Stump Farm Duathalon

This the Third year of this event and every year it seems to get a little bigger. It serves as a fundraiser for the local cross county ski club. It also has a little bit for everyone as there is also 5k run and a 10 mile run. The 5k run to start the duathalon is mostly flat with some pretty steep kickers in there. It follows a part of The Maples skiing loop. It just serves a warmup and some burning in your legs before you start the bike portion. It took me 22:30 for the run and felt ok at the Transition. For me it always seems to take a few minutes to sort out how hard I can push the peddles after the run. My legs just want to take it easy for awhile. Eventually I convinced them to start moving and started catching people. The nice thing about a Duathalon is even if a runner kicks your butt in the run, you will almost always catch them on the bike. Especially a mountain bike race where I know the trails pretty well. I managed to catch 3 or 4 people before the first section of singletrack. For some reason I went into the singletrack and just felt like I was on fire. Carving the corners better than I usually do. It was a good thing too because my legs really didn't have the power today. I was ok but, I was passed by at least two elite guys and I knew I wasn't going to be pulling them back In. The first lap went well and I was feeling ok starting the second lap. By about the middle of the second lap I was getting tired and my low back was almost shot. I rode with a guy to the last section of the singletrack and jumped into it just before him. i was able to ride away from him in the twisty stuff after that but, didn't get much of a gap. I kept pushing it in the the corners trying to increase my lead. I noticed that another rider had caught the guy I had passed and they both were about 75yards back. The very last section of singletrack had some wide sweeping turns I couldn't really make any time there, so the gap stayed the same. I knew as soon as I got out of the single track I had to go as hard as I could. It was about a mile to the finish and I went as fast as I thought I could maintain. I looked back and the new guy was catching me. I just put my head down and kept pounding. I got on the finishing straight and the guy was getting closer and closer. There was a short hill the finish line was on and I just stood up on the peddles and cranked as hard as I could. I felt like I was going turtle speed. I crossed the line and he came flying by me. I beat him by 5 feet or so, whatever .5 seconds is. I literally had gray lines at the corner of my eyes. That was the hardest I went on a bike this year. So I ended up with 6th place overall and 2nd in my age group. Pretty happy with the result since there was some pretty tough competition there. Won a sweet Bottle of Maple syrup and enjoyed a great post race baked potato. Results are here. So thats it for bike races this year. Next up is the Turkey Trot and off season cross training. My Teammate Tyson Schwiesow did great taking 2nd in the Team Division with his Daughter. Results for them are here. Some other Members of Bike Hub/Specialized were off doing Cross Races in other parts of the State. Shoemaker continued his domination of the Cat 4s with back to back races wins. Good luck to everyone doing the Iceman. See ya outside...

End of Season Shout Out

As my Season winds down, I just wanted to say Thank you to the Bike Hub/Specialized sponsors. The Bike Hub for all the Parts when I break my stuff. And especially Tom for being the best Mechanic in Wisconsin. Specialized for all the great parts that help me go fast and not crash. Tower Clock Eye Center for giving 20/20 vision. I visited them this season and the hooked me up with LASIK in September. Other than a little discomfort the first day, I think it was the best decision I ever made. Dr. Matt Thompson was very Professional and gave me all the facts to make my decision. The camp duathalon is coming up on Oct. 30th and that is probably the last bike race of the year for me. Lastly I have to say thanks to Don for putting on another great season of WORS. See ya outside...

Sheboygan

Fun race fun singeltrack. Lost my chain on the third lap. Broke the quicklink. Vogels and I had a draw on our blizzard bet.

