Two major storms in three days, bitter temps, thousands still without power from ice storm 10 days ago, what is going on? Here's a photo of my deck this morning. Most of this snow fell in a 10 hour period on Sunday. I don't believe in snow blowers. If you are in good shape and have a decent back, there is no reason not to shovel your own driveway. Ours is about 75ft long with a large turn-around area at the house. Needless to say, I'm getting more upper body workout than I had planned. Coupled with over 6 hours of aggressive skiing last week, I feel like I need a break already.Riding today was vastly improved from yesterday. Windy as heck, blowing snow, windchills in negative territory, but at least the roads were plowed. I focused on big gear, high force, low aerobic intensity today. I want to save the cardio for planks and poles on snow. Back roads were glazed-over hard-packed snow, perfect for studs. I hit 31 mph going down one hill that I'm sure had most drivers squeamish.
In other news, most Mt Washington devotes know by now the 2009 entry fee has been raised to $350. That's over $46 per mile! Couple this with Bikereg fees, overnight stay and gas, this race easily costs over $500. Is there enough demand to support this level of commitment in the current economic climate? We'll find out February 1st.
I barely squeaked in the Tour of the Battenkill. Fortunately a teammate reminded us signup was this Sunday. The 4's filled immediately, 250 riders in two fields. In 24hrs, over 1000 people are registered or on wait lists. This is insane. CX 2008 has barely finished. The Battenkill has perhaps become the most popular road race in the country. In my field, Masters 40+, "everybody" is in. This includes Funk, Bold, Pearce, Aspholm and 20 more that are podium contenders, although I think Aspholm has won every race I've been in with him. The course is longer for 2009. There will be suffering.
6 comments:
Kudos on riding yesterday, Doug. Given temps/wind I just couldn't do it. I see that Battenkill is longer but they've eliminated like 1800 feet of climbing. That sucks. What did you ride for tires up there last year? Is Dave doing 30+?
I raced against Aspholm in 2 races last year, Fitchburg (35+) and Green Mountian (40+) with him ending up in first for both. Mark McCormick was 2nd at Fitchburg, so you get an idea of the competitor that Roger is.
Being race age of 48 next year, usually the races are 45+. That's hard enough, but the 40-44 range brings in a whole new level of pain.
I didn't think much vert was removed. The one time I tried to look at the profile, the map link wasn't working right. Dave got in the 4's, riding for his brother's budding bike frame business, Penney Cycles. I used straight up 23mm racing tires for BK. Always have, never regretted it. I think all the contenders ride these.
It suckes BK is 40+ and not 45+. I won the 35+ a few years ago there, but it was my first Masters race, nobody knew me, and the competition wasn't as stacked. I'll be race as 47 years old in '09. In a twisted kind of way, I'm looking forward to 50.
So are you going to do the 2009 Mt. Washington Hill Climb? The $350 + bikereg fee may put me over the top for making the trek out from Colorado. I guess we can always get people to pledge us for the ride...and the Leadville 100 is the same day as MW in 2009...hmmmm
Undecided on Washington in August. I've been eyeing Leadville the last couple years too. I'll likely do one of the Washington races, and this year I may settle for the Newton's Revenge event in July (assuming the August race sells out which opens registration for the July race).
Here's the 2009 Course preview:
http://www.anthemcycles.com/2009%20Battenkill%20Review.pdf
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