It's chilly out there folks! Temps have been below normal....and from the looks of it, this has been the case for a while as some of the more high traveled roads that I train on have some sections of super packed snow, ice, and black ice. The last snow fall that occurred while I was in Iowa must have had some wind with it, because some on the north-south roads were drifted shut at one point. High drifts along the side of the road are all that remain.
I am not going to lie, I was thinking about keeping the workout indoors today...just like yesterday. But I have not been outside on the bike in just about 2 weeks. I had to get out there. I layered up for the 25F temp that was reading at the NOAA website at the time I headed out of the house. First half of the 2.5 hour ride was fine...as I had a tail wind. Coming back...into the wind.....was dang chilly. Slightly sweat soaked clothing was letting some of the cool air get through.
LW Coaching had me doing some more fun intervals today. Three 20 minute intervals in that oh so popular 'sweet spot'. First interval is where I saw the most ice and snow along the frontage road of I-25. Talk about sketchy!
Really looking forward to some weekend group rides. Weather is looking good with temps in the upper 40F's. Sweet!
'Tis the season. Been doing this for the past few years...and since everyone else does....why not. So, here it is. The random 'best of' for the 2009 riding and racing year.
Best New Race I Took Part In:Breck-Epic Stage Race What is not to like? You get to race your bike on sweet terrain at altitude for 6 days...and throw up in your mouth a little. Awesome!
Best Race Day on the Bike: Tie. Pierre's Hole 100 and the Ouachita Challenge Both races proved that good training and timing allow for hard events to feel effortless. Oh, and a kick ass course helps as well.
Best Race I didn't Race: Breck 100 I was in recovery mode after the Breck-Epic Stage Race. So, I spend the weekend supporting, riding, and filming Yuki and Sonya racing. It was exciting to watch all the riders come in after their 3 loop race. By far the hardest 100 mile race in Colorado. Yes, way harder than the Leadville 100.
Best New Product:Magura Marta SL Brakes Power and modulation...and custom team colors! I went the entire racing and training season with no issues or maintenance on all my team bikes. Runner up would be my Cratoni Terron helmet.
Best Adventure Riding Weekend:A simple 3 day trip to Moab. This was the first time to Moab to 'just ride'. All the previous times were to race...or do something associated with racing. We excellent to ride with Sonya and Yuki with out having to run the HR at red-line.
Best Picture I Took: This one is always hard. My criteria is location, composition, and the story that goes along with it. This is from a 3 day training weekend outside Salida, CO. Rider is Sonya Looney descending a steepish drop on the Colorado Trail surrounded by aspen trees and rocks 'o' plenty.
Best Picture Someone took of Me: Eddie Clark from Photo-Cycle.com took this image at the Breck-Epic Stage race. Elevation? About 12,000 ft on Wheeler Pass. Image made it into Mountain Flyer Magazine as a 2 page spread.
Best "I don't think I am going to make it" Moment: Just this past November when Sonya, Yuki, and I were doing a big loop in Moab, UT. We lost the trail on Poison Spider, and spent a good hour plus looking for it while the sun started to drop behind the slickrock. We had no secondary light source...super FAIL on our part. So that means we would have had to stop searching...spend the night...then start searching again in the AM. Luckily, we did some clever navigating and made our way dwon to the Colorado River and the road we needed to get back to Moab/camp. We arrived back to camp under darkness.
Best Time Suck of 2009: Last year it was Facebook. This year it is Twitter. Next year what? Twitbook?
It is official now! Sonya and I are teaming up to race the Coed-Duo category at the 2010 Breck-Epic Stage Race. Can't wait! Last year was a riot racing solo. Now, going to try it the other way around and trying racing as a 2 person team. Should be a fantastic time! Cross your fingers for good weather and big mountain climbs that don't feel all that big. If you are on the edge about signing up to race....don't wait too long, spots are limited and it will sell out.
Got back to Colorado last night about 8:30 PM after a marathon 14 hour drive session with my Sister from Iowa for X-mas. Normally, this drive takes around 11 hours, but the snow storm from Thursday and Friday left some sections of road pretty sketchy. Specifically was a 60 mile or so section from York, NE to Grand Island, NE where traffic was bumper to bumper at about 10 mph over a sheet of solid ice. Not fun. The kind of stuff that makes you want to bang your head on the dashboard of the car because you can jog faster down the road. It crossed my mind, but the -0 wind chills made the decision to stay in the car easy.
