So you want your wife to ride…

Generally speaking I like to think I’m a wonderful husband – kind, loving, romantic, caring, generous, the list goes on and on ;-) However, despite my almost unending list of wonderful qualities, it seemed that teaching/coercing a love of mountain biking out my wife was something I did not have the skills for.

Sure I got her out a couple times, and I think she even managed to have fun for a couple of minutes, but somehow I was unable to instill the joy that would keep her coming back for more.

Though there are many benefits to getting your wife on a bike, the main motivator for me was the fact that I really like riding a bike, and I really like spending time with my wife. If I was somehow able to combine these two things, I’d be set! I find anytime I can share a passion with my wife I enjoy it that much better.

I had originally thought that it might be fun for Kerstin and I to do a ‘camp’ together, but I knew that given our different levels of expertise we’d be put into different groups. However, during my hunt for a decent camp I ran across the Sugoi Dirt Series. It seemed like a pretty A-list camp with great instructors (including Alyson Sydor, among others) and one of the camps was conveniently located in Canmore (about 45min from our house). I decided to see if Kerstin was willing to embark on this adventure on her own. After a little bit of hesitation she agreed – a quick questionnaire and a digital swipe of the Visa later, she was set.

Now, rather than recount Kerstin’s story, I thought I’d let her put it in her own words, so without further ado:

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Stream the ‘09 Tour de California Live with TourTracker

I’m definitely a little late to the game here, and I’m not sure how I didn’t find out about this sooner, but the Amgen Tour de California is being streamed live from their site – and in a very slick fashion to boot!

Until now I had been catching up on the highlights through Versus (which is doing a great job as well – other than maybe Rasika Mathur ;-), but after my first trial of the “live” page I’m really impressed.

Other than slight hiccups and delays it’s a stellar experience (if only it came in HD). You get a large preview pane of the video coverage which you can interact with, change camera views on the fly, as well as track the riders progress through the course on a live-updated map. Also really fun, is to see the riders progress on the course elevation-profile, giving you a better understanding of the layout of the course. And of course you can check unofficial split and finish times.

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Sports Drinks vs. Water

Haymaker’s Punch, or Switchel might have been the earliest form of the ‘Sports’ drink. It was a homemade mixture of water, vinegar and molasses, popular among American ranchers during the hot, hard working haying season. Sound like something you’d want to drink on a hot day? 

Modern sports drinks have changed a lot since then, but in essence they remain the same as a water-based, sugary, salty and tart mixture that works to replenish carbohydrates, electrolytes, and various other nutrients while hydrating our bodies.

The Million Dollar Question:Do sports drinks hydrate us better than just water?

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Via the Rumor Mill – 3 Day Transrockies?

This just in via the rumor mill – I’ve gotten word that the Transrockies may be announcing 3-day packages.

Effectively riders would be able to race either the first 3, or last 3 days of the full Transrockies route. I have no details yet on whether the same support/meal/lodging options are available to people interested in the shorter route.

I’m not sure what the motivators behind offering the 3-day courses are… It could be that in light of the economy they’re noticing a sluggish uptake on registration, or it could just be a wildly addicitive Transrockies ‘primer’ for those that aren’t quite ready to commit the money, resources, or training required for a 7-day stage race. Regardless of the motivation I would imagine it will be a grand success – Much more accessible for most people, not as intimidating a race, and you still get the stellar route and support of a world-class race.

I guess we’ll wait and see!

Hydration is Not a Cup of Coffee

Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!

I’m someone who struggles with this. Ordering a glass of water in a restaurant just doesn’t come to mind for me. If it’s breakfast, I’ll order coffee. If it’s lunch, I’ll order a Coke, or a coffee. If it’s dinner, I’ll order a glass of wine, or a beer. Picking up on a pattern here? All of the above have either caffeine or alcohol in them and are diuretics. So, not only am I not hydrating throughout the day, I’m actually dehydrating myself.

I’ve known this for a long time, but I haven’t really felt a need to change my habits. If I knew I was headed out on a ride, I’d chug a big glass of water before I went out, and be sure to fill my Camelback so I’d have water on the trail. I thought this was good enough. The fact that I’d suck back 2 liters of water in the first hour, and be thirsty for more was normal. The fact that my legs started to cramp up around 2 hours was normal. The fact that my legs ached for the next day, or two, after a hard ride was normal.

And, all of that is normal, for someone in a sustained state of dehydration.

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5+2 Ways to Stay Injury Free

Once you get to the point in your training where you start to breach the threshold between “weekend warrior” and “athlete” you’re generally putting your muscles, joints, and limbs through more stress than they’re used to – especially as you get on in years like my buddy Sheldon (happy birthday buddy ;-). You end up sore more often and not recovering quite as quickly as you did when you were 18, and they just generally tend to put up a bit more of a fuss.

As your training load increases there are a number of things you can do to ensure that this increased stress doesn’t manifest itself as injury.

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January Training Diary – Sheldon

Call it New Year’s enthusiasm, but January was a banner training month.  I didn’t sign up to be a university test rat like Ken, (I’m pretty envious of the physical data he’ll have now and I’m looking into finding something similar in Edmonton) but I made a concerted effort to ‘make’ time to train more, specifically with saddle time. This month I not only upped my average ride time, but frequency as well, adding one new ride per week, taking me up to 4.

I’ve read in a few training resources that you really shouldn’t increase your ride volumes by much more than 10% per month. Needless to say I disregarded that, thinking this was just a ‘very’ general rule of thumb meant for someone else.

In January, I did the math and I increased my volumes by 50%…

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January Training Diary – Ken

If this months continues to progress as have the last three, I’m thinking I’ll actually be fairly well prepared for the upcoming season. Regardless, I’m still on pace to be in the best shape I’ve been in going into the spring… Definitely a good sign.

January has been a moderately intense training month to say the least. I volunteered for some testing at the U of C and as a result my riding volume was ramped up almost immediately. For 2 weeks I was riding twice daily, 5 times a week for 30-60min at a time, then down for two weeks where I rode 3-4 times a week for about an hour at a time, it made for some early mornings. The nice thing is that my intensities were closely monitored and I had a team of people pushing me at all points… Not to mention that as a reward for volunteering my time for this study I’ll get a very detailed report of my performance: V02 Max, lactate thresholds, HR zones, all sorts of good stuff. I’m looking forward to taking all this information forward with me into February.

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