I went riding yesterday before Jennifer’s family came over and found out the tires on my Fargo are not optimal snow tires. This did not come as a big surprise, since they don’t have much tread on them, but I was a tad bit surprised at how bad they turned out to be. We had blizzard like snow conditions creating high drifts with a base layer of sleet for Christmas. In my little town they don’t bother cleaning the neighborhood side streets and this makes for a slick ride out of the neighborhood.
The snow riding abilities of the Vulpines goes like this. Oh wait, they have no snow riding abilities and since my old bike used 26” tires, not the ever so cool 29ers, I don’t have any spare tires to put on the Fargo. As soon as I hit a patch of snow I lost all ability of controlling the forward direction of the bike. This was experienced as soon as I got into the street. Most sane people would have just called it a day and gave up, but not me. I had taken the time to put on all my winter gear and I was craving some exercise.
I was at the end of a long five day weekend. Jen and I did get some things done around the house, but overall I felt extremely unproductive. The family and I did a lot of movie watching and eating. I should have gone downstairs to work out at least a couple of times, but I failed to find the motivation to get off the couch. I wasn’t man enough ride in the blizzard conditions we were having either.
One day the kids and I played tackle football in the backyard. To make a touchdown we had to muscle it over a huge snowdrift. Alex and I got to tackle each other and act like men. Suzie (the dog) ran around in the snow with us and caught her Frisbee she made us throw for her over and over. Melissa played too, but ended up cold and crying. We may have been a little rough on her as we were experiencing a testosterone induced euphoria that happens whenever men play football without pads. I must admit I love a little tackle football in the snow. Mikey ran around a little bit too, but could barely move in his snowsuit and jacket. He wasn’t feeling too well either, so he didn’t stay out long, but I digress.
After realizing that pedaling harder wasn’t helping my situation, I quickly pulled my cleat out of the pedal so I wouldn’t fall in the middle of my street. I walked my bike to the main cleared street just outside of the neighborhood. I had decided to do a short bit of hill climbing drills to get a good, hard but short workout. We had family coming over and a long bike ride was out of the question. With these tires that would be impossible anyway.
I got onto the cleared street after a couple of people in cars stared at me as they passed. I clipped in and started pedaling into the strong north wind. My eyes immediately teared up and my face felt like it would freeze off. This was starting off well. I have a few hilly streets near my house and I used them to do my first set of hill climbing drills – ever.
This may not have been the ideal day to try this, but I had been on the web reading about training for endurance races and I felt I needed to get going on that. I only have six months until the Dirty Kanza 200. After a long, lazy weekend, I was feeling out of shape and slothful.
I am a touring cyclist. I like to ride at a comfortable pace, stop to take pictures and ride far. Enjoyment is the main factor. I do like to go fast sometimes (who doesn’t?) and I rode single track trails back in the day, but I am older and much more mature now, definitely not scared or anything.
I began pedaling, picking up my pace as I rode towards my first hill. The wind pierced my exposed facial skin and my legs began to burn as I climbed that hill. I do this for the enjoyment. I was ready to quit already, but seeing 0.6 miles on my bike computer made me ride on. I got to my turn around point on my hill climbing route at about two miles and saw a cyclist friend sledding with his kids and I stopped to talk. He thought about riding, but the cold wind was a little much for him. I used to think this guy was pretty extreme. What was I thinking riding in this?
I clipped in to ride my hills in the opposite direction and as I made it to the first turn I had to ride over a small patch of snow. I figured I was going fast enough to just coast through it, but I immediately lost all control and went down. It wasn’t bad, no cars around to run me over, so I quickly got up like Chevy Chase would after a fall, brushed off and pushed my bike onto some dry pavement to continue.
I ended up going a measly 7 miles on my hill climbing drill. I was thinking of doing one more run, but I was fairly certain the oatmeal I had eaten for breakfast would be regurgitated with any more physical assertion. I had officially shown myself how out of shape I am at this point. Although the food, deserts and lack of physical activity over the last week could have something to do with this feeling of nausea too. I have a long way to go to get into some decent shape. I am confident and maybe a bit too happy about it.
Since it is almost a new year, I think it is appropriate to make some goals (not resolutions to never be met) for 2010. I have had some thoughts on my goals as of late and I plan on sharing in the next post or two. One of them will have to be the ability to do this hill climbing exercise for 10 miles with at an acceptable speed.
A new year is coming. Make some goals and plan the small steps needed to meet these goals. Every great journey starts with a single step, someone once said. Let’s accomplish great things next year. 2010 will be a fresh start.
Feed Your Monkey!
–Eric
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, you’ll have to check my Facebook profile for those. We tried a family photo with the tripod which usually is a disaster and this time was no acception.
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