I cracked...

and rode my trainer! Hey, it's been one of those winters. I've been keeping busy with the gym sessions, snowshoeing, and seemingly daily snow removal. "I challenge ye to a shoveling contest!" Sorry, had to get that in there. But anyway, when my buddy Craig asked if I wanted to come over and do a sufferfest video, I said sure, what the hell.

I've done more spinervals workouts than I care to admit and I will say Coach Troy is a good motivator. But I was willing to give this a shot. After warming up with an episode of Family Guy on hulu it was time to get down to bi-ness as they say in the more non-rural areas. The workout was "The Hunted" and I was immediately taken aback by how interactive it was. It honestly felt at times like I was Robert Gesink. (Well, maybe if I was 5" taller and 20 lbs lighter.) The first part of the workout was 10 minutes of tempo followed by a 20 minute climb with some over/under efforts and at the end were some reverse intervals done like this: 10 sec full gas/50 sec recovery, 20 sec on/40 sec recovery, and so on until the last two (which hurt) were 50s/10 and then the whole 60s at full gas. I highly recommend these videos if you're really hurting (like I was) to spin the pedals. They are WAY better than Spinervals and if you can get a group together, all the better. I just got my wireless internet straightened out at the house so if you want to come over to the Combes torture chamber and do one with me, hit me up. After all, it's still only January...

Desperate times call for desperate measures, sure, but riding outside trumps the trainer any day. One could argue that you're constantly pedaling while on the trainer, but to be honest I pretty much ride like I'm on a fixie anyway (I know, I know, CB2) so that advantage is effectively eliminated. Trainer workouts have their place- probably more so in the recovery ride realm. I honestly don't have any flat routes near me. It's all good when you're in the heat of battle in the Strava climbing competition, but if you're just looking to spin the legs, the trainer is where it's at. I think overall you lose your sense of exertion on the trainer. If you don't have the luxury of one of these, then you don't really know how hard you're working. Sure you can wear a HR monitor but HR is more of a response to the power needs of the legs. In other words, the elevation of HR is purely autonomic: You don't will your heart to beat faster. The heart beats faster in response to the physiological needs of the body. Another important positive of riding outside is exposure to light. At least for me, to get outside helps minimize seasonal affect disorder. The end of November and into December sucks when it's starting to get dark at 4:00. We've turned the corner in a big way in that regard. On a non-cloudy day, the sun is still decent until 5:00 now.

I took the Nokian Hakapeliittas off last night and threw on the Michelin Mud2s for the ride today. What a difference dropping over a pound of weight (per wheel) makes! At times it felt like I was flying compared to the Nokians. It's funny how your body and mind get used to something. Had I been running slicks, the Mud2s would have felt slow. It makes me wonder why racers train on ultra light bikes. Ego, I guess. I'll never forget showing up to a fast group ride last Spring and getting dropped like a bad habit. Needless to say, I didn't show up with that bike again. I might ride my 24 lb winter beater more this Spring though, so that my 21.5 lb mtb feels light.

On the weight loss front, I've managed to dump 2 lbs already. Hey, a kilo is a kilo. I've got to get in shape for my little Spring training trip with Hilljunkie. We're headed to Tucson for a solid 7 days of riding. This will be my first bike centric trip. I'm looking forward to riding, eating, and sleeping my face off. I guess we're going to drive north a bit and hit Sedona as well. You can check out the latest scenery there on Sue Haywood's blog. 6 weeks away and would you believe it, a mere 9 weeks until Hopbrook Dam which will undoubtedly be a mudfest. Get your ass riding!