Holy Schnikes! WORs #11 Bear Paw

Wow that was my muddiest race ever. It rained pretty much all night getting the course into perfect condition for a mudbath. Cold wasn't a factor during the race even though it rained the whole time. I trashed my legs jogging the day before so I wasn't expecting much from this race. Sure enough I managed to be dead last up the start climb. Things started going better and I picked off a few people in the first doubletrack. Felt real confident in the singletrack with my Specialized Captains mounted front and rear. I was glad I had them too. Eventually things got so muddy I just started running the steep parts. I passed quite a few people that way the first lap. But after that my body started giving out and I started getting caught. The third lap was so bad I couldn't even keep a straight line on the doubletrack. Just got sucked all over the place. Managed to lay it down twice. Its so fun to just slide on your side and not be able to stop yourself. It was still fun and I love this race course. They really stepped up the course with some new singletrack. This is a Legit mtb race. Better than racing on mowed grass any day. My daughter also came and did her first official kids race. She did great and avoided two crashes. Just glad to share the things I care about with the people I care about. Hopefully I can get body to start enjoying jogging trying to get ready for this. Other than that hope to see everybody at Sheboygan. Looking forward to refreshments afterwards thats for sure. See ya outside...

Cheq 40 2011

Well the 29th addition of this race is in the books. And I feel like I still have some unfinished business. I stayed in a cabin with with a mixed squad of Performa and Bike Hub riders and a few others. We got up to HAyward around noon on friday and prerode the finish before picking up our numbers. We had an awesome Ziti pasta feed the night before and headed to bed. We got up at 4:20 and went and staged our bikes. We had decent position around 250 riders back. We then chilled out before getting ready for the 10am start. The race started before the cannon went off which was a little anticlimactic, but funny. It was pretty mellow down Hayward's main street. Then it started getting faster, it was a little hairy going onto 77 but I was following Shoemaker in the gutter so it worked alright. Going up 77 was fast I was almost spun out in 1x9 but managed to keep up with Vogels and Shoemaker. By Rosies Field I was getting gassed and I let them ride away from me. Preferring to ride my own race. I had a fairly uneventful first half of the race. I was just trying to take care of myself and save my legs for after fire tower. I saw a water bottle get dislodged in go flying 10' into the air on one descent. I saw at least 3 tandem crashes. One of the in that huge Martels mudhole. They seemed to think it was funny though. Somebody crashed in front of me in the Lake Helane sand trap and i had to go into the pickers. My leg looked a little like Hoogerland's after that. I caught Shoemaker right before Firetower he said he was cramping. I made it up Firetower, but Shoe passed me back. I popped another gel and got ready to hammer to the finish. I was feeling pretty good. The guy around mile 28 said I came thru 161st which made me pretty happy. On the second rocky descent after fire tower I heard a loud ping and then my rear end got squishy. Flat! Crap! Oh well first flat in awhile. Got off and hit it with my CO2. Found the hole and flipped the bike to seal it with my stans. It sealed right up and away I went. Lost about 50 spots and the tire was still pretty low. The worst part was as soon as I got off my bike my legs locked right up. I went from feeling great to being barely able to pedal. And that was at the start of last part of the Berkie. Happiness was seeing the end of the Berkie. The rear tire was still low so I took it easy on all the corners so I didn't roll the bead. I ended up 360th. Not super happy with that but congrats to everybody who raced. Vogels won the Blizzard bet finishing 191. Kurt Schwiesow finished 62ish and Justin Piontek finished 33rd with a mechanical issue. We topped the day off with a visit to the original Famous Daves BBQ and a fire. See ya outside...

