Last night I joined some friends for a ride at Glacier Ridge Park. We had a nice sized group and rode a little over 40 miles. The pace was brisk and steady which is just what my legs need to try and re-gain lost fitness.

The weather was incredible for late March with temps in the upper 60's at the start of the ride. I wore arm and leg warmers which felt a bit warm at the start but I was glad to have them on as the sun set near the end of our ride.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week is sunny and warm. Hopefully I can fit a few rides in between Easter family get togethers.

Spring Has Sprung

Over the past weekend I took my ice scraper out of the car to make room for my bike and gear. How is that for optimism? Last night I also loaded my bike in the car and made it out to our first Delaware Tuesday night ride of the year.

As always, this first ride of the year is a sure indicator of who has been training (the Godfatha')and who has been sitting on the couch over the winter watching TV (me). We had a really nice turnout of around 12-15 riders. The pace was pretty casual for the first half hour or so until about 5 guys kicked it up to form a gap on the rest of the group. I was able to hang with the leaders but my head was hanging in shame as I was a total wheel sucker and was unable to pull at all. As the season progresses and more big guns make it out to our rides I'll be put into some serious hurt until I can find my lost cycling legs.

All in all a good time was had by most in attendance. For Christmas my Sweetie gave me this gadget for my bike that shows my speed, distance and ride time. Lots of the other riders have these gadgets on their bikes so I felt like I fit in with the group. According to my gadget we rode 1 1/2 hours and averaged 19 miles per hour.

Good Riddens February!

I was up in Mansfield for work today and the roads were pretty lousy. The wind and drifting snow created most of the problems. I made it home from work and got on the trainer for a bit over and hour - watched the '09 Tour of Flanders and thought about Spring and riding on the roads.

I am so glad this weekend marks the end of February. Not sure how much snow has fallen this month, but we will probably hit around 29" and this will likely be a new record.

I see Tym cancelled this weekend's race in Croton. Reminds me of the snowy start we had to the race season 2008.

Let's hope March brings warmer temps and dry roads!

Rest in Peace Doug

I’ve been neglecting my blog and I’m terribly late in posting this, but I was saddened recently to learn of the death of Doug Fieger. Doug was the lead singer for The Knack, one of my favorite bands in high school. I think it was the subjects of the songs from this group that appealed so much to my teenage Catholic High School boy’s mentality.

Most everyone of my generation is familiar with the big hits on this album: My Sharona and Good Girls Don’t. I loved every song on this album but my favorites were Oh Tara, She’s So Selfish and Frustrated which had an awesome drum intro that I loved to play over and over again. I played this song so much that I can still remember where there is a scratch in the LP record. Once in college I used the beginning of Frustrated as the intro for a project in one of my radio broadcasting classes. I think I received an “A” on that one.

The Knack released a few follow-up albums but they never did much for me. However, Get The Knack will always stand out for me as one of my favorite LP’s. Rest in Peace Doug.

Wilderness Lodge

This past weekend Sweetie and I traveled east to Wattburg, PA for a weekend of cross country skiing at Wilderness Lodge. The lodge is a great place that I have visited a number of times over the years along with a group of friends from COP including Terry Smith & Glenn Beachy who organize this trip each year.

The two of us arrived after nightfall and we organized a group from COP for a night hike along roads near the lodge. It was a cloudless evening and we enjoyed looking at the stars during our walk before turning in for the evening.

With warm temps the week before we had less than ideal ski conditions. The snow was icy and this made skiing a bit of a challenge at times. However, we still enjoyed skiing several miles of groomed trails.

After dinner on Saturday evening, Terry shared pictures from an incredible trip he and his wife Vikki took to Alaska. It was just what we needed to get us thinking about our next big adventure.

The staff at Wilderness Lodge take great care of us each year and I can't wait to return next Winter.

Reality check!

Made it out on the road today with Luca, the Godfatha', Scott, Mike, Chet and Josh. Rode from Powell for 2 hours. Nice ride. A bit cool when we started but the temps were in the upper 30's most of the ride. Thank goodness Josh was on a fixie - if he had more gears the suffering would have been worse for me.

We had fog most of the ride so the sun never came out. Was going to snap a few pics, but it was too cold for me take off my gloves during the ride.

I sat in most of the ride and I'm more motivated to hit the trainer a few more times each week. March is just around the corner...

Spent an hour and 20 on the trainer today while snow lightly fell outside. Felt pretty good but LOTS AND LOTS of work needed to get ready for Spring! I think many more weeks of work are needed to erase my holiday eating sins.

Put some yellow Fizik bar tape on the Torelli last night - looks pretty sweet!

Long term forecast for next week predicts temps in the mid-30's. Will feel like heat wave compared to this week. If the roads are dry a ride outside may be in order.

Spent an hour on the trainer this past weekend. EZ pace and maintained an HR around 130 or so. Popped a DVD in the player and watched Servais Knaven win the '02 Paris Roubaix. Felt good to spin the legs a bit after so long a time away from the bike.

Yesterday Sweetie and I met some WBC friends at Highbanks and hiked the trails for about 5 miles. The temps were cold (less than 10 degrees) but the sun was out and our walk through the woods was really nice. A light dusting of snow the night before made for some nice scenery. After our hike we enjoyed coffee and soup at Panera's. Doesn't get much better than that.