Canal Ride

I learned from a friend of mine that the towns of Pittsford and Fairport clear most of the snow on the section of canal path that runs through them. With the recent above freezing temperatures and rain I figured this might be a good place to ride today.

I started at Perinton Park and headed west, riding my geared 29er in high gear. Two-thirds of length of trail was packed gravel and dirt. It was very wet and had many patched of standing water along the way. Thankfully the surface below the standing water was still solid so I could ride through it without sinking into mud. Walkers had to be more creative and find alternative routes of the path. In Pittsford at Schoen Place the path becomes paved and had no standing water. Sure enough once I hit the west border of Pittsford the trail hadn't been cleared and was a frozen cratered mess. At that point I turned back.

There were a lot of people out walking, and many with dogs. It's kind of annoying to have to deal with them because they tend to take up both sides of the path, and seem oblivious. The unpredictability of dogs always makes me nervous too. I just don't want them to get in my way or pull their 50' cord leash in front of me. I had to dismount of few times for people and their dogs.

The wet trail provided enough friction to keep me working, and heading west I had a significant head wind. Of course the way back was easier. So I got something of a workout, and it was good to get out, but it wasn't particularly exciting.

I rode 17.5 miles.

Longest Ride

I did another road ride this afternoon.  It started at about 14°F and rose to 19°F.  The roads were a mix of packed snow and clear.

Again, because I'm trying to train, I pushed for more distance.  I ended up riding 25.6 miles!  That's most I've ever ridden.  But, that's on road, and much of it was clear.  Trails are harder.  I did ride my high gear the whole time, so that offered more resistance.  On the other hand, the higher speed means less saddle time, though it sure felt long.  I suspect the Singlespeed-A-Palooza race will take me over 4 hours to finish, and this ride was about 3 hours.  I may need to get shorts with more padding, a new saddle, or just keep riding.

Registered for Singlespeed-a-Palooza

Where 2014 SSAP riders are coming from

Today I registered to the Singlespeed-a-Palooza race.  This year 11 unicyclists registered!  The other 289 racers fall into a variety of categories, but from my point of view they're all just two wheelers.  Having 11 muni riders is a big deal!  Thanks to Dark Horse Cycles for putting this event together and giving us our own class with trophies and prizes!  It's gonna be fun.

I used the registration info from BikeReg to create this map to see where people are coming from.  Just curious.  Unicyclists are definitely willing to travel farther for this!

I expected Dustin to register but he didn't.  He's still gonna train for spring riding so that's cool.  By next spring he'll be a muni machine!

I too continue to train, but really I'm just trying to stay in shape.  Training should involve more riding, but poor trail conditions make them off limits and roads aren't much better.  Hopefully I get at least a month of good riding conditions.   I'm still doing Insanity workouts and finished my "recovery week" which still had some decent cardio in it.  But then with no day of rest it goes into Fit Test AND Max Interval Circuit on the same day.  My heart was pounding harder than ever after the fit test, probably because I want to beat my previous numbers and I decide not to do another whole workout.  I skipped it and ended up resting yesterday because I wasn't feeling good.  Today I made up the Max Interval Circuit workout.  I'm not happy that the "Max" workouts for the next 4 weeks are each an hour long and in this one there were a lot of arm movements that I'm not a fan of.  Punching the air just doesn't seem effective and it's leg exercises that really get the heart and breathing going.  I'll give this week a try, suspecting the next workouts are better, but I might have to mix things up if I'm not getting the workout I want.

Snow-Packed Road Ride

Not my pic.  Road conditions were similar, but much
less rural and more suburban.

This morning we have a bright blue sky, a snow-packed road, freezing temperatures, and not much wind. A perfect winter road muni day! A few hours later I was disappointed the blue sky had turned to white, but oh well.

I rode the area roads I've ridden before and tried to add in as many optional routes as possible. My goal was to get some good distance to continue my training for the Singlespeed-a-Palooza. I had my gps logger in my CamelBak so it wasn't until I got home did I really determine my distance of 20.7 miles. A good start. It's not quite the same as riding challenging trails, but riding in the snow does take some extra strength, and I had some good head wind at times.  I was able to stay in my high gear for all but getting started after a dismount.

