they cancelled one of my favorite races to watch, the het volk classic which is usually the last saturday in february was cancelled because of snow. the weather leading up to saturday's decision wasn't very good and the parcours was being changed due to icy cobbled sections on certain climbs. the weather for this race is typically belgian, cold, wet, not a great deal of snow but flurries are commonplace. it is one of the first new videos i look for when i need to buy new stuff to watch while on the rollers. the winner is almost always a classics hardman, the race and course doesn't allow a fair weather rider to succeed. museew, bartoli, van petegem, van den broucke, peeters nobody not at home in the cold on the cobbles. it doesn't look like they will reschedule it either, maybe this will be the year they make a video of the second race of this weekend the kuurne-bruxelles-kuurne classic. another similarly hard race, taking place the day after the het volk, one hell of a saturday sunday set of races! less than a week until the first minor race for colorado. it should be just a good hard ride, nothing too serious unless you have your priorities messed up. i'm very excited to get in a bunch and go fast! i can smell the season, not too far until my favorite races in april!

at 6.30 am it was too cold to do much else beside walk number one and get inside before i got too cold. we packed up and the four of us went to the coffee shop. i had the best breakfast i have had in years, homemade granola with yogurt and fruit, i can't believe how good it was, unreal. late morning i got motivated and went for a ride. not too bundled up, but the fresh snow made the ride really fun. i softenend the tires at the top for the descent. after that climbing was much easier too, tire pressure does amazing things. i got a great week of training, good legs and i just might be able to be of some help in the march races and then really work for the team in the april road events. the legs are coming along, good volume and really good work this week. and a good nap everyday goes a long way.

a great block the last few days, by the time today came i was pretty cooked, the legs were stiff, i spent about 30 minutes today stretching. not enough intensity but certainly good volume. maybe i can get outside up here in the next few days and bury myself in a good motorpace workout. now i have exactly one week until race number one. can't really be a bad thing, right? i rode the fixy to work today, the wheel slipped in the drop out on the way in and locked up the rear wheel at about 20 mph. not fun. i fixed it and rode home to switch bikes in time to get absolutely snowed through while doing errands on my bike. on the trip home everything was grinding on the mtb. it got a good washing for getting me through the trip! overall i feel good about where i am for the season. the volume and milage are solid but the intensity is lacking. i need a hard group ride but that won't happen for another week, oh yeah, race number one. a race is a group ride right? regardless i can get a few hours with a tough 75 minutes in the middle. merckx and coppi said it best when asked what it took get good at cycle racing "ride lots." time for bed good night

ok, it's getting better. the hours on the rollers are adding up, i feel oddly tired the day after a good day on them. maybe it really is good work. b is almost better, the cold/chest thing is just about gone, just a bit of a cough right now. antibiotics are amazing. great walk with the boys, it was warm and sunny and not winter like except for the snow. b had a blast with the dogs, cheering them on and having a good time chasing them. surfing about the net the last few days i have found a long list of great sites to read. the bike community is amazing. there are so many different views but all join in at least one common theme; a love for two wheeled human powered crafts. i feel lucky to have a part in this community.

yesterday though i was off all day i only managed an hour+ on the rollers, b had a chest cold going on that needed attention. he amazes me, no matter how shitty he feels he still tries to smile! the hour+ i did do was really good quality, reminescent of a crit warm-up. good steady blocks with short sprints and always a high cadence in a big gear, good rollers go a long way. today on the route in i was unusually cautious, hopped a couple snow banks with care and tried to lay off the front brake. with the warmer day temps the glaze grows overnight to ice up most roads and paths. last night the inch or so of new snow made for a quiet and peaceful trip to work. i was thinking about how good dinner was last night, good bread and great pizza, giampietro's really does kill it. though i don't eat as much as i once did, i eat until i am pleasantly full, especially if i still need to get on the bike. i feel so much better and i'm sleeping really well, good stuff. you can't agrue with better sleep!

here are the photos from yesterday mornings odyssey. it was a great morning, going in late so i got to ride through sunrise! all was good until the fall 50 feet from the door. i wonder what the pros are riding in right now in arizona? 60-70 degree days, arms and maybe knee warmers, some winter i would love to get out for one of those winter camps and do days of volume, no agenda, just ride from town to town and enojy coffee and snacks. oh well, i get to ride in the beauty of winter's majesty. a gift if i don't spoil it by falling. look around you may be surprised by what you see.

surly had this link to some of their hometown stars who got a bit of press for not hanging up the bike in the winter. one of the people mentioned is former star gene oberpiller, a pro when there were just a few pros out there on the mtb scene. i remember reading in dirt rag about his successes in northern midwest mtb races. the scene in wisconsin and minnesota has always had a good following and gene was the king for a while! another fall today on the way in, i have to learn to not use the front brake at all! i was fine and almost at the door when, bam! down i went. i was getting past the entrance and without enough thought i grabbed a bit of brake and paid the price. i landed on the same spot on my shoulder, it's pretty jacked right now. as the sun was up this morning on the way in i shot a bunch of photos that i'll post later today. the sky was amazing, pinks and grays and blues across the horizon.

i guess it had to happen at some point. with the way the days are warm and the night are cold the roads get so glazed that black ice is everywhere shaded. almost in to work today and i saw it coming, slight touch of the brakes and slight turn of the bars and bang! i hit the deck. not too hard, no broken collarbone or chipped elbow just a sore shoulder and ankle. it happens. i got two hours in yesterday, i feel that that is probably my minimum time i should put in outside of mondays which will be 90 minutes. the base needs to be there for the road events. mtb stuff is too far out to really worry. the firecracker is 4 months out, for that i'll do the denver ride a few times at fast pace. maybe i'll finally do the loveland ride. that's a pretty long one. one day, about 180 miles. north to kremmling and then east to granby, north to grand lake and the entrance to rocky mountain national park and then down into loveland through estes. like i said a few miles, probably 10 hours or so. pretty good work. a la flahute...

it really snowed last night! the commute made all the difference in the world, fresh quiet snow to roll through and the subtle whoosh of tires cutting untracked powder. i guess roughly 4-6 but regardless it made for a great trip into work. the snow had that dreamy champagne consistency, the one that utah sells as the reason to ski there instead of colorado, it is nice out there...if you're mormon. riding in with a smile, i thought about the decisions that got me to where i am. and decisions recently that have kept me here. i'm glad i didn't take the advertising sales job and the move away from the ski industry are two that shine in neon in my head as good moves. utopia is far from here but it is a good life, not many can ride to work all year long, if they want to. i have the luxury of less traffic when i go in and no traffic if i want a cooler/longer ride home. the place we put ourselves must be good or else we risk ennui. my place may not be the best for you but i know it is for me. little b slept almost all night, a bit of a wake up around 3 but nothing too long. then the 5 am wake up when i was getting dressed.

a couple of good days, yesterday was too warm, the roads were slushy and the dirt roads sloppy. tim and i got in about an hour or so before i had to get home to get to a meeting about a proposed house on top of the hill above my house. the house would be a blight on an otherwise unspoiled bit of wilderness. the house wasn't passed but as the architect told me today it will pass when they sue, more redtape to sift through. i guess you can't really beat the rich, it just kind of sux to have them f up the wilderness. the public hearing was very interesting, i never attended one before, it was oddly fascinating. when the issue is so contentious the crowd shows up with well prepared remarks. well, at least some of them had well-prepared remarks. it finally snowed tonight, we'll see if it's worth a piss tomorrow. we really need the snow, the roads are almost clear, a few feet would be great, at least tomorrows commute will be fun with some fresh stuff.