If You're Cold You're Not Riding Hard Enough...

Hey - wake up! Holidays ain't over yet!

You know you've been on a cold ride when the front half of your feet are numb, and you jump into a hot shower with a hot cup o' tea.

But even just a couple days on the indoor trainer will make anyone go crazy. I feel like I cheat mother nature whenever I can sneak out for a couple hours of pedalling these days. Today's mid-30's and stiff wind made it..............just balmy.

I've said it before.....but with a different metaphor: if a cyclist's calender were a shopping mall, then January would be that indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf place that you never see anyone go to. But on the upswing, we're one day closer to daylight savings today than yesterday....

Holiday Buzz...

Well we're deep within the holiday season these days. After eating some bad juju I've had a few days off the bike....this last set of pics was Christmas Eve. And sooooo........






You might wonder, what does one think about when on a loooong ride out there all by one's self? Well, to give you an idea of some of the thoughts firing through my head on a typical winter training ride, I've compiled this short list. And remember - this is only a smattering of life's many problems being solved:

• How DO you spell antidisestablishmuntarianism? No, that's not right....



• I think I like yellow better than red.......nooooo........nope - I like red better.

• I wonder how much those little troll dolls actually cost to make. Cause the last one I bought seemed a little expensive.



• .....................I hear crickets.................that's impossible.......it's December...



• When I look down at my nose there is an optical illusion that there are two of them.



• Be the gas pedal............Beeeee the gas pedal.

• Does a true analysis of capitalism reveal that the contradictions within capitalism will bring about it's own end? Hmmm......

• Man I really got a little crazy with the ol' PBJ the other day.


• When I was dancing around the house like nature boy last week, I.........I wonder if anyone saw that....
  


• Monkey......Monkey......when you say that a lot it starts to sound really weird. Monkey. Monkey....monkeeey....monkeeeee.......listen - monkey..monkey....monkey.
  
• When the Write Brothers first flew, I wonder if they knew to wear seatbelts....


• If I were a bug, I would DEFinitely be a praying mantis.

I'm starting to return from the juju of the bad food........and onward we go.

A Lesson To Be Learned...

A lot of people ask me, "Hey Matt, where'd you learn to write so well?" ......Ok, one person asked me that once. But my response was prompt: "it takes a creative mind and a good English teacher."

I ran into my old high school english teacher out on the trail the other day. A teacher who shared a common bond for the Colorado outdoors. Back then, he put up with my English papers which were everything and anything about mountain bikes.









But rather than steer me to other topics or more rigid writing restrictions, he let me embrace my own interests, and shaped my writing style as only a veteran high school teacher could.





I haven't forgotten that, and it's made me part of who I am today. Here's to the teachers in our lives who have let us experience life at our most impressionable times...

Permafrosting....

Just wan'd ta......see if it was still cold out.....







Yup.........still is.

Musings at 10,000ft...

The offseason is a great time to inject a few interludes into the training schedule to help break up the monotony a bit. Cyclists legs are are very good at doing one thing, in the same motion, a million times in a row. It's those cross training activities that show you how out of shape the rest of your muscles really are...





For example, yoga shows me that my balance is great - but that my hamstrings are exactly 3 inches long.




Snowshoeing shows me that my aerobic capacity is top notch, but that slogging through snow in 10 degree cold wears me out after an hour or two.

Well, under normal circumstances, anyway...

On this day, however, we got all dressed up for exactly 17 minutes of snowshoeing. Turns out that short haired dogs don't fair too well when it's 10 degrees outside either.

So Sunday it was back to the singlespeed. It had been a while since I'd done a 3-plus hour ride.....

...and when you mix snow covered trails, heavy clothing, 38deg temps, and 3500 feet of climbing, it's like the string on a sweater......the more you pull the more it unravels...

You could pound your chest all day, or you could enjoy the ride...

Freeride...

I've been on the indoor trainer more often than I care to admit over the past several weeks. Enough to make me want to throw myself off a very large ledge.

Push play. No, thankfully, this is not me...

Fireside Chat...

There's no substitute for dedication - but beyond that, few things in life are as cool as mountain biking during a snowstorm. With only the whisper of a breeze through the snow-encrusted pine trees all else is calm, still, and isolated.

Drastic temps call for drastic measures-- time to swap the bike helmet for a ski helmet and goggles. Cause there's plenty of time to sit in front of the fire sipping hot coffee later.

Mother nature has a funny way of letting you know where you stack up on the food chain. Fortunately for us, the Division of Wildlife lets us know, too.

Yes, mother, I turned around precisely at this point.

Rides like these put you in another state of mind. Because no one ever said on their death bed, "I wish I would have worked more..."

Don't save up on life - you gotta spend it all...

Drooling On Command...

I've done my fare share of night rides over the years and I've come to a few conclusions: 1.) No matter how well you think you know a trail, it is not the same trail at night, 2.) birds of prey (BOP's) look remarkably similar to plastic Safeway bags caught on a tree branch. Resist the temptation to throw rocks at them to confirm your suspicions, and 3.) no matter how comfortable you are around rabbits, deer, and the like during the daylight hours they will scare the shit out of you at night.

There's something very "Pavlov's Dog" about night riding. For me, it can only mean one thing: it's winter and it's cold...two things......night riding can only mean two things....... So who would have guessed that when I headed out at 5pm on this early December evening it would be 60 degrees. Leave the booties at home and take advantage of the mild temps.

Without the fear of frostbite on this night, the only fear I had were the plastic Safeway bags...

Vitamin D...

Friday afternoon....ride bike....

...Check.

Saturday morning.....ride bike...

Check...

......Saturday afternoon.....ride bike...

...Check...

Sunday..........

Stagger to the recovery room.......aahh the life of a bike racer...