GT contract arrives

I received my GT contract today. It is pretty exciting. I have never had a contract like this from a bike company before. I am really looking forward to representing both GT and NEMBA at the races this spring and summer. I can't believe that the first race is April 11th! Here is a pic of the bike that I will be riding.

I have been a bit lazy with the blog posts recently. Things have been extremely busy at work. Last week my Sales Manager was on vaca and this week my Quality Manager is at our plant in Mexico. Needless to say I have still been getting in the time on the bike. After my epic day a couple of weeks ago I have spent a bunch of time on the trainer and hiking. Two weekends ago I did my normal combination of walking a bunch of miles with Lars in the stroller and then an intense workout on the trainer for an hour. However, that Sunday I ventured out for some time in the hills also. I live at the base of a seven mile climb. It is a great way to humble yourself. It took me about 2 minutes longer than normal to reach the top but I blame it on the cyclocross tires on my bike. Either way it felt good to get a nice long climb in my legs.
This past weekend I worked most of the day so I had to scramble abit to get a workout in before our friends that own Tolland Bicycle came over for dinner. I did get in about 4 miles of walking with Mel and Lars and then a 1 hour trainer workout. It is nice to see the power output going up every week. Yesterday, I headed out into the woods at the Maclean Game Refuge with on of my best friends, Ted D., for a cross country excursion. We do these awesome hikes that end up being a combination of trails and bushwhacking. They also end up being very hilly. He knows how to get into shape! Even though my legs were a little tired I geared up and hit the trainer as soon as Lars went down for his nap. Another good hour.
Tonight I tried something new. Mel got the Wii Fit for her birthday from her brother Mike. It is really cool. I am not a video game person at all but with the training side of it I am a bit of a convert. It will also be a bit of a competition with the Wii age. I have lost 4 lbs in the past week and my Wii age is down to 39. I need to do more cross training...

Last week's training

I managed to get in two nights on the trainer last week even though I had daddy duty for a good part of the week. I just felt motivated. In fact I was so motivated that I got on the trainer at 8pm on Thursday night to ride. I usually go to sleep around 9 :30....

I had planned to get in a good ride on Sat with nice weather and all. It did not happen. We were doing some server upgrades at Horst Engineering that took longer than expected. They were successful though.

I made up for it on Sunday. I had to go into work again for Kevin to get in and finish the updates. I figured that I would maximize my time and ride to and from the shop. Sounds like good time management right? Well, just as I left home it started to sprinkle. I figured that I would just tough it out. The forecast was for the low 50s and sunny. Plust, it was only a few drops and the road was wet from melting snow anyway.

Wow! I was wrong about that. About 20 minutes into my 1:15 ride to the shop the rain really started to come down. I was beyond the point of turning back as I had to meet Kevin at 10am and it was 9:15 already! I just kept pushing along. When I got the the I291 bridge where I usually take the bike path across the Connecticut River, I discovered that it had not been plowed. Since we still had a good 8 inches of snow I had to find an alternate route. I put my navigation skills to work and headed into the North End of Hartford taking turns where they seemed right. They were! Kevin had just pulled up when I arrived soaking wet and freezing.

Fortunately, we have a shower at the shop. I took a hot shower and got some tea and oatmeal while Kevin got to work. I attempted to dry my clothes with a portable heater while we were there. About 2.5 hours later he was done. Now it was time to put on damp clothes and head home. The sun had come out and it had warmed up nicely. It should be a nice mellow ride home...Not!

Since the storm pushed through the wind had kicked up. I was headed north and the wind was out of the north at about 20mph. Now, this ride was becoming a mini epic. I finally made in home in 1:45. It normally takes about 1:10. Everything was still dry and my feet were numb. I quickly got in the shower to warm up. My feet stung as the hot water hit them. I guess this is what it takes to get fast again.....

I managed to get in another hour on the trainer yesterday. I noticed that I can ride at a higher power output than a week ago. I guess the limited training must be working.

Unexpectedly, I also got in a 4 mile walk with Lars after riding. He has been under the weather and really wanted to ride in the stroller. I seized the opportunity and walked to the health food store and the library. I would have ridden but the roads are treacherous for a bicycle right now.

Today, after a long day at work, I was motivated to ride the trainer so I did another moderate spin for 30 minutes. We are supposed to get more snow tonight so it will probably be the trainer for me for the next few days.

Training and traveling

I have committed to training or should I say riding more than last year. This opportunity to represent GT/NEMBA is both exciting and motivating. Lars is now old enough that it is becoming easier to get out and get exercise on a regular basis and I am finally learning to be better organized about training. Last week I was in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico to visit our plant that is in the midst of moving from Nogales to Guaymas. I figured that since it would be nice and warm I would bring my travel bike. I got in 50 miles of MTB in the 3 days that I was there. Apparently there is quite a network of trails there. Now I have a bigger incentive to learn spanish.

Over the weekend I spent several hours on the trainer as it was in the low teens. We also did a family hike.

This past week I didn't get much opportunity to exercise. Catching up from a trip is always difficult. For me it usually means working 60-70 hours.

I am making up for some of it this weekend though. Yesterday we did a hike at McClean Game refuge. It was strenuous to say the least. I was pulling Lars in the chariot with the skis on it and the 1inch of icy crust on top of 10 inches of snow made for a great workout. It is great training and Lars absolutely loves being outside. I also had a chance to get on the trainer for 1:15hrs when Lars took his nap. It was a good chance to catch up on some of the week's episodes of the Jon Stewart show on hulu.com. I was definitely tired from the hike but still had a good workout.

Today I plan on hiking for and hour and then hitting the trainer again. I checked out the roads abit yesterday and there is still quite a bit of ice here in Granby. I am sure that it is worse in the hills.