Almost There

It's been quite a while since I've posted. This semester has been a crazy, busy one for me. Along with the normal course load, committee work, etc. I had a couple of exhibitions of my work. As a result, I'm a bit behind on my bike preparation for the season. Jeremy was kind enough to give me his old Specialized frame (it is one step up from mine) and I'm rebuilding it with some new components and bringing some over from my frame. I'm going to then sell my old frame (hopefully) and will reimburse JP. It's win win.

New derailleur hanger.

New Sram X-9 Trigger Shifters.

New Sram X-9 Rear Derailleur.

Chris King Headset.

Another view.

I've also replaced all cables and housing, along with a new chain.

I have been road riding quite a bit, but I'm anxious to get this rebuilding finished. I worked a lot over this past weekend and it is almost built up. I just have a few last things to do and I'll be ready to go. I'm already loving the Sram components. So much easier to get set-up than Shimano, with minimal adjustments needed.

The weather has been hit and miss here, lots of rain. So, I don't think I'd be able to ride still anyways. I'm starting to get sick of road riding and can't wait to get back into MTB. I plan to post some more pics soon, once finished.

What's going on?

A quick update on what's happening around here as well as a quick pic dump out of my phone.

We've been hitting the Crossfit gym fairly often. I've actually gained three or four pounds since I started, but my pants are all fitting a bit looser in the waist. I'm good with that. The weight might not help me climb on the bike, but I suck at that anyway and my bikes weigh thirty pounds. I haven't been spending nearly the time on the bike as I did last year. The drive isn't there for those long days on the road, however I'm absolutely ready for some off roading. I've found that the Crossfit workouts have really gotten my body used to high intensity and I seem to be recovering quickly after efforts on the bike. Jess and I have been running exclusively in our Fivefingers. My longest run in them so far is nine miles. She routinely does that and has done a twelve as well. All of the Crossfit workouts are done in the Fivefingers as well. Go get you some.

There was a Crossfit competition for all of the St. Louis affiliates. David and his team took second in the advanced division. I'm not sure how Crossfit St. Charles did in the intermediate and beginner divisions.

Now the pic dump. Looking through my phone it's apparent that my favorite subject is food. No disagreement here. Food food food.













And of course beer....





And no doubt bikes......





So in summary, I like food, beer, and bikes.

And Jess likes to take pics of me working.

I talked to David last night. He's in Seattle, went to the space needle, had a coffee at the first Starbucks, drove out to check out Mt. Rainier. I'm in Talequah, OK. Oh yeah. However, I'm heading home tonight, it's supposed to be 80 and sunny the next few days and the trails are ready.

Moving Forward................

As David alluded, he continues and I've begun training at Crossfit St. Charles.  We'll also be spending a bit of time at iStudio.  In the short time that I've been in the Crossfit gym I've learned quite a bit. I can see the path ahead and it is hard working, difficult, sweaty, and intense. I can't wait. I'd like to thank Kim and Ingrid for giving us the opportunity to train with them.  We'll be flying the Crossfit St. Charles / iStudio flag from now on. Stay tuned for more race reports, training reports, and of course all of the miscellaneous randomness as usual.

Follow along:

Crossfit St. Charles

Crossfit

iStudio

Gettin Ready to Race - Crossfit Style

Hey guys, just wanting to post up since its definitely been a while on my part, and I need to get my typing fingers ready for all of the blogging to follow this year’s epic races. With no school and a big boy job I now have a pretty regular schedule that has allowed me to train quite a bit for this upcoming season.

I’ve been spending a lot of time at Crossfit St. Charles(CFSTC), a small gym that’s in a warehouse not even 5 minutes from where I’m living at M&D’s. Ask M&D and they’ll tell you that they rarely see me; this gym has been my home away from home. I’ve seen tremendous gains in my strength and stamina, and am optimistic about this sort of training yielding great things when trying to pound my single-speed up a rocky hill.

I’m terrible at explaining Crossfit’s theories on training, the best way that I can put it is that the end goal is to be able to do more work over less time. A lot of the workouts that we do are less than 20 minutes, few go over that, and some are less than 5 minutes. The intensity of the workouts is whatever you scale it to be since all of the movements performed can be modified to accommodate people of any strength or skill level. I’ve been trying to challenge myself at these and am at a point where I can do all of the workouts ‘prescribed’, or without scaling any weights or repetitions down.

This is my friend Nathan and I bangin out some swings at the end of a workout.

Kim Wilkes is the owner and head trainer at CFSTC, she’s certified in everything under the sun, a Registered Nurse, and just a really fun and caring woman to be around. She watches us like a hawk, correcting form and providing tips so that we can all get the most out of our training and stay safe.

Chris is set to join me in the gym this week, I know he’s excited, and I’m definitely pumped to have someone there to push myself against. Hopefully we’ll be successful in racing, in promoting MTBU, and in being ambassadors for CFSTC. I’m not entirely sure if he knows what to expect, but there will be a little bit of this

Immediately followed by some of this

Sorry, I’ve got to preach just a bit more. I talk about the tremendous gains that I’ve made at this gym, but what I have accomplished there is nothing compared to the goals that have been reached by the other members. I cannot talk enough about how motivating it is to see these people working their asses off to create a healthier life for themselves, and I just need to express my gratitude for the inspiration that they provide. One of the big reasons that I spend so much time there is because you cannot walk out of that building without having just seen something amazing and feeling like you accomplished something great. They welcome everyone, any shape, size, weight, gender, color, etc, and it truly is a non intimidating atmosphere. We’re all aware of each other’s goals, and we help one another reach them. I’ve made a lot of great friends already after only being there for a couple months.

The first race that MTBU Missouri Sector will participate in is at the end of the month, right up the street at Lost Valley. Hoping for a good showing, but my goal is just to do the best I can and get an idea of the competition for this year. I’m very curious to see if this general fitness training will apply well to a specific sport.