Life and Training updates - 2018

Holy cow it's already 2018, and January is done!

I have some cool frozen beard pics and ride shots from this past week to share:

Denali in the background.

Critter tracks

Exploring new trails.

Windsock trail never disappoints.

Corral Hill Kiosk. I think it was -22 at that point on the river.

Sleeping Lady from Big Swamp trail.

Swamp thing?

You know you want to look at a close up of my beard. Haha

I have to admit, that I've never really done structured training before this year. In the past I just rode my bike till I was tired on the weekdays and rode for a long time on the weekends. It was apparent last year to me that I could not just lean on that training method. I also noticed that the minimal strength training I did last year seemed to help my back a lot. So this year I dove in. My friend Nico started a personal training studio last year and he has been riding really strong and looks absolutely ripped! Laura and I decided to give the strength and conditioning classes a try.

LongevityLab

So far, I feel pretty damn good. I've never had any confidence in my shoulders since popping them out in high school. I have since developed more strength and confidence to do heavy lifts with my upper body and shoulders with their teaching. There is a great community growing over at LongevityLab and I'm glad I get to be a part of it. :-) And, they have adorable shop puppies!

I picked up a smart trainer late last winter and have been riding the heck out of it (as much as a fat biker can anyways.)

Cycleops Magnus

I've been using it in conjunction with their smart phone app Rouvy Mobile. I can upload trainer workouts from Training Peaks so I don't have to adjust much while training. It's pretty nice.

Training Peaks
Rouvy

This past weekend I put in a lot of miles. I literally killed my Garmin battery, attempted to sweat out my gear, tried some new food, played with pace over a long day and overall had a damn good time even if I did freeze my water tube a hundred times. Haha Thanks to Adam and Angie for opening up their home to stinky, long distance bikers. Without you guys I wouldn't be able to try a lot of this stuff out.

That's all I got for now, I'll update you guys in a week or so. Happy riding!