"Hey Zach, What's going on?"

Well let me start off by saying that I've been trying my best to keep things rolling as the new year starts to get some age into its skin. I've been clocking time on "the bike that does not move" and been trying my best to get out into the sun when it's not too cold.

But how cold is too cold? Here lately it has been anything under 35F. Yes, I know that in December I braved 16F, but I've come to realize that I can control my workout so much better when I'm on the trainer. 

This is my typical Weeknight Trainer Workout set up.

So I've been completing  all of my week night rides on my trusty wind trainer. But there are issues with the trainer I have. For one I have to start my ride before 5pm to insure I complete my rides before my neighbors get home at 6pm. The most annoying thing about the wind trainer (in combination with my current gearing) is that as I'm getting stronger, it becomes harder (if not imposable) to get the resistance I'm looking for. O well, First World Issues.

I can say, without a doubt, that I'm currently more focused on improving my fitness than I've ever been. This includes my time training for the "Junior Olympics" in Judo. (There may be just a handful of people who know how scary that actually is) I've been getting my workouts in on a regular biases, I've started to clean up my diet, and I'm starting to get to bed early enough to get in 9 hr of sleep. I'm enjoying the struggle and the fitness gains I'm starting to see. I'm about a month away from kicking off my session and I am looking forward to having a packed March/April.

There have been 2 rides of note during this new year. You remember me saying that I rode for 21hr over 8 day with only 5 rides. Well I really did get in that much time, during the time of the year that most people are enjoying time with their families and getting fat. I knew it would take a toll on me, but I did not know how long it would take me to recover to a "normal" state. I took 5 days off the bike before getting back into training. I felt fine during my "weekday rides of no movement" and thought I was fully recovered on that Saturday.

Well that was not true, as I found out in a very painful way. I decided to do the TBR Saturday ride and quickly realized that my fatigue was on a much deeper level that had I realized. As soon as we left town I was struggling just to stay in the draft. What was going on?  It only took 15 mins and my HR was way over my LT, my legs and lungs where burning and I started having cold sweets. Not a good sign. My legs were not tired in a normal since, it was a DEAP stress like I've never experienced. It felt like my bones where hurting, the muscles down deep by the bones where still overly stressed.

Hurting bad up a hill early on the ride. Thanks Robin for the Photo.

Some-how I stuck with the group (we had a few regroups) and I started to feel allot better. I actually started to feel "normal" during the last 45 min of the ride. Boy what a relief.

One of the many regroups. Again, Thanks Robin for the Photo.

The next day I woke up sick, probably the most sick I've been since I moved to NWA. I knew it was time for a brake and took the day off. It took me a long time to do anything more than lay on the couch, even then it was little more than doing a load of laundry. 

Flash forward a week and I got invited to the most elite MTB group ride I've ever been on. I was worried that the same deep, lingering stress would slow me down. Well it was not too big of an issue on this ride. Yes I could feel the stress in my legs, but it did not slow me down this time. As we took off, I quickly realized that this was going to be a fast hard ride. I was playing jump-rope with my LT HR right from the start. After about an hr, my body started to come around. I was no longer off the back into no mans land., instead I was having to give myself space to see and react to the trail as the person in front of me cleared objects. After 2 hr of riding the group called it quits, I had something left in the tank, but felt like I had just finished a XC race in the heat!

Having fun between the rocks!

Then Sunday, Heath took me out to Lake Leatherwood. Man, those trails are so awesome!  We took it easy, but looking at Strava we were still moving along at a good clip. After 4 hr on the trails it was time to call it a weekend. Just last month, a weekend like this would not be possible. One hard ride a week was all I could handle. Now I'm able to put out high power for those short rides, and still be able to do a good, quick endurance ride the next day.

Almost home! Just one more down hill!

To me, I see that as results! Big results in small ways, but everything should add up to a fast, fun, and jam packed year of racing.   

BTW if you want to keep track of the rides the fast people in Fayetteville are doing go check out Robin's Blog.

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.

2013 In Review

I know I'm late on this bandwagon, and I have been lazy about blogging lately. Can't promise that I'll be blogging more, but I can try.

