Back To Classic

With all of the fresh snow, the workout of the day was 1 hour 45 minutes of classic skiing at Lake Elmo. I'd rather be biking now but the tracks were really good so skiing was a good option. Tommy Bengel, Bill Stuber and his brother Joe joined me for the skiing. Jerry Engen and Lori Belz skied too but they went at their own pace. Bike Radio is back on tommorrow from 5pm to 6pm. Tune in at www.macalester.edu/wmcn. Click on the radio to bring up the live streaming.

Between Seasons

Today, the after work workout was a 22 mile ride through West Lakeland, Lake Elmo, Bayport, Lakeland and Afton. I rode the Redline Conquest on those east metro roads. Unlike riding in Saint Paul right now, the roads were clear. This time of year between the ski and bike season is always interesting. Snow one day, clear a few days later...

Bike Radio Begins

We had the first episode of Bike Radio yesterday at the famed and storied Macalester College Radio Station aka, the Mighty Mac. Ambrose Riegel and I covered several topics including Electric Dura Ace, singlespeeds and spring bike maintenace. Next weeks show will be about race officiating so make sure you dial in at 5pm Sunday to www.macalester.edu/wmcn for all the fun. Just click the boom box and the station will come up. Oh yeah, if you live within three blocks of Macalester, you can tune in to 91.7fm.

The Big Birkie

Saturday the 21st was the American Birkiebeiner cross country ski race from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin. I started out next to Tom Bengel and Mike Brumbaugh with a few other guys around us like Craig Ruud and Ron Lowrie. When the cannon went off for the first wave we took off on our way to Hayward on the skate course. Mike and I passed Tommy fairy early and then skied up and down the powerline to the first feed station. I grabbed a feed but Mike kept going. That was the end of me trying to hang with him. Right after the feed, I caught up to John Fitzgerald, Dale Thompson, Jeff Arndt and Andy Wood. I skied with those guys all the way to Double OO which is the half-way point. They were kicking my butt up the hills but I always managed to catch back on on the downhills. I was pretty much at my limit. Those big hills the first half of the race really are hard on me. Andy Wood and Jeff Arndt got ahead of me before Double OO. Once we got past it though I skied the kilometer to the top of the big downhill. Fitzgerald and Thompson were with me at that point but once we got down the hill, I took off and left them behind. The second half of the race suits me much better as the hills are smaller, more rolling and there is a lot more downhill. I caught up to Steve Sands and followed him for a few kilometers. We caught Andy Wood's group and drafted off them for a while which was fine with me. Then, Sands went around them so I followed him. I was happy to draft off Sands until a lone skier passed us. I decided to follow that guy and thought Sands would follow but he didn't. I followed that guy and was with him when Mike Meyers and Bjorn Daehlie came by leading the classic race. We couldn't stay with them but we kept going. I followed him until the Mosquito Brook feed station. I got a feed from Henry Wisnewski before the feed station so I kept going. Past the feed station is another big climb. I got up that one and then passed Jeff Arndt who was struggling along. Next up was Bitch Hill. I did my usual single sticking to the top and passed Clay Diggins who was slowing down. I kept hammering to the next group and decided to draft a while. About thirty seconds later, another guy comes around us so I went with him. We paced ourselves up the last big climb and then I passed him on the downhill run to Lake Hayward. I hooked up with a couple of Wave 2 guys who were cruising along. Hey, I'm an elite skier on the lakes! I followed them and passed John Jerecek and then a few more skiers on Main Street to the finish. My time was 300:56 and I was 591st. Last year I was in the 700s so dropping seven pounds from last year really helped. Dropping ten more pounds would get me to the weight of my fastest Birkies several years ago. Not sure how much the extra years of age would slow me down though. Check out the picture taken by Bruce Adelsman of www.skinnyski.com. Maybe I should get a new race suit...

Birkie Warm-up

Tom Bengel, John Wyland and I went for a 40 minute Birkie warm-up skate ski on the Telemark Trails on Friday the 20th. After that, we went to the Demo area and then inside to the industry booths.

Bike Radio

Steve Cannon, one of the famed show hosts of the WCCO Radio glory years, never took phone calls from the listeners. He said; "If you want to be on the radio, get your own show!" Well, that's exactly what I did. Bike Radio debuts Sunday on the Mighty Mac, Macalester College Radio Station from 5 to 6pm. That will be the regular time slot and the show will continue right through the end of the semester. Unless you live within a few blocks of the station, it will be hard to pick up the signal at 91.7 FM WMCN. However, like all things today, the station has a web presence. Just go to; www.macalester.edu/wmcn and click on the boom box or on listen. The website will be up and running by show time.

