Winter Training Precautions

Cool beans....it was 40 degrees today in Heber so I was very comfortable while riding outside. That is pretty much a miracle in January!

A few things about winter riding that I noticed today are that all those yards with fences that enclose dogs that like to chase you SUCK because all the snow makes it extremely easy for dogs to jump the fence. Luckily the ones I am thinking of didn't quite clear it today although they did try.

And one puffy poodle who was a bit angry to see a cyclist, I might add, forgot the fence was there all together. That was funny stuff to watch him haul a#$ towards the fence so completely focused on me that he totally forgot about the fence. "Yipe!!" was the last peep I heard from that doggie.

The other thing is that cars just simply don't expect a nut job like yourself to be out on your bike in the middle of winter so you need to be extra careful.

In addition, there are sections of pavement that sit in non exposed places making it slick. Watch for those! Not everything is melted off at the same time depending on exposure.

The width of the roads can be smaller with all the snow surrounding and on them too. So be prepared to have to time things accordingly so that all cars and you can fit through at the same time. You get really good at timing things that is for sure!

And when you get back in to the nice WARM house of yours, expect to have the overwhelming sense of needing to use the facilities (even if you didn't have to a second ago) and plan accordingly. You certainly don't want to be running through the house in all your wet gear even though, believe me, that is what you would like to do!

Do Sports Drinks Really Work?

This looks like a cool happening in Heber City's backyard next weekend if anyone is interested. Battle at Soldier Hollow Winter Tri.

Java Cow - Park City, UT

Tonight we got together with our wonderful friends, Keith and David, from Tennessee and local Park City shop owners of Java Cow, Ken and Marcie. Great people - great fun!



In Java Cow on Main Street PC they had THE BEST tees. Ever heard of the "Life is Good" tees? These "Life is Crap" tees are a play off of those.

Here is a just a small sample of what they had in store:

Can you spare a square?

Oh lordy I know this one!

And this one...

If you can't read it, this one says "My ex's house" on it

Those were good for a good laugh that is for sure.

VO2 Test

Why do I do these kinds of things to myself. Is it because I like pain? Maybe so.

I went in to see Dr. Max Testa. We are so lucky have a guy like this lurking around the valley and in Park City too. Really cool. I say take advantage of having him around if you are able. He knows his stuff and can relate to a cycling mind more than any other doctor I have ever been to. He gets it, understands it and puts it all to use for you.

So yeah....about the test. Max wanted me to come in and have a V02 test done. I have never ever had one done. Nothing like doing that right off the bat after taking some time off the bike right!? Ouchy. No.....it hurt but it didn't hurt nearly as much as an actual race because it is very short lived.

Once I got on my bike that was attached to a computrainer and got my face mask weird thing on, they then hooked me up to all the tubes that measure everything I was ready to go. There was some discomfort in the device you put your mouth over because it doesn't allow for any swallowing or gulping but does allow for lots of drooling like dog. So I was obsessing over this small detail for most of the duration of the test 20 min test because I couldn't "gulp". It was hard to put that out of my mind which of course finally happened when pain set in. Once that set in I didn't think about much else - funny how that works.

For those of you that don't know what the test looks like, check out someone else getting it done with Max here. They start you out easy with a low amount of watts and increase the wattage every 2 minutes until you are brought essentially to a race pace effort and max heart rate. It is truly a bundle of joy I tell you. Hammering in a lab with no music attached to tubes rules! Ha!

After it was all said and done, Max was very pleased with the end result number (my Vo2) along with how many watts I was able to get to before having to shut down the test. That certainly bodes well for my mid off season confidence level! I needed that. You just never know where you are fitness level wise until you get some solid numbers to ponder and luckily its looking like I am right on track.

Ah yes, then it was off to the heavenly land of Costco and the views behind it were amazing.

Sliced and Diced

I wish I was talking about vegetables but instead I am talking about my body. No, I didn't eat it again on the bike (shocker right?) but I did go in to the Dermatologist for a simple routine check up (for nothing in particular I might add). Just figured that I haven't seen a Derm in about a decade and given what I do with my life, it might be a good idea.

And before I could introduce myself to the doctor, out comes the blowtorch, knives, and needles suddenly surrounding me like a bad habit. As he was cutting and blow torching every limb of my body, I told him that I really didn't sign up for this today!

Before I knew it I was walking out of there looking like a mummy with bandages all over. Ok, so I am exaggerating but I did walk out of there pretty dumbfounded at all that had just gone down in the last 20 minutes.

A simple CHECK UP hugh? Not so much.

A trip to our beautiful Yoga Studio, Lotus Leaf Yoga in Heber was definitely in the cards after this one. And while there we all got a good chuckle with local Heber-ite, Pete, who was kind enough to exhibit what a true Heber Yogi looks like.

Please note the cowboy boots and the flannel accompanied by a very nice freshly cleaned yoga mat (with tea tree oil of course) and the latest edition of Yoga Magazine. Pete was chuckling too on this one.

But, really, you should see this guy do a shoulder stand. Amazing. I can't even come close (it requires "melting your heart" which is just the opposite of what you do in cycling with your nice humpback that you acquire). I am determined to get there though. But this one, my friends may take some serious time as the muscles needed to do a shoulder stand seem to be less than developed from WAY too much time on two wheels.

This Just In

Oh my lord.......

No Camera!?

What a night to have your camera batteries run out on you. Saturday night was the Utah Cyclocross awards party and there was some good stuff to be seen. The theme was Talladega Nights and there was everything from sweet hair dos to full on car racing kits. Chris and I choose the "pit crew" route since one of our co-workers used to pit for Penske racing. Some folks had the coolest old sponsored racing jackets too (like Perrier). It was neat to see what people came up with.