Now back in Colorado after a week+ of recharging, the focus is on training and coming Ergon related road trips. On tap we (Ergon) have a training/product testing camp in SW Utah followed by a trip to Tucson, AZ for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. I was excited to see when I got back home to the house last night, that my 2009 Crank Bros pedals had been return after having been rebuilt for the 2010 season. Why get new pedals when the old ones just need some TLC. Seriously.
Came back to some snow here in Fort Collins, but not anything even remotely close to what was in Iowa and Nebraska. With warming temps forecasted all week....shouldn't last long. Temps near 50F on Saturday and Sunday should make for a good batch of grouprides. Can't wait! Looking forward to getting back out there and getting smacked around by the resident fast folks.
This week was a well planned week of recovery by Coach. Yes, I did bring the road bike and a trainer home....but those sessions are short and too the point. I am spending 1 hr each morning before breakfast doing some mito work. What is that you ask? Well, check out this link to keep me from typing a marathon length blog post. Heck, being 3,000 ft lower than where I normally train and sleep should aid in some fantastic recovery. Right?
The view all week....as the snow dumps outside. Heck temps are warm for this time of year, sitting at 32F....but there is so much ice and snow on the roads. Only option is don't ride...or ride indoors. I'll ride indoors before I sit on my butt for 7 days.
I wish I could get a power file to look like this outside. Guess this is what you get with no variables like hills and wind.
Yeah, it is true! All the cool kids in the Midwest are doing it. All you need is a bit of snow and a shovel. Don't have snow? Then shovel some sand or dirt. If you don't do it for 1 hour....then it is not considered cool. It is considered a waste of time. Feel the deep burn!
First the driveway.
Then the sidewalk....which was shoveled not that long ago.
Followed by more of the driveway. The driveway is a 2 step process.
Training is going on the down-low for the next week or so. Recovery week is in full 'ON' mode as I travel back to Iowa for Christmas. Bike time will be extremely limited in the form of some short trainer sessions. Other than that, it is all about family, food, rest, and Ergon related work.
Starting to acquire gear for the 480+ mile Colorado Trail Race. Here is a short clip on my rain jacket, the Mont-Bell Outpace Parka. Gear selection for this event is based on functionality, weight, and how packable it is.
Speaking of gear, it is time to gear up and go out and ride!
Saturday A 5 hr day on the paved roads outside of Boulder. With the snowfall from last weekend now finally starting to melt...things were a bit sloppy in spots. I opted for the mtb as to keep the road bike clean...and to generate more body heat and resistance. First 3 hrs were good. After 3 hours, the light wind out of the west started to make the effort noticeable. Coming back from Carter Lake I had some tough moments. But around hour 4, things clicked over and I was back and motoring down the road. Where was everyone? I only saw one other Ft Collins based rider. The effort was higher than what was being done the previous weeks...and I woke up the next AM feeling it.
Sunday Another 5 hour day on the mtb. With warmer temps than on Sunday I decided to head up into the mountains.
I made it to around 9,200 ft after having started at 5,300 ft, only to get turned around by what would become heavy snow. Not wanting to get soaked, I headed back down to the low lands to finish the last 2.5 hours. After Saturday's effort, it was noticeable that my legs were not 100%. The little rises in the roads made me hurt...filling with lactic acid. The video gives an good idea of conditions.
Yes! Finally, temps are becoming more life form friendly. After about 9 days of indoor riding I was able to get out on some dirt....err.....snow roads to spin the legs out. Nothing crazy today other than 1 hr of spinning around. The longer hours are this weekend....5 hrs on Saturday and 5 hrs on Sunday. I can't wait!
Today's relaxed ride gave me time to shoot some random clips so I could start to learn the new version of iMovie. So far...so good. I am starting to get the highlight points of the program nailed down.
What else is a man supposed to do when there is like 11 inches of snow outside and temps only around 15F? Heck, as I type this at 7:30 AM, it is -9F outside with a windchill of near -30F. It can't last forever....temps bump up into the 40F's this weekend. Next few days are indoor days. I don't really mind it, as it was the 'only way' when I was living in Iowa.
