow and temps in the 30's with sunshine. The roads were still a little muddy so I did the prescribed workout on the trainer. Later I used the leaf blower to clean up the yard of all the leaves and debris that had accumulated so far over the winter. Its amazing how many leaves seem to pile up even though you had them picked up before the first snowfall.

The roads had firmed up enough that I did my training ride outside this morning. Shortly after leaving the house I found an empty wallet on the dirt road near Bald Mountain. I needed a new wallet so I put it in my jacket. But shortly after the wallet I began to find its contents, including a driver's license and credit cards along the road for the next mile or so. I picked all that up too so that I could try and find the owner after I got home. I also found a cell phone charger and laptop charger along with various files and folder dumped along the side of the road. I figures someone probably had their car broken into or stolen and the back roads were a safe place for the thief to throw out the evidence.

On the way back home I took the same dirt road and found another credit card I had missed on the way out. I also picked up the chargers and papers to bring back. Once home I did a quick search on the Internet for the owner's phone number and managed to get in touch with them.

It turns out they lived two streets over from me and had left their cars unlocked and the contents were stolen. The sheriff who was there filling out a report when I called came over and picked up the items I had found. I'm not sure why these people were targeted but they do live at the edge of the state recreation area so it may have been easy to break in and then head back into the woods. It makes you think about keeping everything locked up.

This week the temperatures will be slipping back to normal winter highs and lows and some snow coming in as well. Hopefully we will get enough for some more xc skiing or else we may end up heading back up north next weekend.

The picture below is from the webcam at Big Mountain ski area in Whitefish, Montana. Jason called me this morning to have me log on and take a look at it while he stood in front of the camera with Oliver. Oliver is really getting bigger and we need some more pictures of him.

New year, same story

I was actually sorry to see Ohio State lose again in the national championship game. Not only to see the Big Ten have some success against the SEC but also because I know my wife would have been happier as well. I've been married long enough to know that when the wife's happy, I'm happy. At least those who came over had a good time but by they were playing a lot of video games after the first half instead of watching the TV.

In a fog

The past two days we have been in a fog, literally. The warm air and rain has caused it to be foggy for the past two days and probably will continue to be so at least part way through tomorrow. The snow has really melted and causing sloppy trail conditions. Not that I'm riding them but I have been hiking on them to get some outdoor exercise in addition to riding on the trainer.

I used this weekend as a chance to work with our youngest dog to walk off the leash. We never were comfortable letting our two newer dogs off while hiking since we weren't sure if they would stay with us or run. We have an electric underground fence to keep them in the yard. Our oldest dog is no problem but we have always kept the other two on a leash while hiking. Better safe than sorry.

I was able to have the dog go for two long walks in the woods with me and stay relatively close, at least within view, and he would turn around and come back when called. Fortunately we didn't have any distractions like a rabbit or something for him to chase.

We will continue to work with him and also start working with the other dog. Hopefully we will be able to walk with all three off the leash.

Tomorrow is the national title college football game and since Ohio State is playing, Sandy and Greg have been planning a big party to have some of his friends over to watch. Sandy even invited me. I will have mixed feelings, I would like to see the Big Ten gain bolster its reputation with a good showing but also know that an Ohio State win will make their bragging rights over Michigan even bigger.

Happy New Year!

Over 12" of new snow, salmon on the grill, and Lloyd Carr wins his final game at U of M. A great way to start off the new year. Now if only I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow.


Today's snowfall was one of the biggest I can remember since moving to Michigan. The deep and heavy snow took a long time to clear with the blower. In the bigger areas the snow didn't completely clear the drive and piled up where the blower would start to bog down and I would have to take it in small chunks. At least it beat shoveling.


After doing my scheduled ride on the trainer and clearing the drive I went over to Bald Mountain to try out my new snowshoes for the first time. I was able to navigate the woods and trail with no problems. I saw a few others out on 'shoes and a couple on xc skis. I may go back later in the week and do some skiing with Sandy.