This was the first time I had heard about the awards party and so it was nice to actually attend and play in the reindeer games!! I had no idea that they even had an cyclocross awards party until after the fact in the past. Whoops.

But I will tell you what, you don't have to say "Theme party" twice before I am there already. Love them!

Wow, Chris with hair!! Cool.


The whole outfit


Not sure the Utah crowd was digging the Marlboro/ Miller advertising.


Hugh? Whaaaat?

More pics here by Teresa who actually had a working camera.

Party Hardy

Yeah, well not really. Remember I AM a bike racer after all. We didn't even make it to midnight and left the party early - shocker. The Sherwins are just so much fun aren't they? But Chris is a tad tired as you can see here and has a super long week ahead of him. The boy needs rest!

How can I take Eric seriously at all with that thing on his head?

Our CA crew of Jaclyn, Kristin and Eric.

As for resolutions?? I kind of don't go there but I do go in the direction of setting goals. I definitely have some cycling goals for the 09 mtb and cross season along with some smaller personal/self improvement goals that I have been trying to ease into for a while. Hopefully 09 will seal the deal on those self goals. Habits can be hard to break!

I Graduated!

This last Friday was my official last day of Hand Therapy. My PT visits ran out but I am pretty good to go overall so its ok. I could keep going but I should save my new set of PT visits for any challenges that may occur in 09 (lets hope this is not the case right?).

So the hand is pretty good. It is still swollen some and any issues are with my middle finger now. It was dislocated in the wreck in July and sat nestled in between the 2 hand bones that I blew out. So it got the brunt of everything that happened on either side of it.

I can pretty much make a fist now but its still stiff. As for range of motion, its golden too except for that darn middle finger. Before the wreck I was able to stretch that whole finger back 90 degrees and now I can only get it 30. Not a big deal with what I am doing now with my life but hopefully I won't need the other 60 for anything in the future I guess. I am still working on it myself though because it bugs me to all hell to have it like it is. I want it back to normal dang it! It is that soft tissue thing vs. just blowing everything out thing. Blowing it out can be a lot easier and better which was the case in my particular scenario.

So, yeah... yoga, Pilate's, some specific weights for my arm and shoulder are all helping a ton with everything. It is helping get the strength and flexibility back but I am having some residual effects from the wreck in my shoulder for sure. Got some weird pain there that is more annoying than anything. And its because that side is weaker now but I am using it like normal.

The broken wrist is good too. I keep forgetting about it until I try to do an arm balance for too long in Yoga and it starts getting weak on me and sends twinges. Annoying but that will change with time.

Other than that, I have been working at Deer Valley, hanging with buddies from out of town (Kristin and Eric from Santa Barbara!!) and training for the mtb season.

Life in the fast lane. HA!

Oh and its always cool to make the "Best of 2008" pictures when you need some motivation while plugging away on your trainer! Those scratches on my leg are just a reminder of the wicked crazy season I had. They were from randomly careening into the trees during the Deer Valley Cross Country race the day before, totalling my bike and thankfully not me. That was a week later in NY........

Merry Christmas

We got some good snow today!


Well perhaps more of you had merrier Christmas's than I - at least I hope so. I stayed home alone all day watching the snow pile up and cleaned the house. That is ok - I actually wanted to clean. Being on the road all year long doesn't allow for all but a light clean here and there and I like things spic and span!! So I took this day to enjoy my own company (Chris was working) and to clean like crazy. It was actually very pleasant believe it or not.

Then it was finally time to enjoy life a little because it was Christmas party time! Too bad it was up in Park City and the highways were covered completely in snow with whiteout and windy conditions.



But we braved the storm anyway with another couple from Heber and had a nice, enjoyable and SAFE evening.

Christmas Eve

I worked today at Deer Valley selling all the cute-see-pah-toot-see stuff to those that needed last minute gifts.....of which there were quite a few actually!

Me and the rest of the staff doing our best to sell lots of picture frames, sweaters and tee - shirts.


Afterwards we had a treat of going over to our buddies, Brooke and Jons house for there annual Christmas Eve bash.


Brooke always has a Christmas pop quiz for us but, man, she needs to throw us a bone every once in a while. The questions are hard and get harder every year!!!!! Either that or I am getting dumber from putting myself in an anaerobic state all year long on the bike.

Heinrich and Julie deciding if they are just going to give in and circle all A or all B answers.


And of course there is Chris who would not be allowed in Brooke and Jons without the famous latch hook Christmas vest which has lighted lights built in on the trees.

Bike Tunes

This has been around for a while but for those of you that haven't heard The Nutcracker Suite performed all on bike parts then check it out here.

Moving Up in the World

No not me! Heber City.

We now have a NICE yoga studio here that opened recently. I finally got a chance to check it out today (I know, I am a heathen) and it was absolutely incredible. Much different that gym yoga only in that you can actually concentrate on your breathing and your body position much easier without hearing the clanging of barbells in the distance. I still dig gym yoga but this was pretty incredible experience.

And their teas they have at this studio!! Scrumptious loose leaf. Oh ya.

As for my car incident that occurred on Friday....I had been waiting for my car to give a great and massive snow birth in my garage but it never happened. So now the incident has cost me $5 for a serious car wash today. The snow was so jammed packed in the springs, on the axles, in the wheels and all under the car that it was making for a wicked wobbly and shuttery car.....like driving on an unevenly loaded washing machine at 60 mph. Enough to make you sick!

So we are all good now, unless there is something else that I don't know about. Great.

Post Office

Yep, me and all the other tools from here waited until today right before the Post Office closed to send all our packages off just in time for x-mas.



40 minutes later it was a done deal.

Later on we got to head over to Theresa's par-tey. Tons of people from both ends of her world - skiers and cyclists. It was fun to mix everyone up and get to know a more few great people!