I had a handful of UPDs, all uneventful except for the one in the last few miles. My uni got caught up in my legs and my left knee got banged. I continued to ride and found it only hurt when I pushed hard. Once I got home I found swelling above my knee. I don't expect it to be a problem.

It was cold at about 14°F, but I dressed right and only my chin was cold, though never dangerously cold. My CamelBak tube froze up whenever I waited to long to drink, but I could flex it and get water moving as I rode.

I'm proud to say I've continued to stick to my Insanity workout schedule, aside from days when I've ridden, which I think is reasonable.   I'm halfway through, and it sounds like it's going to be more intense, with the routines now having "Max" in the name.  I did feel like I had more endurance today, and I can only attribute that to these workouts.

Icy Hell

Today Dustin and I got out of work early to ride at Whiting and Webster Park.  We haven't had any significant snow since a recent thaw and the only snow on the ground seemed to be in piles from snowplowing.  Today it was just below freezing for most of the day and 32°F at ride time.  This was pretty close to ideal in that mud would be frozen but it wouldn't feel terribly cold.  So it seemed like a great day to hit the trails.  Unfortunately there was evil lurking in the woods.

Icy trails.  So sad.

A few seconds into the trail it became obvious that ice was going to be a problem.  Trails that get significant foot traffic were covered in ice, at least in some sections.  It wasn't just a small amount here or there.  It was thick, solid, shiny, and slick and in many places covered the entire trail to the very edges.  It was hard enough to walk on, much less unicycle.

Dustin and I arrived at slightly different times and didn't ride together, as planned.  Were both considering racing at the upcoming Singlespeed-A-Palooza race and want to push our riding.  So riding at our own paces makes sense.  He rode Whiting and I, Webster Park.  We had similar experiences with the ice.  Most trails had at least some decent sections with no ice, but around every turn was an unrideable section.  Some icy sections had an non-icy edge I could ride.  I did find a few less popular trails with nearly no ice.  Those happen to be my favorite trails, so yay for me.

On my way out of the trails my uni suddenly freewheeled and I fell back on my butt and elbow.  I was ok, but had to walk my uni out.  It looks like one of my crank arms came loose, and in doing so, half-shifted my geared hub into a middle freewheeling state.  I'll have to inspect it closer when I get a chance, but hopefully just tightening the crank are will fix it.  Often a loose crank arm means bad wear on both the hub and crank arm, and neither are ever the same.  My fingers are crossed.

With all the trouble, I still enjoyed getting out for a ride!

Stuck In Winter

Time keeps going by and I'm not getting any great opportunities to get out and be active.  It's the same old story... busy at home or work, bad weather, or bad trail conditions.  If it's not the coldest temperature in years, it's raining.

So in the meantime I'm continuing with Insanity workouts, about to finish my third week.  I hope I can keep pushing and I hope these workouts have a positive impact on my muni in the spring.

Despite my dissatisfaction from last year's Singlespeed-a-Palooza race, I'm considering it again.  Registration isn't until February 2nd, and the race is April 13th.  Some of my Albany area muni friends have been pushing to make a good showing this year.  It's cool that the race organizer has added a Unicycles class this year.  I kind of want to try again and see if I can redeem myself.  Last year I didn't finish.  I need to stay in shape, not get sick or injured, and train better.

Here's a video from last years event that was just brought to my attention. I spot myself in there a few times, but Claude is interviewed:
SingleSpeed-A-Palooza: The Movie

Insanity

I haven't been getting out for muni or snowshoeing for weeks, but I continue to workout nearly daily.  P90X has been good, but I felt like trying something new.  The Insanity workout sounded good because there's more cardio than in P90X, and muni is certainly a lot of cardio.  So I got it and I'm on the third day.

It's definitely more cardio and I sweat a lot more than in P90X.  I hate it, but I love it.  Oh wait that's P90X.  I'm sore from day two, and that made today's workout hard to Bring It.  Oh wait that's P90X.  I'll try to stick with it for a week or two, but my goal is to mix things up.  I gotta keep it X-like!  Oh wait...