We ended up at REI yesterday where she got a completely new xc package. Hopefully the boots and skis will work better than the first pair. The sales person seemed to do a pretty good job to insure that Sandy had the right equipment.



For dinner I cooked salmon out on the grill and sauteed some shrimp as well. I then settled back to watch Michigan win its bowl game. We also kept track of the outdoor hockey game taking place up in Buffalo. That looked like it would have been fun to go to and the players seemed to have a good time as well. It's not often that you get 62,000 fans at a hockey game.



Back to work tomorrow after having been off for a week and a half. I don't really want to go in but the bills have to get paid somehow. At least it will take me away from the temptations of the holiday food. We didn't have that much here by design but I still managed to put on 3 pounds during the holiday break. Time to start working harder.

Another way to enjoy the trails

Yesterday Sandy and I drove up to the XC Ski Headquarters shop and trails in Roscommon to get in some skiing. I had given Sandy a new ski package for Christmas and with no snow by us, we drove the 2+ hours north to find the snow and groomed trails. The area had received about 6" of snow overnight and the tracks were set with perfect conditions.

Sandy had the new type of boots and bindings, new to us anyway. I still use the older 3 pin bindings and long skinny skis. Sandy's boots had snapped at the toe years ago so she hasn't been out since, the older boots are very hard to find any more. She noticed after we were done that the new boots had made her ankles sore and a blister had started to develop on one heel. So we will probably go back to REI and check out a different pair or try another store altogether. The XC Ski HQ shop has a much better selection.

I usually try to get out a few times each year. I started xc skiing almost 40 years ago on wooden, waxable skis so the new equipment is great for getting people out on the trails. It eliminates the yearly job of prepping the base of the skis and the daily ( or hourly) decision of which wax to use. Those most serious about performance are still using waxable skis.

We were out about two hours which is just long enough to get comfortable on the skis and for the muscles to let you know that they have been working. The trails are fairly flat to gently rolling, only one or two hills and they are short. We plan on heading back up to the area if we don't receive much snow down here.

Looking for new team members

The Cannondale Midwest Racing team is looking for new members for the 2008 season.

Every year people come and people go and this year we have an uncommon situation - the CMR team has openings for new team members! We are looking for a select few to fill out the team for 2008 and we would like to hear from you. If you are a mountain bike racer living in Michigan, Ohio or Indiana and are interested in being a part of one of the (IMHO) best race teams in the midwestern US, we want to know. See the CMR Team web site for more information at http://www.cannondalemidwest.com/.

Snow? What snow?

It didn't take long for the big snow we had to pretty much melt or wash away with the warmer temperatures, rain and high winds over the last few days. Left behind is all the crud and mud. The weather forecast is calling for some light snow over the next 24 hours so maybe we will have a white Christmas after all.


The warmer weather did allow me to get outside on the bike for a few hours yesterday. I stayed on the pavement and did a tempo ride at a certain wattage for a prescribed time. It was interesting to see how much the power can fluctuate on hills, both up and down. Today was back on the trainer for more of the same. Tomorrow I hope to hit the gym before finishing off my shopping.


We decorated some of the Christmas cookies today and I ate my first ones of the holiday season. Unfortunately there are plenty more to both eat and frost so I am going to have to be careful not to indulge too much.


One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to turn off all the lights except the Christmas tree and just relax on the couch listening to Christmas music. Every year I seem to add to my collection of holiday music and I added a few more this year as well. I have also found the Internet radio stations to provide some interesting programming.

I probably won't post again until later in the week so Merry Christmas to everyone.


One of the dogs had the right idea, snoozing on the couch listening to the music.

Starting to look a lot like Christmas

We had our first major snow of the winter today, about 8" of fine snow and strong winds. It was the perfect day for finishing up the Christmas tree and some other decorating around the house. I wanted to get in some xc skiing but the wind was whipping pretty good so I just stayed inside until I went out to clear the driveway. Thank goodness for the snowblower I bought a few years ago. It made the job a lot easier but I am supposed to be in the gym tomorrow so I guess I could have gotten in my workout today by shoveling.