So to understand where 2013 stared, I must first recap 2012. The first half of 2012 I was on a no PT profile during my last 5 months of training at Ft Gordon, GA. During this time I gained nearly 25 lbs. I hit my all time high weight at 163 lb during that time. Once I was home I tried my best to get back in to cycling, but found it very hard to start cycling in a area that I knew very little about. In July I moved to Fayetteville, and started to get my head screwed on straight.

But as soon as I started to enjoy cycling again I had to move back to Little Rock. After getting accepted into school and moving, I was told that I could not use my education benefits the way I had planned. This started the downward spiral of spending all day applying for jobs, interviewing for jobs, and being left on the hook. I was starting to get really depressed by my situation.

But then 2013 started! What a change of course! I finial started working again, and  started back down the road to being a bicycle racer! At first it was just riding 1 or 2 hr on Saturday and Sunday. But at least I was hungry to get fast again. In late February I did my first race in nearly 2 years. The Crosswinds Classic Road 

Race down in Little Rock. A mid pack finish after only 30ish hr back on the bike was not too bad!

Then came March, I went to the Spa City 6 hr to be a pit boy for one of my close friends. Being back in that atmosphere really  reignited my desire to race long distance MTB races. After the race ended I drove to Fayetteville and found a safe place park my car. I bought my new car with one thing in mind, it had to be big enough for me to sleep in the back. That night proved it could be done, but I might need to change some things before I do it again.

Why was I in Fayetteville? To race Hells Kitchen. With maybe 50 hr into my legs this was a very bad decision. I was dropped from the pack on the first climb of the day. I pulled myself from that race, and it became my first ever DNF by choice.

In April I decided to go to Memphis for the Crank It Up Mountain Bike Omnium. This was my first time doing an Omnium on the MTB. And boy was it fun, I did not do too well but had a blast!

Thank you  Brickhouseracing.com for the photo.

In May I attended Cane Creek at Timberland. Again, very little time on the bike, but trying it out anyways.  I defiantly bit off more than I could chew.  5th out of 7, but I felt bad all day long.

 In June my unit went AT, but just before we left, I traveled up to Fayetteville for an interview. During my time in Fayetteville, in the summer of 2012, I fell in love with NWA. So with that in mind, my search for a job in NWA never ended. I was offered a position and jumped at the opportunity. Best decision of the year!

Once in Fayetteville I stared to ride a lot more! It was just so easy to go do a group rides, or ride the MTB right out my front door! It was at this time that I sat down and decided to race Skool Of Hard Nox 50. I set my mind to training for that race and never looked back.

September was a good month for me, despite my explosion atSkool Of Hard Nox. I finished that race 7th overall and only 15 min off my goal time. Then came the NWA Championships/Devils Den race. 3rd in my category with enough left in the tank to do another lap.

In mid October I bought my new bike, a 2014 Epic Comp! A review of it is forth coming. Over the past 3ish months I have put over 600 miles into this new bike, including several KOM around Fayetteville (Heath has taken them all away now).

 In November I raceAttila the Hun down in Hot Springs. I made a mess of the race and have not been happy about it.

That just leaves my snow adventures in December. And my mini "Hell Training block" I finished during the last week of the year. It consisted on 21 hr on the bike, and 20000 ft of climbing in only 5 rides!

I took a picture exactly like this (same location and everything) in 2009, only 6 months after starting to ride MTB. I'm sad I cant find that photo to do a side by side. 

So here's to 2014, and what will it have in store for me. I'm not sure exactly what will happen, but I do have some aggressive plans.  My early session goals are as follows:

Finish in under:

Iron Mountain Endurance Race                          4:45 hr

Ouachita Challenge Race                                   5 hr

Slobber Knocker                                               4:45 hr

Syllamo's Revenge                                             5 hr

And complete 7 laps at the Spa City 6 hr.

I'm throwing around the ideal of also racing Rouge Roubaix and Tour De Hills, but nothing is firm yet.

Late session was going to be focused on racing XC, but the current AMBCS schedule places most of the races on Guard Drill weekends.  So I'm thinking about looking at doing some road racing along with some more endurance MTB races. I'm currently considering Berryman Trail Epic, Skool Of Hard Nox 50, and the 100 Miler on Oak Mountain. 

Long shadows late in the year. Good by 2013, hello 2014!

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.