Surviving through the winter!

Winter is the hardest time of the year for my cycling training, especially during the holidays because #1 you can't ride, #2 too much food, and #3 you can't ride! So, it's the cruelest season for a cyclist. To survive it, it's time to spend time to do some cross-training and preparation. Cross-training provides a break from riding a bike while building cardiovascular fitness. Such as hiking, running, xc skiing, snowshoeing, swim, and weights. I always definitely do weight lifting but I should include an aerobic exercise. Strength training means greater endurance by strengthening slow-twitch muscles which may raise the lactate threshold. Also injury prevention is another reason. For a mountain biker, function, not form, is the goal so I do high repetitions with low weight. I especially do the legs by doing squats, step ups, and hamstring curls then do upper body workouts like lateral pulldown, standing row, seated row, and bench presses. Core workouts is a must for a cyclist because that's where you get most of your strength on pedaling a bike. Every year I start lifting weights in November by using really light weight for a month then December and January is reserved for heavier loads. I like to lift for the whole body workout twice a week then ride the indoor trainer once a week and xc ski on the weekend. On the indoor stationary trainer, I really ride because you can't really get as a good workout as you get outside on a real ride. So, I go hard that I constantly sweat hard like sweat pooring like Lance Armstrong climbing on the L'alpe De Huez climb in the Tour de France. To go that hard, I can get my heart rate up to 75-85% of max. During the weekend xc skiing is a lot of fun to get me some aerobic exercise(about 80-85% of max). I try to save all the anerobic exercise(90-95% of max) for the racing season. I spent the last two weeks xc skiing like 4 times a week and took a break from weight lifting. Then in January, I get back on weights for another month, then I will be ready to ride outside on the bike to train for the races in spring.
My winter training: Monday: weights

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: indoor cycling

Thursday: weights

Friday: off

Saturday: xc skiing

Sunday: off

Timberhawk's first modular home!

We have built this house all in the shop. They wanted us to build it in 3 weeks but with all the figuring out and the first time doing it, it took 5 weeks. 5 weeks to do all the framing, electrical, plumbing, sheetrock, painting, cabinet assembly, siding, etc. It's not too bad I thought. We built this home in 3 sections and panelized the garage and shipped all of it to Nephi in one day, also assemblying it on the same day. Then we did the roof and touch up stuff in 2 weeks. Like all the plumbing and electrical connections, siding and sheetrock finishing, carpet, etc. It's not too bad of a house, since it's so small, it is a good starter home at a total of $160 grand. See the timber truss and posts for the porch? I did all that in the shop myself. Of course I am the timber truss guy for the business, it's not my first one, this is like my 12th one since I worked there. Not bad, eh?

Torker U-District commuter bike "Duke Bike"

I need an inexpensive bike to get around places around here. First of all, I need just a "regular bike" to get Duke around. To go on a short ride and let Duke run. I usually take him on Witches Knoll on the very south side of town where there are only about 4 houses on the road and it is a mile stretch paved road. Duke loves to run out there. He'll only run when I am riding a bike though. This is also a good bike to go down the store and get something while you are not worrying about your $3,000 bike outside of the store. This bike should be around $350. It is a singlespeed and by golly, it's maintenance free! And for me, just to bike bum around town in the sunsets sounds pretty nice on it though. This bike was only designed for student commuting but it can be used for many things especially for the town. I can use my expensive mountain bike only for the mountains and expensive road bike for the highway. Good deal.