Troutman 50k Road Race

Today was the Troutman Festival in Kewaunee. It is a bunch of diffrent races including a duathalon but, I did the Road Race. The race started at 730 so it was eat breakfast and hit the road this morning. So after registering and warming up we lined up for the start. The guy did the countdown but, I didn't hear any GOOOOOOOOOOOO. We headed out nice and mellow and chatted for the first couple of miles. We hit the first longer hill and dropped most of group. After that it was just a group of ten for rest of the race. It was me, Jeremy, Nate, Q, Jeff, Joe, Seth, Andy, Mitch and Erik from Marinette. We rode pretty sedately for most of the race with some hard efforts thrown in on the hills. Basically every hill we hit we would just hammer up and see if anybody got dropped. Around mile 15 there were some bigger rollers and Mitch, Andy and Seth managed to get a gap. Somehow we had just enough juice to nail them back. At the same time 2 guys got dropped. Things got pretty slow again and those 2 guys caught back on about 5 miles later. Then Andy attacked again and we all had to chase for a little while. Things were all back together then Q and Erik went on a little flyer about 5 miles to go with Erik. We caught them with about a mile to go. Then we headed up the little hill at the end. It was very steep in the beginning and I hammered up it at the front. Then it leveled out a little and I had to recover. Seth, Mitch Joe and, Andy headed up the road and I stayed with Jeff, Q and Jeremy. Q jumped with about 300 yards to go and I followed then Jeremy went around me. Then I just sat up. My goal was to finish with the lead group and have fun and, I managed both. SO it ended up Mitch, Andy, Seth, Joe, Jeff, Jeremy, Q then me. The way it played out, there were 3 guys everyone knew could win the race. The rest of us just watched them and tried to stay with them on the hills. So nobody wanted to work to hard and we ended up with a 21.3mph average. I think I did my fair share of work. Kinda wished I would of gone with Q near the end but, if 3 guys had gone they may have chased harder. In the end it was a fun little race which are kinda lacking in the Green Bay area. Next for me is Camrock. See ya outside...

Race Report: 3 Hours of the Northern Kettles

I headed down to The WEMs race with my fellow The Bike Hub/Specialized rider Jesse Shoemaker. We were looking for a little challenge and some new trails. $30 entry fee and it was time to get ready. A little warm up and it was time for the race meeting. We set our bikes at the top of a medium sized hill and walked down to the start line. It was a Le Mans style start and we had to run up a gravel road to our bikes. I keep surprising myself with my running ability on these starts. By the time we got to the top of the hill I was in 3rd place. I jumped on my bike and started trying to recover as I spun down the hill. After the hill we went back thru the start/finish area and immediately in to single track. I was in 4th place behind John Lirette, Nathan Guerra and Glenn Krist. Jesse Shoemaker was right behind me. We were hammering pretty hard and Glenn kept putting little gaps on me and I kept waiting for Jesse to catch us. Eventually the pace slowed down some and Glenn and I started riding together. I was feeling good and decided I would ride with him for awhile. Second lap about a mile in Shoe caught us I decided it was time to pass Glenn. Shoe passed him too and the three of us rode together for awhile. Then I screwed up in a slow rocky corner and had to dismount. I was pushing a little too hard. I hammered again and caught Glenn and passed him and rode with Shoe for the rest of the second lap. About 3 miles into the the 3rd lap I hit my front wheel on a rock turned it sideways and endoed. Hard! I slapped my left palm on a rock and bruised it pretty good. Plus some scrapes on my leg and a bent seat. And I derailed. Glenn came by, are you alright? Grunt and nod. And I'm riding again. Hammer time. Caught Glenn again. This time I said I'm not even worthy to pass you. He said, well you keep getting up. Go ahead. So I passed him and tried to catch Shoe again. I caught a glimpse of him before the finish but, wasn't that close. Then right before the end Greg Krieger caught me as I was getting held up by some lap traffic. So I had to put in a little squirt of speed to keep my 4th place. Gotta say the trails there were awesome. The rocks were everywhere but my full suspension made it easy. I only did 3 laps. Nathan Guerra managed to go out and hammer in a 4th lap under the time cut. I won a cup which was fine with me. Shoe still owes me a $10 bill tho. :)

Boom goes the...

