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Every race turns to shit...


redkow97
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NEOCX final round in November, 2016 - an inch of snow fell during the race, and the course was a sloppy mess.  The cat 4/5 course was shortened so we could complete more than 2 laps...  I had fun, but it was miserably cold, and the weather reduced my 3x8 to 1x2 before I could complete a lap. 

Fat bike race in January, 2017 - cancelled due to lack of snow.  The golf course hosting would have been destroyed.  Soft ground with no snowcover.

Road Apple Roubaix 3/4/17 - Cold again.  Sloppy again.  Fun, but still cold and wet.

OMBC season opener at Mohican.  3/18/17 - rescheduled for 4/22/17, due to freezing/thawing conditions.

 

On top of that, I have been able to ride my local trail exactly ONE time on my 'new' bike.  I'm hoping to get an hour or so in tonight now that the time change puts sun-down after dinner, but damn it's cold...

/rant

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This winter has been lousy for off road cycling. Although RAR was pretty much what you can expect for a late Feb/early March gravel ride. Its been better but its also been worse (although you probably would have had more fun on the fatbike in the first years conditions). 

I was hoping with this recent snow I might get a fatbike ride around the local park. However the 4" of snow we had Tuesday afternoon turned to 18+" by later that evening. No chance of riding in stuff that deep. Instead I got to use my snow shoes for the first time in 2 years. I might be able to ride the path tonight that I shoed last night but by the weekend it is likely to be a slushy mess. Looking at the forecast it is probably a couple weeks before I can ride a trail again.

If it would stay below freezing for a while I can either snow bike or ride frozen trails. Or if it was dry for a while I can ride trails. But the freeze/thaw and rain or snow leaves everything a mess. :(

   

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it's just frustrating... I may end up on my ancient spin bike tonight.  No computer.  manual resistance adjustment.  not even a timer...

 

At least I have an iPad and multiple episodes of The Grand Tour.  I do an 'interval' workout where I turn up the resistance when the show is buffering :p

 

I'm looking at an endurance race in mid May right now.  Brady Run or something?  It's near PIRC, and there is a 3-hour fat tire division.  It's really a 6-hour race.  I'll do the first hour on a trails I've never seen, then try to up my pace for the second hour, and maintain for the third.  We'll see how that works out...

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58 minutes ago, redkow97 said:

At least I have an iPad and multiple episodes of The Grand Tour.  I do an 'interval' workout where I turn up the resistance when the show is buffering :p

Depending internet connection thats either awesome or has got to suck lol.

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3 hours ago, redkow97 said:

it's just frustrating... I may end up on my ancient spin bike tonight.  No computer.  manual resistance adjustment.  not even a timer...

 

At least I have an iPad and multiple episodes of The Grand Tour.  I do an 'interval' workout where I turn up the resistance when the show is buffering :p

 

I'm looking at an endurance race in mid May right now.  Brady Run or something?  It's near PIRC, and there is a 3-hour fat tire division.  It's really a 6-hour race.  I'll do the first hour on a trails I've never seen, then try to up my pace for the second hour, and maintain for the third.  We'll see how that works out...

Wow you are going all in on the cycling!!! :bow:

Are you signing up for the Mohican 100 also?

The Brady's Run MTB trail looks pretty good, and is actually closer to me than Mohican. I may have to try the trail this spring.

 

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No 100 this year, but that is a long-term goal.  Would be a fun thing to be able to say I've done it.  I may never do it again, or I may gravitate toward endurance events.

I want to find out what I'm good at before I commit too hard to any particular type of competition, but it's also a matter of what's available (somewhat) locally.  It's also a lot about getting stir-crazy right now... I may not be so high on racing once the trails are open, and I can just go out and ride for fun.

As for the Brady's Run race, I know I can pedal a fat bike for 3+ hours on the RAR course.  Obviously an XC loop will take more effort, but it's also a lot more entertaining.  And the fact that there's a class explicitly for fat tires levels the playing field, so I can see where I really measure up.  Psychologically, I need (and enjoy) having something to train for.  I did a couple of Tough Mudder events in 2013, and I got in pretty good shape as a result.  They start the event in waves, separated by 20 minutes.  We were in the third wave of the day, and were catching up to some people from the first wave.  My friend and I had trained by doing a 1.5 mile running trail with a pull-up bar and and a push-up station at the bottom of the hill.  We would do that loop up to 8 times in a row, doing pull-ups and pushups to failure after each lap.  I never would have attempted that if I weren't training for something. 

If you're nice, I'll post sexy shirtless pics.

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Welcome to bike riding in NEO...

I started using trainerroads this winter and have enjoyed it a lot. Coming from someone who hated riding on a trainer previous seasons. Im OK with the thought of hitting the trainer hard Oct-April and being fast in May!

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4 hours ago, jhawk said:

Welcome to bike riding in NEO...

I started using trainerroads this winter and have enjoyed it a lot. Coming from someone who hated riding on a trainer previous seasons. Im OK with the thought of hitting the trainer hard Oct-April and being fast in May!

BKXC interviewed one of their guys a couple of times. Seems like a great training program, but I think I'll use Zwift if I go that route.  Just more fun, and that's what it's all about (for now?)

I am debating how serious I can be about this whole thing... I'd like to be competitive in whatever category my natural abilities land me, but I'm also more likely to be 'happy' with second-to-last in cat 2 versus fighting for podiums in cat 3.

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