Whereas and therefore

"Whereas, the athlete is a competitive cyclist who competes in competitive cycling events throughout the world."

I received my Cannondale sponsorship agreement in the mail on Monday. Ten pages of legalese and do's and dont's and expectations. A lot of it is similar to what we have used for the Cannondale Midwest Team in terms of expectations of the riders; behavior, use of product, number of races, confidentiality, etc.

There are a few clauses in there that I am going to get some clarification on to make sure I am in compliance and to help plan my schedule for next year. For instance, I didn't see anything in there about using the corporate plane to get me to some of those competitive events throughout the world.

It has been interesting to train using wattage instead of just heart rate. There is definitely a learning curve on my end to understand all the terms and interpreting the graphs and data available but the coach is an expert on it. While using power as a training tool has been around for awhile it has been used mainly by road racers. It is slowly catching on for the mtb racing community. Part of the reason thqt it's not as widely used by mountain bikers is the difficulty to use on a bike that has disc brakes. At least in an economical (an oxymoron term for power meters) sense.

While I can use my Power Meter on my 'cross bike, I purchased a steel framed 29" wheel mtb so that I can use the power wheel on there as well. I have the bike set up dimensionally as close to my racing bikes as possible. This should allow me to do some training and testing both on and off the road without losing too much of the feel for my regular bikes. Especially since most of my training will probably not be on my racing bikes.

Here is a good blog of someone who trains with power on a mtb. http://teamhealthfx.com/blogs/dave_harris/default.aspx

Probably the best source of info about using power http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/

Back in the groove

This past week was spent just trying to get back into the swing of things after being off work for a week and a half. Not too much work left this year before we get a break for the Christmas holidays.

I have been following the coach's plan that includes being in the gym twice a week and on the bike most days. Each bike workout had a specific target of time and intensity. Right now it is fairly mild since we are just getting started. I have had to use the trainer all week since I get home so late so I wanted to get outside and ride on Saturday .

I managed to leave fairly early and had a two hour ride scheduled with a one hour steady effort. I knew the back roads by me were still mostly snow and ice covered but I planned on being careful plus getting on to the rail trail early on. Less than two miles into the ride I hit an icy patch with ruts and the front end slid out and down I went. No real damage, mainly just bruises.

The rest of the ride was uneventful but there were a few places that were slick. The rail trail was rough in spots from the footprints and frozen tracks. I did find some clear roads later in the ride.

We were supposed to get some freezing rain with an ice build up yesterday. I wanted to be prepared so I went out and got gas for the generator, snow blower, and kerosene for the back up heater. Of course the nasty weather failed to materialize so you can thank me for preventing it.

Jason has been posting daily updates on his blog and has some pictures of the family on Big Mountain. Saturday was opening day of ski season there and they took Oliver up to go skiing. It looks like the weather was perfect on top, you can see Glacier Park in the background.

Back from Montana

Sandy and I flew out to Montana last Saturday to see our grandson, Oliver Scott Kinley. Oh, and to see Jason and Emily as well. Emily's mother, Suzie was also visiting, having arrived earlier but able to stay for a few days while we were there and attend Oliver's baptism on the evening we flew in. Father Casimer was gracious enough to drive from Spokane to perform the ceremony.

What can you say about you own grandchildren that hasn't been said by probably every other grandparent in the world? Oliver is the cutest ever. At only 4 weeks old he is still incredibly small but we could notice a change in his size just in the week we were there. He gained a pound during the week, or 10% of his total.

We babysat Oliver one evening to give the kids a night out on the town. It was the first time they were able to get away for an extended period of time. Oliver slept most of the time they were away.

Every morning Sandy and I would be the first ones up and we would walk into town and have coffee at on of the local shops. Kalispell is bigger than Whitefish where Jason used to live but the downtown still has a lot of local shops. We were able to do most of our Christmas shopping for the Montana family in the small stores.