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Crystal Lake its a Classic

My family and I loaded up our boat and headed up to our cabin friday afternoon. Luckily it happens to be only 30 minutes away from Camp Tesomas. I drove over Saturday around noon to preride. I noted the dark clouds but, headed out anyway. Not 2 minutes in and it started raining hard. With a small block tire on the rear it made for a interesting ride. I'm glad I prerode though. There were some significant course changes. The outhouse detour was interesting? So I cleaned up my bike and heade back to the cabin. I got a good nights sleep listening to the rain. Sunday morning was relaxing with a walk in the woods and cleaning up the cabin. Went fishing with my daughters and helped my oldest catch a bluegill. Heading to the race I was kinda confident I had a good nervous energy. I forgot my bottles so my Teammate Shoemaker was nice enough to bring me two. Also thanks to Justin Piontek's Dad Butch for getting me some gatorade in the Bottles. So Don said go and we went. I had bad placing on the start (no callup). But, I usually have a good start so I ended up about 10th after the first corner. I worked my way up to 6th by the end of the gravel. I wish I had worked a little harder tho so I could have been first into the singletrack. The leadout wasn't that hard. After hitting the singletrack I was on the rivet the entire first lap. Chasing the leaders, I passed one guy and he passed me back. I knew I was going ok because I was passing quite a few people. It didn't start raining on me til the end of the 3rd lap. By that time I was happy for it. So I ended up right where I started 6th place. I got 11th overall in comp. Which is my best result so far. Though there are smaller fields up nort. I think I could have ridden slightly harder on the second lap. All in all it was a good race and a great weekend. Really looking forward to Wausau. See ya there...

Great Hub Ride

Picture of our Cabin in the woods.




This was near the end of my ride.

Big smile getting close to home with tired legs and a hungry belly. I was working in town so I decided to hit the Bike Hub ride Tonight. I tried to leave home by 5:00 so I could ride there. I left about 6 minutes late and it turned into about a 10 minute TT down the trail to make it on time. Everybody had already left so I had to keep going but, I caught them before the Roundabout in De Pere. So I was already tired at the start of the ride? I hung out near the back and rested for awhile. There were about 30 guys. Pretty good turnout. No Rebecca though? So no real suprises after that. It was a fast ride. Shoe flated in Wrightstown so I waited. Ended up with 50.5 miles in jusy under 3 hours. Getting the boat ready tomorrow. Then its time to go up to Sugar Camp for the Weekend. See everyone at the Race Sunday.

Stump Farm 30

Today I went to race out at the Reforestration camp. Its the home course gotta race it right? I was contemplating racing the 60 miler but over 5 hours on the bike in the rain didn't interest me. If it had been drier I might have? The camp is really wet this year. So entire sections of the course were closed off. It was pretty low turnout probably due to the rain. It was a Le Mans style start. The bikes were set up about 100 yards down the trail. The lady from Trike to Bikes said go and we took off running. It seemed slow so I started sprinting. I was the first to reach my bike but, by the time I got there I was tired I couldn't jump on it. I just kept running with it for a little while. I got on the long leadout and realized I was way over my LT. So I pushed it a little and tried to recover at the same time. I was second on the leadout and caught the leader but, then 2 guys squeaked by me right before the singletrack. I rode with one of them for the first singletrack. Then he another guy rode away from on the next section of double. SO I was in 4th while riding with Vogels and another guy. We 3 rode together until the quad hills. I was feeling better and started to ride a little faster. I got a gap on the 2 of them and kept riding. I saw Vogels a little later and he said he broke his shoe. So I learned a new Tactic, attack when your Oppent breaks his $300 shoe. He probably would have beaten me if his shoe hadn't broken. SO after that I rode solo for the second lap until the middle of the third. Two guys caught me toward the end of the third lap. It was disappointing but, I didn't have anything to chase them with. I finished 6th and managed to not to freeze to death. The high today was 47 and it started drizzling at the start of my 2nd lap. Definitely need to clean my bike. Those quad hills are easier backwards. The race course was ok. The shouldn't have inclued the really wt section near the end. There were other options. Results will be here.
Good job to the other guys on The Bike Hub/Specialized. I know Jesse Shoemaker finished 2nd in the 60 miler. Not sure where Jesse Sharpe finished. Good job to Tyler and Ben Welnak they were both riding strong today.

