MissingSaddle » MTB Blogs

Training rules.

Sonya Looney — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:06:55 +0000

Wow! It’s been soooo nice to be able to be consistent with my training this week. I feel so much more relaxed and satisfied. When I don’t get to successfully push my mind AND body to the limit on a regular basis, I feel anxious and lost. We had an interesting weather pattern this week… a few 70 degree days (my legs actually don’t glow in the dark anymore!), followed by a snow day… Boulder got 7-10 inches of snow. Just when I thought I *might* get to ride singletrack, Mother Nature showed me who was boss. That’s alright – it means the mountains will be gorgeous this summer, and we’ll have a green, fragrant spring.

I doubt that training for one week will salvage my fitness before the race next week, but it certainly won’t hurt. I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard and hoping it’ll pay off. We leave on Tuesday for Arkansas in the NEW ERGON SPRINTER! It is getting wrapped and I’ll have pics for you on Monday. It’s a 2 day drive. Blah, I am dreading that part, but it’s going to be really fun to ride technical singletrack and hang out with teammates!

Earlier this week I took to the steep, dirt canyon roads – my favorite thing to do when I can’t ride singletrack.

I admittedly spend too much time climbing and should be spending more time on the flats. However, a lot of my 75-100 mile races have 9000-17,000′ of elevation gain. That’s a lot, so I try to do what I do in races. That’s ride uphill (and rage the downhill!) Plus, most of these rides go up to 9,000+ ft elevation which is a very good thing since I do a lot of high altitude races in the CO Rockies. Turns out that John Denver wasn’t full of shit!

I can’t say enough how much I love the Ergon GX3s. They are my favorite grip, and I’ve tried pretty much all of them. The bar ends are perfect.

My rides have been looking like this lately:

and

The Suunto T6 is serving me well! Steady, subthreshold efforts uphill…

…and then the pendulum swung, and the weather went back to winter yesterday.

and it only got deeper.

I’m sick of freezing my butt off in sub-arctic weather. Conveniently, I received a brand spanking new trainer from Kinetic Trainers a couple weeks ago and actually WANTED to ride it! I’ve been riding a garage sale antique for a long time which is, needless to say, pretty awful.

This thing… is… amazing. It works really really well. It’s the first time I ever enjoyed riding the trainer.

I have been SERIOUSLY considering putting a flat bar on my road bike. I never ride the thing because I hate road bike handlebars. I threw on a mtb handlebar with Ergon grips. I can’t tell you how much happier and more comfortable I was on the bike. I think a flat bar for my road bike is in the very near future so I actually use the poor little Cannondale.

I had a really good time because I was 1)comfortable the flat bar 2)riding a really great piece of equipment and 3) had some really fun new techno beats to keep me motivated…oh yeah, and I was doing intervals which makes the time fly:

The sun is out… I’ll be taking it outdoors tomorrow.

Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com

Back at it!

Sonya Looney — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:47:54 +0000

Well, I finally am going to be able to ride more than two times in a week! Good thing too, but I have a 60 mile mountain bike race (The Ouachita Challenge) next weekend. I’m feeling a little down because I know that over the past couple months, all the travel has made it incredibly hard to be consistent with the bike. Translation: I AM OUT OF SHAPE! I can tell on all my rides… so my goal this spring is to not be down on myself. My season goes through October, and coming into the season sans fitness means I’ll have to race my butt into shape. My trips are also going to become more conducive to riding because they’ll be for races, and I’ll have my sweet little Rotwild with me.

Spring days are becoming more frequent, but peppered with snowy days. Friday and Saturday will be two of those days, but I am starting to see green grass!

I even got to flirt with some singletrack yesterday!

I said this on facebook, and I’ll say it again. The feeling I get riding singletrack is the same feeling I get when I’m in love. Giddy, about to burst, excited, giggling, smiling, pure happiness. What could be better? I’ll tell you what could be better – when the high alpine singletrack melts!

The newest bike porn I have for you is my NEW DT Swiss wheels!!!!! The word on the street from DT Swiss is that the carbon wheels are actually stronger and even more crack resistant. We’ll see… I’m stoked.

Here is my set up for the Ouachita. Continental Mountain King 2.2s – my tire of choice, and of course Stan’s! Riding tubeless is one of the best improvements to mountain biking. I would be very sad if I had to go without.

THANK YOU DT SWISS!!!!! I am really really loving the change in the time. It seems like I suddenly have a lot more free time and am not rushing to get out the door every single day. Speaking of, my stallion awaits me!

Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com

Seattle

Sonya Looney — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:37:25 +0000

5 nights, 4 days in Seattle. It was a blast! I got to run 6 miles a day by the bay (in the sun and in the rain), visit about 15 bike shops, and work at the Seattle Bike Expo for 2 days. For the bike photo fun, check the Ergon blog.

Fun photos….

Kerkove likes the Easter Bunny. I think it’s kind of scary… hehe

I had some fantastic espresso. You could throw a stone in any direction and hit a coffee shop. I check out Victrola, Cafe Vita, and Vivace.

Went to this really awesome place for lunch one day called Brouwers.

and delicious food. I wish we had one in Boulder!

Theo chocolate factory was right across the street from one of the bike shops. mmmm

Sampled some local IPAs.

Fun with Ergon GC3s…

I love coffee beans!

It was amazing… at least in the area we were in, there were people drinking EVERY morning with breakfast!! At least half the tables in the restaurants had tables with PBR, whiskey, tequila shots, and margaritas. I asked the server about it, and she said a lot of people do that around there. crazy!

It was a great trip. The bike shop scene is really cool and very eclectic. Looking forward to my next visit there sometime in the future! However, it’s great to be home and riding again!

Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Sonya Looney — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:48:00 +0000

I am not very Irish. My hair is dark and I can’t hold my liquor to save my life. I’m more of a russian, italian, lebanese. However, “Looney” IS Irish, more specifically from the Isle of Man. Special holidays that embrace drinking Guinness and other Irish delights is always a great thing(in the US and anyway)! So, from me to you, Happy St. Patrick’s! Pinch yourself if you’re not wearing green.

P.S. Just got back from Seattle… update coming today or tomorrow!

Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com

Lets ride together..pause..NOT!!!

Troy Wells — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:32:56 +0000

So I’ve been logging in the hours this past week. It has been a little cold down here in Tucson this winter. On tuesday Howes and Much wanted to get in some climbing so we packed up a car and drove to kitt peak. Howes and I planned on doing it 3 times and then maybe heading part way home. I started out my base day and howes and much went up easy. The second time up I went all the way back to the highway flipped it and Howes ended up flipping it at the start of the actual climb. Eventually I Howes saw me and started to sit up and wait. But it was a cold day with a 30 mph headwind on the climb and maybe about 40 degrees. Needless to say Howes started to get cold and went hard again to warm up. I figured no problem we will just descend down together then ride up the 3rd time. As I was approaching the summit I started getting nailed with Sleet and quickly flipped it to get below the storm. As I started descending down the road was wet from the rain that had started to come down. With about 9 miles left to descend and visibility @ about 25 feet I was freezing and just thinking about getting down the mountain. At around miles 5 i saw Much who had driven up based on how the mountain had gotten covered in clouds within the span of 10 minutes. I told her to go up and get Howes who was still in the middle of the storm. Once I got back to the highway I just started to nail it towards Tucson which is about 40 miles away. Much found Howes and he sat in the car for a few minutes to warm up then started to head toward home. He had Much motor pace him for a while so he could catch me. The tailwind was so strong on that day I was pulling a little above 30 on the way home so needless to say we never saw each other the entire day.

Go to the Source – troywells.missingsaddle.com