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Some Winter Base |
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Written by Jason Mahokey
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Monday, 07 January 2008 |
Some Winter Base
 | | Spinning the rail trail. |
Ah yes winter. For many of my Bikeman.com teammates, Cross has just ended and they're still washing the mud off their Chili Con Crossos! For me the off season has been going one for a quite a few months. My last race was clear back on labor day weekend. I took some time off the bike, then just rode for the fun of it. Staying of the roads and in the woods on my Mamasita and Dos Niner.
Come November I started up my off season training again. Or at least MY interpretation of training. I hit the basement for some core and light weight workouts (I know no other kind of weight workout), as well as spinning on my trainer.
 | | Some enjoy the gray before the snow comes. |
The trails have become pretty soggy due to a very wet late fall and winter here in Western PA, so I have been logging some base miles in on our local rail trails and on the road. I've mostly been using my Salsa Mamasita since my Trek 2200's carbon fork started showing signs of what could result in a "catastrophic event" to quote one local shop mechanic. So I thought it best to roll the Mamasita until I got the warranty all tidied up.
 | | The snow came at about mile 20 of 35. Not good. |
Truthfully it's been cool to ride the full knobbed 29er on the road. I think it's great prep for races like the Wilderness 101, Mohican 100 or other "hundie" that has a lot of road and gravel road miles. Plus it's a HELL of workout. Some of the hills around these parts are hard enough with a 18 lb. road bike let alone a 26+ lb. mountain bike with full knobby tires!
 | | Cruising the road on the Mamasita at a hefty 14 mph! |
I've also got some miles in on the rail trail. I pretty much avoid our local rail trails during the summer because truthfully they're pretty damn boring and a bit crowded. BUT in cold winter months they are vacant and a great way to log some base miles without the worry of cars or steep climbs. You can pretty much pedal as fast or slow as you want. Spin high cadence or low RPM. Just depends on what you feel like. I can't imagine doing the rail trail all the time. I think I'd go insane, but when If I can avoid any two hour rides on the stationary trainer (only 2 so far this year), I'll do it.
 | | Yes, real men shave their legs AND wear Argyle!! |
So some cold rides outside and some hot sweaty trainer rides are about all that's going on right now. My first race, a 13 hour solo race in Virginia is about 15 weeks away. That seems like a long time away, but it will be here before you know it. I better get pedaling!
Hope you all had a great holiday season. I've attached some picts from some of my recent road and rail trail rides. You will see much of them have been under standard Western PA gray skies. Oh well it lets me work on my pastiness.
Later.
Jason
"The Soiled Chamois"
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; "Spinning the rail trail.")
; "Some enjoy the gray before the snow comes.")
; "The snow came at about mile 20 of 35. Not good.")
; "Cruising the road on the Mamasita at a hefty 14 mph!")
; "Yes, real men shave their legs AND wear Argyle!!")
