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.

Michaux Forest

Hopped on the Appalachian Trail for a few miles today.

Even with warmer temps the last couple days, and sun, there is still about a foot of snow here.

Cheers

Getting Ready for the Circus

Crossfit St. Charles - Dave on the rings from Matt Ellison on Vimeo.

Winter in PA

From the alley behind my house Saturday

My back yard Sunday

My street this morning

Image Chronology

Feel like the blog's been neglected a bit, so I'm gonna follow Stitz' lead (although I haven't had the pleasure of ridin') and post some general pics. All photos are from my phone, so please excuse the poor quality.

Christmas eve eve with the Stitz' (prior to the hardcore partying.)


Bear enjoying the weather in my yard and a pic from a sunrise at the College.


Little Mexican bakery in downtown SA (good stuff and open 24/7.)


Home on the range.


My rig and respective parts at winter stage one--cleaning.


And this last is in front of my place last night. While I was walking Bear last night, there was a small domestic dispute involving 8 or so 20-year-olds on my street. A couple guys aparently got stabbed right next to my truck (hence, if you can make out the pic, my vehicle surrounded by police tape.) After chatting with the cops, also found out there had been a rape and a shooting the day before a couple blocks away. Coincidental exceptions to the norm for my neighborhood I believe.

NW Arkansas

I had a bit of free time from work and was in the area so I got a chance to check out a bit of NW Arkansas singletrack. I was there for three days and it was sunny with highs in the mid 60s. Jersey and shorts.

First was Hobbs State Park right by Beaver Lake. They claim twenty something miles of singletrack. It's very well built and maintained, non technical, rolling, ribbon trail. Very fast. I came up with around 18 miles of trail or so. Loaded with armadillos. I saw three just lumbering around. Either they're lazy, stupid, or really sluggish due to "winter". I walked right up to them and could've picked them up if I wanted. I couldn't get them to curl up for whatever reason.  A few shots from the phone:

 

 

 

Next was Lake Leatherwood just outside or Eureka Springs.  Variety of terrain, lakeside, ridgetop, technical, buff, a bit of everything.  I think 10 or 15 miles of trail.  I had a blast here and will come back whenever I can.  I ran in to Scott Davis of the BT Epic and talked/rode with him a bit, he was the only other rider out there.  There is a Fat Tire Festival that takes place in Eureka Springs every year.  Looks like it would be a good time.  A few more:

 

 

Then some Buckingham's on the way home.

Workin' hard.

Pic Dump

Just some randoms from the camera I came across today.

Dust It Off

First off, HUGE congratulations to David, the proud recipient of a newly printed MU Mechanical Engineering Degree. Mom, Dad, Anna, Scott, Jess and I were all able to go down to Columbia Saturday to watch him walk and then celebrate. Massive quantities of steak were consumed, followed by plenty of homemade cookies and desserts. Then mom and dad split for home, we picked up Schottler, and went out to drink the night away. Everyone had a blast.

It was perfect preparation for CXMAS, the end end of season non race concoction developed by Dr. Evil Gino Felino. A brain and belly full of Moose Drool, five hours sleep, an awesome free continental breakfast, and a two hour drive had me in high spirits for the noon start.

I dusted off the MTB race bike for this one but was much too lazy to try to mount up any CX type tires (I don't have any). When I arrived the parking lot was packed and people were pouring in. We all registered up and before long we were off down the Hamburg and in to Lost Valley. Whiskey and egg nog greeted us along the way. I tried my best to keep up with all the skinny tires and big rings, but it was tough. I found myself alone a lot of times while I think a lot of folks were working together. That was cool though as I saw and spoke with a number of different folks. Some folks treated this as a race, some as a fun ride. I think I finished somewhere between 20 and 30 of 130 riders. But luckily that wasn't the only reason to come out. It was so that all could get together and ride and have a good time. That was certainly accomplished.

Read a poetic account here, pics included. Results here. Prize stuff here.