This snow event was full of work drama again. Both Shannon and I got to stay home the first day as both clinics closed for the day. It was our first ever snow day from work together. We had fun playing around the farm and even did a little sledding on the trash can lid. We really need to go buy a real sled.
Not a single track in the backyard this morning
The ice couldn't keep the geese out of the pond. They made swim tracks all through the ice.
View from the back of the farm
Creek in the woods
Shannon cruising on the trash can lid
Me doing a little sledding
The snow was deep in a few places so we started piling it up to make berms for the sled. Next thing you know we have a slalom course going on the hill next to the house. It was very fun, but turned out to be quite a challenge. Every run we made packed the snow better and made us go faster. We kept having to add to the berms because we kept gaining speed and would shoot right over the berms.
Video: Sledding with the GoPro
Last weekend, we took a quick road trip to Indianapolis. Shannon went up a day earlier than me, visiting with her family and going to a church convention. I came up to see the Monster Energy Supercross at Lucas Oil Stadium. The stadium is usually home to the Indianapolis Colts football team, but this week it was filled with dirt. I drove up Saturday with my parents. My Mom has really been into Supercross the past few years. It was past time for her to see one live. I find it funny that she is more hooked on Supercross than my Dad, considering he raced dirt bikes throughout the 80s and early-90s. That's what's wrong with me. I was at races before birth, breathing Turbo Blue exhaust in the womb.
Lucas Oil Stadium
Lucas Oil Stadium is a monster building. I don't think there is a bad seat in that place. We had a good time watching the race. The course was a tough one with several tricky rhythm sections and some big whoops. Those sections provided plenty of spills and plenty of awe. It was amazing to see the lines the top riders were able to take. You really could see the skill difference between the top six or seven guys and the guys running 15th. My favorite riders are Eli Tomac and Ryan Dungey. Tomac won his heat race, then fell early in the main event. Dungey is the current series points leader and he did not disappoint, taking the win in the main by a large margin. Dungey lapped Tomac after his fall, but little Eli was able to keep up with Dungey all the way to the end. Tomac showed he is definitely one to watch in the future. I can't help but cheer for him. His father, John Tomac, is one of the nicest guys on the planet...and he happens to be one of the biggest legends in mountain biking history. He is one of the riders I look up to. John was one of the few riders ever who could win the Downhill events on Saturday, then ride away to the XC wins on Sunday. The guy had skills and legs.
View from our seats
Pre-race festivities
Video: Some clips from our point of view.
Video: Highlights of the 450 SX Main Event
After the race, we drove back to Bloomington to stay the night, then got up early so we could drive back towards home to make it to Stake Conference for church. Shannon has been singing with the choir and they sang a few songs during Conference so we really wanted to be back so she could participate. It was a quick trip, but definitely worth the loss of sleep.
Spring is here for sure. As soon as the last snow melted you could see the grass beginning to green up. Only the buttercups have bloomed, but the trees are covered with buds. Green woods will soon be upon us! We have been working hard to prepare for our garden. We have seedlings growing in our back room. Everything has been doing well with the exception of our peppers. We planted six different kinds of peppers and only one kind sprouted. I guess I will be planting more peppers soon. The goal is to get them into Dina's new greenhouse next week where they can beef up before time to put them in the ground. We dug up our carrots that have been growing all winter under the snow. They were much bigger than our previous crops and tasted much, much better.
Bigger, better carrots this year
With warmer weather comes the race season. This is the first year the off-season has flown by for me. I guess the injury had me working hard and wanting more time. The Smashville Crit. got postponed, which was fine with me since I was going to skip it anyway. My season opener is just two days away now at Chickasaw. I am excited and scared at the same time. I've made some big gains over the past two weeks, but I am still only about 85% of being all the way over this gastroc injury. My speed is coming back nicely, and I think I have more power now than in the past, but my endurance is lacking. I think I will be able to put down some decent laps, but I don't think I have three fast laps of mountain bike racing in my legs yet. We shall see on Sunday.
Last week, I did a big ride to test the leg. It was a 55-mile loop on the road that is very hilly. Most of the hills are steep, some topping 18% gradients. I did better than good on the ride. I crushed my personal best by almost 15 minutes and set new personal bests on two of the climbs during the loop. The next day, I did a long, slow day. The legs felt recovered, but the gastroc was feeling the day before. I had some pain before the end of the ride, which added to my misery. I rode all four hours in the cold rain. Sometimes it was a brutal downpour. I kept chugging out the miles with motivation from a road name. I passed by J. Bourne Rd. It could not be a coincidence that I passed by J. (think Jason) Bourne Rd, on an epic rain ride while doing secret ninja training. I kept an eye out for C. Norris road, but didn't see that one.
Shannon did some massage when I got home and the pain in my leg went away quickly. Like the last time I had pain, I think it was more fatigue-related than muscle spasm due to injury. I did a similar set of rides this week with no pain on the second day. I'm seeing improvements almost daily, but I'm still on the leash a little more than I would like to be.
My speed has been surprising to say the least. I set a new personal best on my favorite training climb this week. I was off by a single second last week when I tried it for the first time. I hit it again this week and was one second quicker than the record. That hill has always been my test to see if I'm race-ready. If I can climb it in under 2:35 and put my heart rate over 190, I'm in pretty good shape. I clocked a 2:29 this week and hit 191 heart rate. Maybe my form isn't as bad as I originally thought.
I have two other concerns about Chickasaw. I have not been on any mountain bike since November. If I was ever going to get injured, this was the year to do it. The weather has just been terrible for mountain biking. Not to mention my bike has been broken. I finally got it fixed. The frame has been epoxied and looks good. I think now I have done about everything on a bike except fully build a wheel and service a rear shock. I'm hoping to get in a ride tomorrow to test the bike a bit before subjecting it to a race. It needs to be tested and I need to break the rust off my skills. I'm sure the weather has affected everyone so I'm likely to be one of many dusting off the cobwebs this weekend.
My other concern is my weight. I reported in the last blog that I had gained some weight despite my efforts to maintain. I think some of it is from lifting weights regularly for the first time in my life, but I also know this new ice cream machine is a curse. I'm a bit above my goal for this point in the Spring, but I am confident I will drop these last few pounds in the coming weeks as I begin to log more miles outside and become more active off the bike. I still have some work to do to get my legs right. I'm hoping the weight will be where I want it when the legs are finally 100%. I'm aiming for good form in late-April and even better form by the end of May. It looks like most of my bigger races for this season will be later in the season so I'm not in too much of a hurry right now.
Look for a report from the race sometime next week. The weather looks good now, but if it comes another monsoon like in recent years I will not be racing. My gastroc is definitely not ready for a long slog in the mud. And I'm not putting my brand new bearings through the slop just yet. Thanks for reading and pray for a dry race!
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