New Bike and Inaugural Ride

It is always exciting to get a new bike, and I've done just that.  I got the previously mentioned Felt Nine 20 and took it for a ride today.  There are a couple things I realized when I got on the trails that I have known in the past, but forgotten over time.  I love mountain biking and 29ers roll over things they have no business being able to roll over.  I found my technical skills to be a little bit rusty in very tight or rocky areas, but overall I was content with how things went considering I haven't owned or ridden a mountain  bike in over a year.  On top of that, riding through a smooth, rolling section of singletrack is probably one of the most fun things I can imagine doing.  So I definitely have no buyers remorse, but I was reminded that keeping a pristine mountain bike is more or less impossible since rocks, etc can catch cranks or wheels quite easily.  I know it is nerdy, but I briefly stopped and took a picture while on the trail, so here it is.

New tires and a tubeless setup are priority 1, which should be complete by next week.  Then new wheels will probably happen by next year. 

Other than 29er stuff, I don't have much going on (literally).  I'm in a phase of my dissertation where I make edits and additions and then send it to my committee.  My committee currently has it and are hopefully reading it, but in the meantime I'm twiddling my thumbs.  So aside from riding and running, I've been doing some painting at our new house.  I'm sure my wife Michelle is envious or annoyed with my lax schedule, but that is why I am pursuing a PhD rather than an MD (like her).  So she should probably get used to it!  She is getting absolutely abused in her residency at KU, so I do feel bad for her.  Waking up at 4 something every morning and not getting home until 7 or 8 is just crazy, and that is exactly what she has been doing.

Another post? Yes, I'm bored.

Well my planned 2 week hiatus from the bike was cut short last week.  I think I made it to about 10 days before I was about to go completely crazy, so I'm now riding again.  I'm also running quite a bit (at least quite a bit for me) since at this point I'll be doing a few half marathons this spring.  I thought it would be a fun change of pace, but now I'm somewhat regretting signing up since I want to run enough to prepare myself to get a decent time, I want to bike enough to get a solid base in and be fit enough to do some mountain bike races this spring and summer, and I want to avoid doing too much and making myself suck at everything from overtraining.  I just don't know if balancing everything is possible, but I guess triathletes are doing a lot more than I am and getting away with it so maybe I can do the same.  Honestly I've always thought triathlons sounded fun, but I don't think they allow doggy paddling in the swimming portion so I guess those are out for me.

My current plan is to continue getting faster than normal base miles in for the next week or so and then dial the miles back and intensity up for a week since I'll be doing the second Wintery Mix CX series race on 2/3.  I'm assuming the fields will be smaller than I'm used to, but since cross is my favorite I'm just trying to stretch the season out as long as possible.  Then back to running and riding a lot.

I can pretty much guarantee I won't be posting this often in the future, but I had some thoughts I wanted to document.  It's been an interesting few days for me.  I'm currently on a forced 2 week hiatus from riding bicycles, so that is sort of driving me crazy.  I'm getting a good amount of running in, but it isn't quite the same.  I just want to force myself to get in a good recovery from cyclocross season before I start to work on building a solid base for this year.  Speaking of that, I'd love to give major thanks to a certain individual (a state champion) who has recently given me some great training advice, but I don't want to openly say his name or else people might start riding him for advice.  I say that as if people actually read this blog (ha!), but just in case I'll leave it out.  But in the event that you stumble across this you know who you are and I appreciate it.

I started playing indoor soccer again last night.  It was actually a pretty frustrating experience because the game was at 11:15, which is usually a point where I'm already sound asleep in my bed.  Also frustrating was the fact that the other team failed to show up.  They signed up for the league and this was the first game of the year, so it's not like they didn't know about it.  But my team still played pickup games with some random people, so all was not lost.  Surprisingly I can still play well enough to hold my own, so I can put those worries to bed.  At the location they had a soda machine that I couldn't help but take a picture of (see below).  The old school kit and bike along with the intensity on the guy's face was enough to give me a chuckle.  It must be from the 1990s.

The last thing I'll talk about is my new mountain bike that is currently on its way.  I haven't had one in a couple years, but I decided now is the time to blow all that is left of my bike fund since I now live in close proximity to several trails.  I decided to go with the Felt Nine 20.  It's not exactly the lightest rocketship race bike in the world, but it's got a solid component group (full XT) and frankly aluminum isn't THAT heavy, so I'm content with it.  I also know of some local riders who have done pretty well in races on aluminum bikes of their own, so it is not impossible.  The only thing I plan on doing is upgrading the wheels ASAP and getting some new tires on it.  I've been hearing good things about certain Maxxis tires, so that will be my likely choice.  I'll almost certainly participate in some 3 hour races this spring, so I'm looking forward to it.  Speaking of blowing my bike fund, I'm chomping at the bit to finally complete my PhD and get a real job.  Not having to save every bit of money I get for my birthday, Christmas, robbing banks (JOKE!), or whatever will be so nice.  Anyway, details on the bike are at the link below.

http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2013/Mountain/Nine-Series/Nine-20.aspx

Intro

This is not my first attempt at maintaining a blog, but I'm giving it another shot to document all things biking in my life, as well as other random topics interspersed.  I'm currently a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri - St. Louis working towards my degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.  The ultimate goal is to become a college professor, which conveniently I just found out is the least stressful job there is according to some list.  Excellent!

To biking matters... I am in the midst of wrapping up the 2012 cyclocross season.  After having lots of success in singlespeed races last year, I came into this season thinking I could do at least fairly decent in the open category, which is where the fastest riders race.  How wrong I was!  Apparently not really having a training regimen throughout the year or racing before cyclocross season is not a great plan for success.  I got my teeth kicked in numerous times until I decided I'm not quite ready for the open category, but I also don't want to sandbag and drop down the the next category down.  Thus, I've been focusing on singlespeed events again to wrap up the year and I've had similar success to last year picking up a few wins along the way.  I guess the bottom line is that training is crucial, which is why after a short break of a couple weeks I'll be starting a regimen to build a solid base this year and get ready for mountain bike races this spring and summer.  With  this plan and the sour memories of this year's open category races to fuel me, I'm hoping for much better results next season.