I went to Iola and all I got was Frostbite

It was a good day. I had more fun seeing people I hadn't seen in a while, then I had racing though. Really looking forward to the next race to see how I do. I took my wheels in to get trued up today. So hopefully no more brrp noises as I climb out of the saddle. I have a few more things I need to do to my bike. Hopefully I can get that all out of the way by the weekend. Surprisingly I felt good in the singletrack. I'm sure I was slow. But I felt good and didn't have too many problems in the singletrack. See ya...

Weekend in Review

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. That big snow storm screwed up everything about spring. I can happily say the snow is gone now. We had mid 70s and huge thunderstorms with tornadoson sunday. Thursday I managed to snag my new Team kitfrom Mr. Shoemaker in time to make the Bike Hub ride. That was a fun 33 mile ride with a good group of guys. Friday was a rest day for me. Saturday morning I rode with the TT flyers. We did a leisurely route down to Wrightstown. I ended up with about 42 miles. It was a cold morning once we got out to the country. Sunday I drove down to Madison for the Great Dane crit. I raced the cat 5s first. Felt pretty good, took it easy during the race. Wasn't even sure if it was the last lap when we took the final corner. When the others started sprinting I went too. I ended up 4th but probably could have done better but, I got squeezed into the gutter. It was fun though. About 40 minutes later I did the Masters 4/5. I kept it pretty mellow till the second half of that race. I tried to start a break but, I didn't have the legs. By the last lap I was cooked and just sat up after the last corner. Finished 19th in that race. It was a good day for Racing. Hot and I got sun burnt. I brought my kids and my dad down to watch and my brother met us there. After the race we went tto the Madison zoo and had some fun. It was a good day. Mountain biking next weekend? See ya outside...

I rode the Titletown bike tour/WNR route today. Good news the sprint signs are still there. For those of you keeping track at home, the score was me 4 nobody else 0. I rode the green route. +1 if you look close in the picture you can see a pail for collecting maple syrup on the large tree. See ya outside...

Riding Outside

This what I have been staring at for the last 3 months or so.

Luckily I was able to get outside and look at this today. I did a easy pace on a hilly loop near my house. It was a little windy but, nice to be outside.

I took the road bike off the trainer today for the first time since november. If you look close in the picture, I rode the rubber off the tire. Thats a piece of it on the trainer. I have been riding on the inner casing for a couple of weeks. Felt good to get outside. I'll probably ride tomorrow afternoon too. I'm not sure about sunday. It may be a washout? See ya outside...

Just Another Boy on the FRT/More Rad

Mandatory J-vog head shot.



The Bike Hub where all the cool cats be.

So I decided to do my annual first trip down the the Fox River Trail today. As usual it was way to early to ride the trail. I was pleasantly surprised to find the first part plowed in Green Bay. After that it was all hard work on my relatively skinny 2" MTB tires (I am too cheap to buy a pugsley). After making it about a half mile the snow got deeper and the trail disappeared so I walked for awhile. Then I took the road down to the Boat launch by the Bike Hub. I then was able to ride the trail down to De pere. Though there were tough spots there also. I crossed the bridge at De Pere and headed back home. The snow really wasn't that deep. If we get the upper 40s next week with some rain it might be passable on a MTB by next weekend. It was nice to get outside.

It turns out Daniel Tosh is a huge Rad fan.

Tosh.0
Tags: Tosh.0 Videos,Daniel Tosh,Web Redemption

Here is his latest tribute video. Enjoy! Check out Cru Jones. Don't forget to sign the Rad petiton on the Tosh.o page.

Bike Fitting and New Parts

I somewhat recently went down to the Bike Hub and recieved a very professional bike fitting from Rebecca Cleveland. I wasn't having any issues I just wanted to make sure everything was correct before I started putting in lots of miles. And it turns out I have pretty good mechanics. The price was reasonable and they set up my road bike too. This last weekend I went and bought a pair of Captain tires and a new Saddle. I also finally had them order a Q-rotor chainring. Hopefully the snow will start melting soon so I can start enjoying the new parts on my bike. I am however taking some satisfaction in the destruction I am inflicting on my trainer tire. First Great Dane is only 6 weeks away. See ya outside...

