Monday Loop

I went out on a great loop with some of the guys from the shop. Claire was out of town, so she missed the fun. The weather was perfect, it rained right at the beginning and right at the end. It was A2's first ride on his new LeMond Sarthe road bike. I was a little worried when at the start when it started raining, but A2 was game. I was a bit more worried when we had to pedal through 2 feet of water out near Starr Road, but except for some cold wet feet, everyone was happy. A1 and Jimmy Neutron were also along for the adventure. It ended up being almost exactly 40 miles. We downed some homemade sourdough toast and granola afterwards and stood around the woodburning stove warming up.
I think I finally found a third person for the 3 for the price of 2 sign up for the Vineman. I will hopefully be signing up today or tomorrow. I need to do it before the end of the month to save a couple of dollars. I also need to sign up for the Death Ride. Claire is unsure of where she stands on that ride this year.
I have been running a couple of times a week and feeling very good. I have some tightness in my calves that I need to work out, but probably nothing that some good stretching won't take care of. I did an hour run on Sunday around my Scenic loop. I felt terrific. All my runs have been timed out to be right around an hour. I probably need to bring that up to maybe an hour and a half. I will try to get out today from the shop. I have a fun loop around Cypress/Poplar that is just over 8 miles.
The bike shop is going great. Business is very good considering the time of year. I actually have enough tune-ups to keep me busy everyday. We are also at an all time high with our employees. I think we have the best staff we have ever had. It makes it fun to be there.

Tandem Loop

Claire and I went out today and did a great loop on our old Ibis tandem. We put on some worn out mountain bike tires, and parked down in Duncans Mills. You can check out the loop at this link. http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=188849

We are going to be doing a longer version of this on Monday with the employees from the shop. I hope they know what they are in for.

I have been running and doing some riding on the rollers. About an hour a day 4 or 5 days a week. The Grasshopper race series starts March 1. Aaron and Claire have both expressed an interest in doing some of the races. On Monday we are going out over Old Duncan Road, which is part of the first race.

I haven't signed up for the Vineman yet since I am waiting for a third person to commit to the race. They have a special where 3 people can sign up for the price of 2. I am definitely planning on doing it though. 196 more days. It is getting late right now, so that is it for now. I will update more often with my increase in training.

132 Days till World's Toughest Half

Well, it is January, and the rain has been coming down. I have been able to get in some short workouts, mainly just hour runs and hour roller rides. We will be heading up to Tahoe for some cross country skiing, so I will get some good exercise there. It is 132 days till the Auburn World's Toughest Half Ironman, and 208 days till the full Vineman. I am sure the time is going to pass very fast. I will be signing up for the Deathride in July, and I am considering the Terrible Two which takes place in June. I figure I have about a stone and a half to lose before the World's Toughest.

Long time, no post

It has been over a month since my last post. Things are going great at the shop, so there hasn't been a lot of idle time. I have been on a pretty regular training schedule. Nothing to rigorous, but hopefully just enough to keep me in shape. I have been alternating daily hour runs with hour rides on the rollers. I have been relying heavily on my heartrate monitor to keep me honest. I put a Kreitler Killer Headwind attachment on my rollers, and it has made all the difference. I can actually stand up for 5 minute increments with the headwind option on. I usually mix up my roller work outs with hard/easy intervals. Five minutes hard, three minutes easy, etc... This makes the time go by fast. My runs have been funner. I have been doing my favorite Scenic loop around our house as well as the Elmo Loop. Yesterday I ran in Golden Gate Park for an hour and 15 minutes. Claire and I were down in the city for the weekend.

I haven't decided whether I want to do the World's Toughest Triathlon in May or not. I have two more weeks to decide. There is a break in the weather right now, so maybe we will head out for a bike ride.

Morning run

I went out and did my favorite loop this morning. I did it in reverse to add some excitement. It is awesome to live out here where I can run right out the door and not see any cars. I love the loop since it has lots of hills and some dirt. With the time change, I will need to do my exercise in the morning. Tomorrow I will hit the rollers for the first time in a while.

Not much training going on

I haven't had much time to do much training lately. I have been able to get out for a couple of runs here and there. I ran to Sebastopol from the shop the other evening. I was planning on running to Ragle Park, but it was starting to get dark and I was on some narrow country roads. Claire picked me up with a mile or so to go. I figure I ran about 13 miles.
Claire and I rode into Healdsburg the other day for lunch. We took Mathilda in the trailer and rode the tandem. It was a gorgeous day. We stopped at a regional park on the way home and let Mathilda swim for a while.
We loaded up our mountain bikes for a ride yesterday, but we had forgotten that we didn't have anyone to close the shop, so we couldn't leave early. At least we tried. It has been rainy today, which is nice. The shop has been slow, so I have been able to finish up on some of the repairs that I had been putting off.

Saturday, September 29

The shop has been much busier than expected, and that means that Chaz doesn't have as much time to exercise as he would like. I can't complain since business is so good and I'm having such a good time at the shop. I get a big grin on my face sometimes at the shop since I am having so much fun working on bikes and talking to people about bikes, and I'm getting paid for it. Anyway, enough about that. I did get out this morning before work for a 7.5 mile run. I felt pretty good, but I could tell that I'm not getting much running in. We will be going out tomorrow morning with our son, William for a short mountain bike ride. William hasn't been on his bike in quite a while, so we are going to make it short and sweet. Claire and I plan on doing the Chalk Hill loop on Monday. I also have my sourdough starter out on the counter getting ready for some bread making in the next couple of days.