During our stay we got to see some of the outlying area that we didn't see on our first visit a few years ago. While there wasn't much snow on the ground in town there was some as you got into the higher elevations. And the surrounding mountains were covered as well.

We took a drive into Glacier National Park but could only go in about 9 miles since the roads were closed beyond that. The park was beautiful with all the snow on the peaks and the ground. If we had more time we could have snowshoed into some of the other sections of the park.

Whitefish was decorated for Christmas and looked just like the typical ski towns you see pictured on the Internet. With less people the town has a very cozy feel to it, especially since the ski area isn't open yet so there weren't too many visitors. I also stopped by Hammer Nutrition's office and had a nice visit with the staff.

We did snowshoe part way up Big Mountain ski area. It was the first time I have snowshoed although I got Sandy a pair for Christmas a few years ago. Oliver was strapped to the front of Jason and seemed to enjoy the hike, sleeping through most of it.

We were sorry when it was time to leave, knowing we wouldn't see the family again for several months. The trip out west did confirm how much we like the area, perhaps we might move out there if the opportunity would present itself.

A lot more photos can be seen here http://kinley.smugmug.com/gallery/3921869#P-1-16

Oliver in his snowman suit

Downtown Whitefish with Big Mountain in the background

Summit Prepartory School where Jason and Emily work

Glacier National Park

Snowshoeing up Big Mountain, Whitefish Lake in the background

Oliver was with Jason

All of us at the top of the climb

Cannondale National Team - I made it!

I got a call today from the manager of the Cannondale national mountain bike racing team inviting me to join the team for 2008. I was thrilled to say the least and enthusiastically accepted the offer. More information and blog updates will follow as the contract and details are known. I do know there is an impressive list of sponsors signed up to support the team next year.

I am grateful to Canondale for the opportunity and look forward to next year. My overall plans for the '08 schedule won't really change much but I will be working harder since the bullseye on my back just got bigger.

Information about the 2007 team can be found here. Maybe my nickname should be Gramps?

http://bearnakedgranola.com/cannondale/

Happy Thanksgiving

Today was a relatively quiet Thanksgiving. Just Sandy, Greg and I to try and eat our way through a 14 pound turkey with all the trimmings. As has been the practice for the past several years, I was in charge of cooking the turkey. Unlike the fellow above I knew where mine was hiding, having put it in the brine to soak the night before.

The day started pretty early as my work pager went off about 5:00 am. This was kind of a freak occurrence since I usually don't have my pager in the bedroom, I'm on vacation for the next week and wouldn't normally have it with me, and for the most part Chrysler is shut down for the next four days. I managed to fall back asleep for about an hour or so.

This morning was the annual Turkey Day ride at Pontiac Lake but we got about two inches of wet snow overnight. Combined with yesterday's rain I knew the trails would be pretty sloppy and I didn't want to mess up the trails or my bike.

Since I wasn't going on the ride and I was up early, Sandy convinced me to go with her to church. unfortunately we got there just after the service was over. I guess she had the time confused with yesterday's service. After getting home we discovered we needed a few things for the dinner so off we went to the grocery store. Fortunately it wasn't very crowded.

Dinner was excellent as usual and I tried not to eat too much. One of the things that helped was that I asked Sandy not to make any pies this year. I love pumpkin pie as well as other types but I want to avoid putting on too much weight over the holidays. I have a hard time staying away from the bad stuff it is available. Better to not have the temptation to begin with.

With the snow sticking around all day and I elected to spend some time on the rollers instead of trying to ride outside at all. One of our team sponsors is SportCrafter rollers. Team member Peter Colan is the owner and these rollers can be bought through him and he also supplies some of the big name roller companies with his products but different badging. I rode the mountain bike with cross tires so they made quite a racket. I had to turn on the closed captioning on the TV.

Tomorrow is a big sale over at Cycletherapy and I plan on working in the afternoon. Then I will take a week off to just relax and get in some time on the bike, I hope, along with some time in the gym.

In the spirit of the holiday I will add some cartoons that my dad sent me.