First round of training

Ok, so in my attempts to get into shape for the Dirty Kanza I have designed a riding schedule that I will hopefully be able to maintain along with my normal everyday riding.

So this Saturday, January 16th lets say around 11 am roll out I am going to be heading up north to dutch hall road, out around Elkhorn on skyline drive and return via my neighborhood commute route with some papio and keystone trail mixed in to give it some length.

Here's a link to  a map:  http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/59-mile-dirty-Kanza-training.

Leave a response if you want to go, anyone is welcome.

Tranquility....not so much.

The girl friend and I decide no to sit around the house all day and go for a ride.  Yes we know it is snowing and contrary to the loud old lady in our parking lot, no, we are not crazy or stupid.

I decide to throw the studded tires on my Redline and I dug out my Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires to put on her Kona Dew Plus.  And I was really proud of her.  She gave it a good try and was a good sport about it.  The snow was DEEP.  We only got from the trail head to the first road crossing and decided to go back.  It was a blast but it took for EVER.  Anyways here are some pics.

There she goes....sort of.  [:-)]

 

 It was some deep snow.

We both took some good spills.

Snow? What Snow?

So along with everyone else that is dedicated to spinning some cranks instead of turning a key, I too have a post about my adventures in the first bought of "real" snow in the Omaha area.  And here we go.....

I was on a quest this summer to build my own ultimate snow rig.  I had ridden my cross bike last winter with some studded tires and wasn't completely happy with the results.  I tried riding my single speed 29er and enjoyed the ride more than with the cross bike but my knee joints didn't like me when it came to trudging through the deep stuff.  So I opted for the best of both worlds:

Redline Monocog Flight 29er 19inch frame
Red Chris King headset
RaceFace Evolve Cranks (22-32-44)
SRAM PG-990 11-34 cassette
SRAM X.O rear derailleur and grip shifters
Shimano XT front derailleur
Custom wheel set, SLX center lock hubs, DT Swiss Comp Spokes and X470 rims  (a little heavy but super bommer!)
Avid Juicy Ultimate Brakes
Maxxis Ingnitor 29 x 2.1 tires for the fresh powder
Nokian Extreme 294  29 x 2.1 studded tires for the deep and icy stuff

Upright riding position, super low gearing, grip shift for easy use with gloved hand, and a straight bar for more control.  So far the results are very, very positive.  Here is some pics from the ride in on Monday:

A little bit of frost on the beard.

 

 Even with fenders had some nice build up on the frame.

 

X.O rear derailleur took it all like a champ and never missed a shift.

And I will have more from my commute on Wednesday.  Tuesday I have off.

Ride safe!

First SNOW of the season

Had an interesting ride Saturday morning.  Rode to the Joslyn Art museum for a class assignment and then rode to work on 151st and industrial.  The morning ride to the museum was really wet and still snowing.  The ride to work afterward was just wet and windy.  But I do have to say that the new FORCE/RIVAL 10 speed groupo performed flawlessly, way exceeded my expectations.

Even with all the ice on the cables I never missed a shift.

Other than the snap of cold, it was an awesome day for a ride.