let me get current

I put the studded tires on the commuter on 12/4. I went for a ride with the guys on 12/5. After our ride we stopped off to warm up and have some coffee. When we were done, I took off to run some errands before heading home. In all I got 40 miles in.

The beginning of the week brought a small snow storm for my commute to the shop. I was able to test out the route I take. I didn't ride much last winter so I didn't really have much saddle time into the studs.

So far this year, I have ridden more on them than I did all last season. They are a sure sense of comfort when riding every day. I have ridden almost 600 miles since the first weekend in November. I have a huge base that I am trying to achieve. More on that later.

time for the studs!

My first near run-in with a skunk!

...of all places, Downtown Burlington! I was commuting to the shop this morning on my usual route and when I got downtown to the intersection of N. Winooski Ave. and Cherry St. I decided to turn right and add a little time to my ride. It got light out and I thought what the hey. I rode Cherry to the end and then hopped up on the sidewalk and rode it downhill south on Battery St. I passed the hotels and was coming up to Main St. when I saw this adolescent skunk waddling along on the sidewalk that I was on. He was sniffing up by some steps to some shops when I realized I was getting dangerously close to him and that there would be no way that I could just ride by without him noticing.

I started to brake hard and my front brakes started to chatter. That scared him (or at least got his attention), he hopped up on the first step and must have felt trapped so he threw up his tail. Mind you that this all happened in about 5 seconds.

I instantly thought that I am going to get sprayed. Thankfully it was early in the morning with no traffic on the road. (In hindsight that is where I should have been) I bailed right, dropping off the curb and far to the other side of the road and continued downhill to the end of Battery.

Man, what a close call. That would have made my day!

Slacky Mackey

It seems hard to juggle everything and keep up with a couple of blogs. Moving really through things off. I will get it straight here soon.

I am registered for the Race to the Top of Vermont which in on 8/29. I will let you know how that goes. My PB to beat is around 1:40. I hope that I can do quite a bit better than that.

8/22 is the Pedal for Paws and I have to have my display bike build by then. It will be a very busy 9 days coming.

I will update as soon as possible. Thanks!

Catamount trail run

My daughter, Justis, has started doing some trail running. I have decided to run with her for support and to increase my work out for my preparation for the VT50. She is no slump and I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination. She ran a 2.5km run in 36:25. Im so proud of her. It takes a lot of dedication for an 8 year old to be involved in this sort of thing. I am nursing a sprained heel from about two weeks ago and it didn't bother too bad on the run. It is a good time running trails. It keeps your mind off of the absurdity of running. Let's see how next week goes. Tonight is the same course on a mountain bike.

Racing and Riding

On 6/30 at Catamount, I put down a 51:34 on my 2 lap race. Pretty average for me as far as time goes. There was a time on the second lap that I had nothing left to push with. I need to get my nutrition right. On 7/7, I put down a 46:51. I personal best by about three minutes. Although I was 7 minutes off the wheel ahead of me. I need to just keep pecking away at this. It will all add up in the end.

My wife and I did a 38 mile road loop 7/2. It was a good time and I felt really strong with my SS. I do need to get a bike built up for myself with some gears. I think one gear is holding me back on one hand and making me stronger on another.

6/23 race at Catamount

My two lap time this week was 56:23. Not bad considering a few things. My friend Bob and I did a warm up lap before my race started. When we were doing the lap, we got to a section that seemed as if we were off course. As we rode a wide sweeping out and back we saw some blue arrows that showed we were headed in the right direction. We rode some more and it got dangerously close to my start time. We found a rode that led back to the parking lot to the field were the start is. I was told that my class already started. Therefore, I went into my start "hot" and rolled on through. I made my way through the course and came to the part where I new that I could throw down some speed. As I rounded a corner, I rode over a downed branch that covered the whole track. As I went by and kept cranking, I thought what is that about? Did I go the wrong way? This is what I just rode on my practice lap. I ended up turning around and headed back as another rider was coming towards me. I asked him if we went the wrong way. He didn't know. So I turned around again and headed the direction he was going. I said I know that we can get on course this way.

Soon, I passed him and just started riding hard out of frustration. I completed my first lap and headed back in for some more. As I came around to a straight away, another heat started and swarmed me like angry hornets. Wow, they move quick! I then come to my confusing point where I crossed the downed branch and this time it is still there but there is also TWO (2) blue arrows telling us to shoot up a trail just in front of it. Son of a bitch! I rode extra trail, slowed down from confusion, and got a late start on my race. All of this, hopefully, added up to the 6 minute penalty that I had from my race before this one.

Lesson learned? Ride more, practice hard, pay attention!

I'm having a good time though. And as Bob tells his boy, that's all that matters.