Sunday, March 29, 2009

Week Ending 3/28 First full week with the Zaskar

Sunday - Road Ride with the Bikes Unlimited gang. 45 miles over Mount Warner and back to Greenfield through North Amherst/Cushman. Brutal wind and a damn aggressive pace. I blew up a bit on the run-up to the Mount Warner climb as our pace into the wind peaked at about 28mph. I am much too big an air scoop for that!

HR maxed at 186! and the average for the ride was 159 even taking it easy on the last 15 miles.

Monday - Batchelor's Street with Matt and Liam- Took the Zaskar for a dose of real dirt and rocks. About 2 hours - no HR data

Tuesday - Back to the Batch with Matt. Did some of the nastier stuff today that Liam bypassed yesterday (yeah I walked a bunch of it).

Wednesday - Sugarloaf North. I love that climb. I need to finish raking the trail so I can clean the climb without spinning out the rear - next week.

Thursday - Skiing at Mt Snow. A full day of bumps and trees!

Friday - just a couple of short jaunts around the farm roads, since I had to pick up Jeff at BDL after his rowing trip to Tampa. No organized riding though.

Saturday - chores and hanging with the boys. Jeff goes back to school Sunday, so time to spend some time with him on his last day of break.

First race is next weekend - the TT at Burlingame. We rode that course and more at the February fun ride. Should be fun.

About the bike. Really nice ride. Stiff, light, great climber. I am really liking it at this point.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

First impressions of the new Zaskar




I have now taken a couple of good rides on the new machine, and she suits me just fine. I knocked a tad of weight off by swapping the wheels for American Classic/Stans Olympics and improved the fit a bit with a Thompson Stem and Easton Carbon Riser Bar. I also wasn't too happy with prior Fox Shocks, so I installed a new SID Team. This bike is really nice now.

A few pics of the most recent ride at Mount Holyoke State Forest.

We did 8 1/2 miles in about 2 hours. 3200ft of climbing average HR 144 Max 174. Pretty sure the dog was working harder than I was though.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Ski Week 3/15 - 3/21

As stated in last weeks post, we were at Sugarloaf for the week. Great snow, great times. Wednesday Matt and I took a try at tele - liked the experience, but not ready to give up the rigid setup quite yet.

Headed back south Thursday night.

Friday - Bachelor's Street - real local dirt on the first day of spring!!!! 9 miles, 2 hrs, 180 Max HR, 156 average. Awesome time. Had to walk a few places, but on the whole a great ride.



Saturday morning - SS ride on the Pantera with the dog early. If I get out again today, I'll post that with next week.

Tent is here, welcome pack is here. Like the Sugoi clothing, nice fit.

Late arrival, the bike shows up Saturday afternoon. Got it built up - swapping a few parts to more fit my liking (bar, stem, fork - seatpost coming soon - wheels too!), but here it is before the maiden voyage of 5 miles on the farm roads behind the house.

The lost week 3/8-3/14

I hate being sick. The week started out OK, a fixie ride with the boys on a chilly but pleasant day Sunday. Up to Whately - netting 11 miles or so. The HR strap wasn't transmitting so no data there. That night the flu bug hit - fever, coughing and hacking for the next three days just vegging on the couch. Yuck.

Friday we headed north for a week of skiing. Day on on the snow Saturday - beautiful day. Hit the backside of Sugarloaf - really pleasant.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Week Ending 3/7/09 Spring hits the Pioneer Valley

Well spring is here. Snow riding comes to an abrupt end, so the Merlin makes a reappearance in force this week.

Sunday - Matt and I studded up the bikes and met up with Steve for an ice ride in Robinson. Nearly 100% of the trail surface was glare ice, which proved a nasty challenge for the Nashbar house brand studded tires the boy and I were sporting. Steve did much better with his $300 a pair Nokians. When else is 9.1 miles in 2 hours a workout?

Monday - 8 inches of powder and temps in the teens all day. Snowshoe hike on Sugarloaf North just to keep the body fresh.

Tuesday - Trails too soft with the fresh snow, road too slushy to ride - Snowshoes again today with the dog around the back 40.

Wednesday - still mighty cold. I headed out with Matt for a road-ride, but didn't have the right clothing - cold and hot at the same time. Bailed after about 6 miles and threw the bike on the trainer in frustration. Man I hate trainers! About an 1:26 of saddle time HR Max 174 average 138

Thursday - Spring is here. Roadie up to Turners and back through Sunderland - 35 Miles 16.9 average 182 Max HR - 152 average. Felt good to feel the burn, but the legs were plenty mushy overnight.

Friday - Roadie again with Matt doing the heavy lifting. We took to the hills today out through Williamsburg, West Whately and Conway - 4500 feet of climbing - 179 Max HR 144 average - 2:39 38.7 miles.

Saturday - time to celebrate Allison's birthday with her friends. Back to the bike Sunday.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Feb 22 to Feb 28

OK, this week started with another Sunday dirt ride. Allison wanted to go visit a friend on the cape, so Matt and I loaded some bikes on the roof and we hit the road for SE Mass. Her friend messed up the time, so we didn't get to the TOT trail head until much later than intended. We have only ridden there a couple of times and managed to get pretty miserably lost. Still 3:13 moving time 17 miles 179 MHR 135 average 1400 ft climbing.

Monday - Hiking on the Greenfield Ridge

Tuesday - On the snow in town with the dog. 2:56 17 miles, 179 MHR, 132 average 700 ft. Snow was crusty and the studded tires dug in quite a bit. Still got in a nice ride.

Wednesday - Road Ride in the afternoon - gorgeous day 1:26 23 miles 180 MHR 152 average 900 ft. Looped up to Whately, down to Burgie and back through Hamp.

Thursday - Today I turned 51. Left the dog at home today and used the Rush as the surface had softened up a bit from tuesday. I got in the best ride of the week 2:32 20.7 miles. Must have mis-installed the chest strap 'cause I know I didn't average 100 bpm. All I know is the legs felt like mush at the end of the ride and I got just over 1350 ft of climbing. Perfect riding in the woods, though by the time I got back to the open fields they had softened up in the 40 degree temps.

Saturday - a day on the slopes at Mount Snow.

I am now an official member of the GT Dirt Coalition. Expect to get the swag and bike in the next month or so.