It's been awhile but I'm still kickin'!!!

Yep it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted and while I perhaps have not been pursuing the 'training' quite as vigorously as I would like to be I haven't completely forgotten it. Life has definitely gotten in the way lately but I did manage to get out and hit up DVL and completed my first timed lap of the year. I scheduled myself for several to see if I can do any better. I'm hoping that between my first attempt and my last I'll be able to shave a few minutes off it. This month I've got to try and get 36 miles in one ride on the mtn bike for my b-day ride. I'm thinking 5 laps at Southridge but it's going to be hard work and much of my time is going to be taken up with the emergency move of stuff to storage.

I have been a bit lax in the riding and it showed very acutely this past weekend. I got together with my Bro-in-law and we hit up Red Rock Canyon in Vegas on our road bike. We rode the scenic drive through the park. It's a nice 15 mile loop with one killer 7% 2 mile long grade and it kicked my butt. Between being off the bike for nearly 17 days, poor sleep the night before (I can't sleep in a hotel to save my life), bad nutrition, a 2000 foot higher elevation and....well I can come up with more but they're all excuses. In the end I was forced to walk the road bike up a long section of the climb. It was horrible and embarrassing with like 50 riders or more passing me! I have to hand it to my bro-in-law as he did not rub my face in it and did not show the frustration I'm sure he was feeling as he was forced to wait for me to catch up. He's an animal on the bike and rides his ten year old Trek like it's a 09 Madone custom built for him. He rides like 600 miles a month and has a really smooth form. From my perspective it was a great ride that humbled me and made me hungry for more. It was a ride with a good guy amongst great scenery. I had a blast.

I've been lamenting over the fact that I have few trails close by since we moved to the apartment but after my humiliation yesterday I wanted to get back in the saddle quick. So today I suited up and hit the FSR. I explored the local dirt trails that I know about and I think I've figured out a decent route that loops around on itself a couple of times with an OAB climb that's pretty gnarly in sections. It's probably close to 9 miles and I could easily stretch that out to 18 if I HAB over a steep climb to the Farm. I'm pretty stoked to have found it as it'll give me a nice fall back for the mtn bike!

On the positive side I got in 105 miles on the bike last month and 23 miles of running. It's a great start. Taking the first week and a half of March off it'll be hard to hit those numbers in the next 15 days but we'll see what I can do!