Groundhog Reminder

If Punxsutawney Phil is correct (let's call him P-Phil to give him some more street cred.), we only have two more weeks of winter! Even if he's off by a few weeks, our chubby little lowland marmot friend has me all fired up about endless days of spring cycling. So let's welcome all the snow, sleet and freezing rain and bide our time, as we notice the days getting longer and sooner than we can imagine, the local roads will be filled with beaming cyclists breathing in large gulps of warmish air, taking in the beautiful roadways of the finger lakes yet again. 


My trainer isn't quite gathering dust, but it's seeing a lot less use than last season, thanks to inspiration from Keith T. and Andy G., who remind me via Facebook that winter cycling is a viable option. I somehow managed to log 170 road miles in January, and those short hill climbs have me feeling so great. I find it so challenging to get motivated for a cold weather ride, but the payoff is always huge. 


So thanks to P-Phil for the boost...time to take stock of the spring cycling wardrobe!

Full-fledged Withdrawal Leads To (gulp) Running!

'Tis the season for cycling withdrawal, and it's never hit me this bad before. Last season I even felt a secret bit of relief when the road salt ended my season, but this year I'm just fit to be tied. While I'm hoping that my 2011 road biking season will start in early May like last year, I shouldn't expect such good fortune. After years of rejoicing at the first sight of snow and celebrating any and every bit of wintery mix, today I confessed to a friend of my hope for drenching rains, followed by several days of sun and warmth. 

Hope alone won't get me through the off-season, so instead I have refined my off-season strategies. The first stage was to save up for a really good wheelset, which I finally picked up last weekend. The new Mavic Ksyrium Elites are sitting in a box under the tree, a marvel of industrial design. The anticipation of testing out what shaving nearly one pound of rotational weight off of my ride will really keep me excited and inspired in the next few months. Comparing the Ksyrium and Aksium wheels side by side, you can really see the differences and refinements, though the Aksiums have held up quite well after nearly 10K miles. Beefier hubs, wider spokes, 18 spokes up front (as opposed to 20 on the Aksiums), and the inter spoke milling are all obvious differences and improvements. I did the math, and the weight savings cost me approx. $45 per ounce, though since rotational weight is evidently three times as valuable as fixed weight, you can argue that it costs $15 per ounce! Either way, I look forward to comparing ride stats next season to see if I can increase my average speeds.

My other off-season survival strategy has been to dramatically increase the cross training. I've been doing a combination of EA active (Wii Fit-based workouts), riding the trainer, swimming and running. I've always hated running, but in the last few days I've noticed some changes. My roundabout walk/jog to school has been supplemented with a 2.4 mile lunchtime walk up Kline Rd to Highland and over to Hanshaw, Devon, and Renwick, a climb of almost 400 ft. After several days of gradually increasing the running, today I ran the whole course. My body is still getting used to the pounding, but as long as the roads stay clear, it's not horrible, and all that fresh air and daylight is so welcome during these short days.