Yep.

Longtail or Bust!

I finally made it today. I think this morning was the nicest day of the year so far. I left home to brilliant sunshine and temps in the teens warming into the 20s. A brisk south wind pushed me towards my destination. I didn't warm many layers and still was sweating quite a bit. I looked it up online and it was 6 miles one way as the crow flies. But, Duck creek zigs and zags so I know it was longer than that. The snow on the bay was so wind swept and compacted the skis barely bit in at all. The ice was mostly flat and smooth except out by long tail you can see there was a large pressure ridge. An Ice fisherman on duck creek said the Ice was 30" thick. Not long after that I was passed by a minivan. I thought "you don't see that out at the Reforestation camp". So all in all a good morning. I think I got sunburnt. Will I make it outside tomorrow???

A YBS Kinda day

Kinda a Blah winters day for me. I hung out witht the girls in the morning. They were nice enough to let me do about a half hour of yoga in the morning followed by an hour on the bike. Then a trip to the library to let them have some fun and pick out some books. Then nap time for the youngest(and for me too). When the wife cam home I went skiing out to the bay. I tried to make it to Longtail but, ran out of time. We had some plans. I know some people got out on the roads today. Hopefully I can do that soon. See ya outside.

Youtube Yoga

Here are some Youtube videos I have been doing at home if I don't have time to go to class. Or if I have to hang out with the girls. If you want to look for your own yoga videos goto Youtube and search for Yoga. It Helps if you edit search and select the over 20 minutes duration. Unless you only want to do one pose.
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These First two videos are set in Costa Rica and are very enjoyable.
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The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Even though I dislike them for being right on the ocean in Costa Rica. Did I say that out loud? Think its time to go some place warmish.

This one is a little amateurish but does a decent job. Nice view of mountains in back ground.

Watch this one if you want to see a crazy beard. If you can speak Hindi it would probably help too.

2 Sets of Skis 1 set of Poles?

I joined a small groups of guys for the weekly tuesday night ski at the camp. They usually head out around 7pm. I will not name any names to protect the innocent. But, someone forgot their poles. They were going to attempt to classic ski without poles. So I said they could have one of my poles and I would have the other. It wasn't as bad as it sounds but, after a hour I started getting a little tired. It was like normal skiing but, with more core and you had to really push with that arm. Did the Birches to Maples loop in 1:30. See ya outside.

Duck Creek Riding

Went for a nice ride on duck creek this afternoon. Rode up to Pamperin park then turned around and rode out to Green Bay. The light fluffy snow gave just enough grip without getting to deep and making it hard. I rode on my old 26" race bike with 2" tires and had no problems. I did wipe out once I got out to the glare ice on the bay. But, that was pretty low speed. I think the 4 wheelers and the snowmobilers thought I was nuts. Going skiing during the packer game. I perfer to listen to the game anyway. Hope your winter is going as well as mine. ">

Shoveling as Cross Training for the OCD cyclist

With the recent snow fall that I needed to shovel, I really didn't have time to do some core work. So I decided to see if shoveling was considered a workout. And score! It is. Now I gotta go finish cleaning up.

Full JS article here.

Cross-training with a shovel
By Tom Held
Dec. 6, 2007 |(1) Comments

I skipped the gym yesterday figuring I had secured plenty of strength and aerobic work shoveling the sidewalk and digging out a car, again.

But I wasn't quite sure which muscles I was strengthening and how I could make the work payoff on the cross-country ski trails.

John Burns, a Milwaukee-area physical therapist with a strong background in martial arts and movement sciences, gave me some answers.

As I suspected from the soreness in my shoulders and torso, "shoveling snow is a whole-body resistance workout." In particular, it strengthens the glutes, quads and adductors, along with the transverse abdominus, back extensors and obliques, Burns said. Biceps and wrist flexors also factor into the lifting and throwing.

