Upcoming Trip: Mesa Verde and Durango trip...Oct. 16-18

Mesa Verde
People hiking on the Animas City Mountain Trail above Durango, CO


Mom, Becky, and Joshua has U.E.A. Oct. 16th and 17th and everybody wants to go to Mesa Verde. I am going, Mike and Laura, and everybody else. Tony is invited. We are going to sightsee Mesa Verde and stay in Durango for two nights. I will be mountain biking on the Animas City Mountain Trail near Durango. The trail is 6 miles long with a very steep climb for 3 miles. I will do one or two laps. I have ridden the trail twice many years ago when I was a teenager. The weather in Mesa Verde and Durango should be in the upper 60s during the afternoons. So, a nice warm jacket will do. Everybody bring a jacket and don't wear shorts.

Back to racing again!

I have been doing a lot of thinking and I decided that I am going to do some races next year. I have been training hard in the last few years and I want something to really train for, mountain bike racing. I just applied for a sponsorship from Hammer Nutrition and I will know by the end of the year if they accepted my application. I have been using their products since 1997. I hope I can do a lot of races in the Intermountain Cup Series next year, it would be bonus if I do them all. I will be racing in the sport 30-34 age group. I am getting excited already!

My Training Program....

This has been my training schedule this year on the road and mountain bike....

In December to February I lift weights and do plyometrics for strength for the upcoming season, I lift weights for the first month and a half two times a week and plyometrics during the last month and a half two times a week. I especially do squats, walking lunges, and step ups for the legs and do some upper body exercises like bench press, lateral pulldowns, and bent over rows. On the plyometric part, I do a lot of jumping and core exercises to strengthen the fast-twitch muscles. Then every Saturday, I go have fun snowshoeing for an hour or so.

Starting in the middle of March when it starts getting warm, I try to get a good base by riding endurance miles on the road bike for one to three hours two to three times a week, but I don't ride hard yet. I still do a lot of muscle tension intervals on the climbs that last ten minutes each interval. When I do a muscle tension interval, I ride at a low pedal cadence to keep my heart rate down but at a hard gear to stress my legs for the strength. It is like doing squats on the bike but it works better than regular squats in the weight room. It also gets me ready to ride hard in the spring time.

I start riding hard in the middle of April. Which consists of intervals at lactate threshold(80-95% of max heart rate) and some sprints at max heart rate. This is when I start mountain biking in the hills. Here, where I live, there are long fire road climbs, so I do 20-25 minute intervals and recover 10 minutes between intervals. When I start riding hard I start off one interval and than gradually do more each week. This year I rode hard two times a week and then do one long endurance ride once a week and do some recovery rides twice a week.

When I train throughout the season, this is what I do: train hard three weeks, then active rest every fourth week. That way I can recover better and ready to ride more on the next training block. I gradually do more every training block.

In first of September is when I stop riding hard and do more endurance miles on the road while it gets colder in the mountains and to stay out of the mountains during deer hunting season. I do endurance miles twice a week on the valley. During the weekdays, like on Tuesday or Wednesday, I do a short ride at 65-75% of mhr for 90 minutes then on Saturday, I ride another 3 hours at this rate.

Middle of October to middle of December is active rest. A lot of walks is what I do.

This was my training week during the bike season this summer:

Monday: rest
Tuesday: two 25 minute interval climbs on the mountain bike with a one minute sprint at the end of each interval
Wednesday: recovery ride for an hour
Thursday: recovery ride
Friday: rest
Saturday: two to three 20-25 minute interval climbs on the mountain bike and top off each interval with a minute sprint
Sunday: two to three hours endurance ride on the road or mountain bike on flat roads



Next year I am going to try to add a 20 minute interval ride on Thursdays. It will depend, if I still feel good, then I will do it. Also change my endurance ride on Wednesday from Sunday because church will start at 9 o'clock next year and just do a recovery ride every Sunday then.

Do you see my tan lines?

See my tan line? This is all from a summer's worth of mountain and road biking. I got it on my legs big time. The tan line is too perfect.

News about the Canyon Road....

The Ephraim Canyon Road is now oiled. It is so much better for the bike and the car. I always like to climb up the road for service to the bike trails in the canyon. Now with debiogradable oiled sprayed on the road makes up very good reasons on why it is better for the climb up. The number one reason: now the loose gravel on the side of the road isn't so loose anymore and is ridable so I can ride way on the very side of the road for the sake of safety of myself and the other cars. Another good reason: NO DUST so I can breathe and see easier. And the final reason: the road doesn't have any loose gravel at all so it is a lot safer on the turns. They just put this oil on a few weeks ago and it is now oiled until the GBEEC. The last two rides, I went all the way from Major's Flat to Bluebell and I see the spray truck parked there by the big tank full of oil sitting there in that area. I don't know if they are going to oil it all the way to the top this year but I hope so though. Since my bike season is over and hunting season is coming up next week and the temperatures will be dropping, I will have to wait 'til next summer for more mountain biking on the road for all the fun downhill singletrack trails. I really love the long gradual climb up through the most beautiful scenery in the world.

Bike made by the aliens? The Delta 7 Sports Arantix mountain bike...

Is this bike made by the aliens? Looks like it, but nope, by a BYU graduate from Payson, UT and it sells for $11,995. And there are only 200 of them in the world now. This bike is a hardtail that uses IsoTruss carbon fiber and kevlar spider web like, open-lattice top tube, down tube, seat tube, seatstays and chainstays. IsoTruss technology combines two ideas into one. The first is to apply a truss design to tubes similiar in shape and diameter to a traditional aluminum-tubed mountain bike frame. This feat is tough to pull off with steel, aluminum, or titanium, so the second trick is to use the right material. Using a composite of carbon fiber and Kevlar allowed the Delta 7 Sports engineers to pull off the truss architecture of the tubes.
They claim they can better tune the frame using the IsoTruss tubes by positioning more fibers on the side of the tube for improved lateral stiffness and then back it off on the top and bottom of the tube so the bike doesn't beat up the rider.
Is it flexy? Hell no, lateral flex is not an issue. While it is hard to quantify this from the saddle, the Arantix may be the most responsive hardtail they've ever dropped the hammer on. The IsoTruss guys should pitch their design to NASA, because this bike takes off like a space shuttle. Pushing massive gears didn't faze the rear triangle or bottom bracket area, and spinning insanely little gears didn't result in any detected frame "bounce" or flex.

This is mom and Becky...