As I sit here drinking the morning coffee and eating some eggs, I can now look back at this past weekend. Saturday wasn't so bad. Temps near 40F and sunny. Perfect weather to get out there and start the Oval Ride 'Lite'. It was a good thing the ride was 'lite', as my legs were a little sluggish. The group was a tad small....maybe 20 folks, but there was at least 3 of us that got in those 4.5-5 hours in. Took a short clip on the way back south towards Fort Collins:
Sunday was another story. Over night, temps dropped like a rock! Highs for Sunday were only near 15F and there was 6-9 inches of fresh powder on the ground. Good thing for early season cross training. Sonya and I drove about 20 minutes west of town and hit up Horsetooth Mountain to get some hiking.....and snowshoeing in as conditions allowed. The hiking was good, and we were one of only a few folks out there. Basically had to cut trail ourselves. Only down fall was the 6F degree temp drop in the 3.5 hours we were out there.
Climbing....after being dropped by Sonya. WAIT!!!
Still climbing up to Horsetooth Rock. Ergon pack loaded with some food, water, and MSR snowshoes...which were never needed.
Digits referring to my fingers and toes. All week, training has been on the down low since it is a "recovery week" in the annual training plan. Originally, the plan today was to do a power test up the canyon to see what kind of fitness results the last 3 weeks of training have yielded. But, the cold temps in combo with snow/ice on the lesser traveled roads killed that idea. So, it was option 2, a 2.5 hr tempo on the open roads. I headed west to the foothills, and surprisingly, there was still a bit of snow/ice on the edges of the higher traveled roads. Glad I had the mtb instead of the road bike. Twice, the rear wheel got squirrely on some snow/ice/slush.
By the time this training session was done, 1 bottle was empty and the other was like a fine 7-Eleven slurpee. Orange flavor to be exact. The weekend will be bike filled. Well, at least Saturday will....thinking the Oval Ride. Sunday is another story with a high temp of 18F and snow. Might head to do some snowshoeing at 9,000+ ft.
With air temps sitting around 27F and a ride that involved 30+ mph descents, keeping the digits toasty was in order. My hands rarely give me issues with my Craft lobster-style gloves. The feet on the other hand have A.D.D when it comes to cold temps. Today, I went the safe route and wore the following:
These did the job just fine! Now for an evening of rest followed by....hopefully....a good group ride on Saturday. And winter needs to move on. At this rate, it will be a loooooooooooong Colorado winter.
2005 Results
12 Hr Sugar Creek :: 2nd
12 Hr of Metro :: 1st
12 Hr of Thunder :: 2nd
12 Hr of Winter :: 3rd
24 Hr of 9 Mile :: DNF
24 Hr of 7 Oaks :: 1st
24 Hr in Japan :: 1st
2004 Results
Stump Farm 12 Hr :: 2nd
24 Hr of Rapelje :: 1st
12 Hr Nationals :: 3rd
24 Hr of 9 Mile :: 10th
24 Hr Solo World :: 12th
24 Hr of Moab :: DNF
Bio
NAME: Jeff Kerkove
NICKNAME: Mr. 24
COUNTRY: USA (Colorado)
TEAM:Topeak-Ergon DOB: 2.7.1978
HEIGHT: 6 ft.
WEIGHT: 165 lbs.
RACE CATEGORIES:
Pro (XC & Endurance) Click for full Bio
It's chilly out there folks! Temps have been below normal....and from the looks of it, this has been the case for a while as some of the more high traveled roads that I train on have some sections of super packed snow, ice, and black ice. The last snow fall that occurred while I was in Iowa must have had some wind with it, because some on the north-south roads were drifted shut at one point. High drifts along the side of the road are all that remain.
I am not going to lie, I was thinking about keeping the workout indoors today...just like yesterday. But I have not been outside on the bike in just about 2 weeks. I had to get out there. I layered up for the 25F temp that was reading at the NOAA website at the time I headed out of the house. First half of the 2.5 hour ride was fine...as I had a tail wind. Coming back...into the wind.....was dang chilly. Slightly sweat soaked clothing was letting some of the cool air get through.
LW Coaching had me doing some more fun intervals today. Three 20 minute intervals in that oh so popular 'sweet spot'. First interval is where I saw the most ice and snow along the frontage road of I-25. Talk about sketchy!