As in most work outs, proper technique is essential to maximizing the pay off.

Burns, 53, suggests a 10- to 20-minute warm up that includes more than a cup of coffee, to warm the body's core temperature and increase flexibility. (I wonder if grinding the beans and pouring water might help fill that suggested element).

Once you have the shovel in hand, the proper start position is similar to a martial arts ready position. As Burns described: "positioning your dominant arm/leg to the rear and your non-dominant arm/leg forward to take advantage of the years of using your dominant side for lifting everything from suitcases to small children."

You can alternate sides to make the workout more symmetrical.

If the snow is particularly heavy (remember Sunday morning) take the snow off in layers, duplicating the standard gym approach: reps and sets.

"To actually remove the snow - no matter what the consistency - remember this martial arts adage: 'Steal the power from the earth, direct it with your core, and express the power through your arms.'

"This basically means - lift the snow with your legs - not your back! On each and every lift, flex at the knees and not at your waist, then lift the snow from the legs up. This is similar to a compound squat which provides resistance to the whole body. As you flex at the knees, you lengthen your quads and glutes to pre-load them to contract when you lift the snow with your whole body.

"Once you have the shovel positioned in the snow at the depth you can lift (over and over again for the duration) lock your elbows in a flexed position. This locked position will require strength of the biceps as well as a counter force provided by the triceps (just as you should use these muscles in a locked position when poling while cross-country skiing before the poling motion follow-through).

Now, before you lift, engage your core (transverse abdominus muscles) by exhaling as you lift the snow - like a martial artist does when they punch or kick. You can also use the martial artist's vocal cry or "Kia!" on each and every exhale or lift to really maximize your core directed power - but your neighbors may find this a bit strange especially very early in the morning.

Finish the lift and removal by rotating your center of gravity in the direction of where you want the snow to fall. This core-directed rotation of your center of gravity is the key to engaging the whole-body through the core and not relying on isolated muscle groups such as using just your arms or back.

The follow through consists of synchronizing the core-directed rotation from the legs up through the arms. This is accomplished by contracting the muscles of the legs (quads, adductors, and glutes), the muscles of the core (transverse abdominus and obliques), and then the arms (biceps).

"By utilizing these proper body mechanics, this "cross training" workout can enhance your power endurance for any other winter workout or sports activity."

For a bit more on Burns' strength training advice, check out this story from Silent Sports Magazine.

The Pleasure and the Pain

Well another new years day ride is in the books. The pleasure was the ride and stopping for coffee, the pain was getting your face wind burnt and getting hit with flying debris. I think I dressed the best for this one. I was pretty comfortable except I should have brought a face mask. Bike Hub/Spesh was well represented with I and Justin Piontek attending. Justins whole family came along too. It was fun but, the winds out the south/west really hurt! At times it was a slow motion suffer fest into the wind. After making it to De Pere we stopped at a Coffee shop to warm up. Then it was a rather fast roll up broadway over to Lambeau Field. After all we were with the Titletown Flyers. After the mandatory pictures it was a few hard miles into the wind back to He-Nis-Ra park. I think the wind shifted from the south to the west during our ride? It was fun and the roads were perfect. Very little Ice to be seen. Have to do it some more. SO whats next? The PLAN starts Tuesday for me. Not much will change. I will be doing more skiing and yoga. But, I will start riding two times a week. To start getting into biking shape. I need to get more cycling videos to watch for entertainment. Though I don't mind watching TV. Also when I broke out the old WOR horse today I really broke it! The fork gave up the ghost during the ride and stuck me in a Aero position. Also the front brakes started rubbing and I had to release them. It was all good tho. The plan for that bike is to make it a rigid single speed. Piontek showed me a single speed is plenty fast today. The first picture is of my cycling studio. Hopefully I spend some good hours there this spring. I am looking forward to this new year. I hope you are too.