First Outside Ride Of The Year

I finally got the bike out for my first outside bike ride of the year. I've done a lot of cross country skiing and I biked once on the trainer and rode around the basement for 2 miles earlier. Anyway, I rode east on Summit and then went up the High Bridge and then continued on into West Saint Paul. I got in 14 miles.

Trolling...

Bill Stuber and I went up to the famed and storied Troll Hollow xc ski area with man made snow at the Trollhaugen ski area. We got in 2 hours of skate skiing climbing hills and cruising the whole trail system. There weren't a lot of people out so it was easy to get around.

Back To Lake Elmo

The big Saturday workout was more skiing at Lake Elmo Park Reserve. The place is still a skating rink but I managed to find a few sections of snow where I could get a skate edge. I went on to Eagle Point Lake too. That was glare ice except for a few windblown areas of snow. After that, I took out the rollerskis for some more skating. I got in 1 hour.

Mist, Sleet And Snow

I found one of the few patches of snow left in the Twin Cities when I went out to Lake Elmo Park Reserve for some skate skiing. There were some fair stretches as I made my way around the skate loop. However, I had to portage around several ponds right on the trail. My feet got wet but as long as I kept moving I was okay. Some sections of trail were complete ice too. Mist, sleet and snow came down the whole time. After I finished the loop, I grabbed the rollerskis and cruised the roads for some more training. The total time was 1 hour.

MCF GSCA Bike Swap At The NTDC

The big MCF/GSCA Bike Swap at the NTDC in Blaine to raise funds for the Velodrome was held today and it was huge. Tons of peeps were on hand selling stuff and many more showed up for some fantastic deals. One guy got a set of Ksyrium Elite Wheels for $100. Another got a brand new and beautiful Orbea road frame with carbon seat stays for $200. I bought a couple of things but mainly I sold a bunch of stuff including a road bike, track frame, carbon bars, stems, pumps, jerseys, shorts, pedals, derailleurs and much more. Bill Stuber and Rob Belz shared my table and sold a parts too. Bill sold a new Stumpjumper frame among his items. John O'Connell showed up and hung out at our table for a couple of hours. It was a great time. Check out the picture of the table.

Getting Faster

The Pre Birkie was the race of the day on Saturday, February 7th. I did the first ever 43K race at the event. I figured I could use the extra kilometers. Anyway, I had a much better race than last week at the City of Lakes Loppet. I place 84th with a time of 2:30:35. My weight was down about 4 pounds so that probably helped. The group I skied with was about eight minutes faster than me last week. John Wyland's time was 2:43 and Barry Torgerson came in at 2:48. Lori Belz raced the 26K event. I followed Marian Delaney the whole way as did a bunch of other guys. She set an awesome pace. At the finish, I was the only skier in our pack who was still with her.

All Together Now

We had our biggest group ski of the season as Jerry Engen, Lori Belz, Rob Belz, Tom Bengel, Steve Clancey, John Wyland and I skied the famed and storied Comenkollen. The total time on snow was 1 hour 40 minutes. After that we headed over to Sweeny's for a few beers and some food. We missed the twenty five cent tacos by three minutes...

Good Grooming

Good grooming is always welcomed. This is especially true when it comes to ski trails. Hats off to the peeps at the famed and storied Comenkollen for the fabulous grooming job after cold temps turned the weekend melt into ice. I got in a little over 1 hour of skate skiing and I was joined by Mike Brumbaugh for a lap. He hammered me so I was glad he took off early.

Paris-Roubaix On A Cold Winter Day

Back on the trainer! I popped the '08 Paris-Roubaix tape into the VCR and watched Boonen win the race all over again... I got in 1 hour and I'm calling it 12 trainer miles...

Get Rid Of Those Hills!

I raced the City of Lakes Loppet 35K skate cross country ski race today. Starting in the second wave, I probably finished in the middle of the wave at the finish. Maybe I've been doing too much classic skiing but I didn't ski as fast as I wanted to. Of course, I never seem to do well in the City of Lakes race. There are way too many uphills for my liking... It's called the City of Lakes Loppet so shouldn't it be on the lakes entirely? I skied fast on the lakes and the downhills... My time was 1:57.22 and I was 276th out of 840. Ouch! Bruce Adelsman took this picture of me leading a pack across Cedar Lake. The other picture from Bruce might illustrate why I'm not skiing as fast as I can... "Keep training. Lycra never lies!" JT. Counting calories might be a good game plan for me too...