Thank You!

The last week has just flown by and I can't believe it's been a week since we finished the 2008 RAAM. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who sent well wishes, left comments and voice mail messages on my cell phone. I really appreciate all of your kind words and encouragement.

RAAM was definitely an experience of a lifetime and I am very proud of the Team Strong Heart crew and my teammates. Thank you to each and every one of you!

RAAM Bikes

Here are the two bikes I am riding for RAAM. One is a Giant TCR C2 with HED Jet 50 wheels. The second is my Surly Cross-Check set up with DT shifters and 35x700c tires. The Giant will be my daytime go-fast bike and the Surly will be my night-time ride and poor roads bike. As cool as the Giant is with the HED wheels, I look forward to putting miles in on the Surly. The Surly is just a blast to ride.

Maple Grove Magazine features Team Strong Heart

The latest Maple Grove Magazine is out with a very nice feature on Team Strong Heart. Better yet it's the best-of Maple Grove issue and there is bound to be lots of readers, cool!

The funny part... my fifteen seconds of fame comes along and I end up taking probably one of the most unflattering pictures I have ever seen of myself. All I could do was laugh! Lycra on big guys probably won't be a fashion hit any time soon. Thank goodness I can ride better than I look...

Todd Buchanan the photographer was fun to work with. It turns out that he actually covered RAAM as a photographer over a couple years back in the late '80's. He had some great tales to tell us while he took our pictures. The photos seen here are courtesy of Todd Buchanan. Todd does very impressive work. After looking over his web site we feel rather privileged that he came out to take our pictures. Especially after watching him flop down on the wet pavement to shoot from all kinds of angles on a cold windy day. Thank you Maple Grove Magazine and Todd Buchanan. Team Strong Heart appreciates the exposure.

1000x1

Yup, new milestone for me. The first 1000 miles of the season without a single shift.

Stupid? nutty?... maybe, but the single geared bike never stops revealing stuff that never occurred to me while on a geared bike. Go figure.

Leg Up!

I have other plans for my arms and legs this week. It looks like we are going to finally emerge from winter and see some decent temps. So, my commuter bag is packed and the alarm is set. I'm going to ride into work this week in order to gain a little extra training time and save a little fuel cost to boot. Double bonus!

My commute is really a no-brainer. It is about 11 miles and takes me only 10 to 15 minutes longer to ride that it does to drive. I even have locker and shower facilities when I get there. I don't know why I don't do it more often. Starting this week I plan to make happen more often.

Can you think of a single action that is more beneficial than riding a bike?

Born to Ride

On the road, early April 2008

Maybe that statement is a little bold, but man, do I feel at home on a bike. Things just grove like they should. It is a feeling of being alive like no other.

I was just crunching the numbers of my time spent doing the activities I call training. The 07/08 ski season is now in the bag and my results were a little funny considering it was a good snow year. I did put in nearly 2x the kilometers as the year before, but it could have been better. Looking at January alone, I rode my trainer as many times as I skied, mostly because of cold weather. I would have preferd to be out on the trail.

In spite of the cold it was a good ski season and it paid off. I suffered a bit of a training hiccup in March but I credit my time on skies for giving me the base to absorb the down time. Dry roads and daylight are now here and I'm making up for the March slack-time as fast as I can. I'm confident in my base and between now and the RAAM start line I'm going to focus on putting in the scheduled training time and trimming weight.

In other TSH news, all I can say is we are busy! The planning and logistics of our preparations is crazy. We all knew it would be like this, but man! it is nuts. As always we are looking for any help and support we can get. Punch in www.teamstrongheart.com and check out all the support options. We appreciate all the support we can get.


Thanks for checking in! JayT

Sorry, too long with no update

Jay, Jay, Neil, & John. March 2008

Here's a quick update on my recent training. As previously reported, I skied at less than 100% at Berkie. The race was awesome and to ski with conditions "best in history" was worth the suffering. Post race activities are always the best and this year was no different. The post-race toast with a cold beer and a hot slice of pizza was never better!

Post Berkie... In the weeks following the Berkie I have done very little training (actually none). I fell into an apathetic funk as my sickness crud settled out and the weather decided what to do. That period yielded about 3 1/2 weeks of backward progress... or at least that's how it seemed in my head.

That brings us up to this week. Things have turned around well. I put in a very good week on the bike and my body responded better than I thought it would, I really expected to struggle. I knew my weight was up and my training time was down. Typically that is not a good combination.

I was pleased to find that my lack of recent training did not set me back like I thought it would. When it came time to ride with partners who I knew well and could measure up against, I did not completely falter. I credit this to my time on Skies. Skiing really helps build an unbelievable engine.

If you need more proof consider this... this past Tuesday six of us rode from Trailhead Cycling. One guy was blazing the way the entire ride. It was no surprise that it was somebody who skied consistently all winter. Look out for Tom C., I think he is going to surprise himself this spring. Good work Tom!

High & Dry with a Bright Blue Sky!

I did something I have not done in over three months. I biked some real miles! I typically do do some winter riding but this winter I have not put in a real mile since the snow came. Of course I don't really feel too bad about it considering it's been one of the best winters for skiing in awhile.

So with the sun shining brightly and the roads clear and dry I decided I would start March out with a ride. I always enjoy these first rides of the season, I always get a sense of new experience even after 20+ year of riding.

Team news: tonight is the first real team training session for Team Strong Heart. Unfortunately I'm missing out because of a busy family schedule, but the rest of the team and a few of the 2007 TSH team are going to gather at Amy's to do a 12hr ride/rest/ride simulation and to get a little schooling and advice from the senior TSH members. Go Team Strong Heart!

Tough day on skies

The 2008 American Birkebeiner was awesome, every part of it except for actually racing it that is... that was hard work. I was sick with some kind of cold crud the week leading up to the race. I opted to do the race because the course conditions and weather were suppose to be optimal. They were, I wasn't...

The trouble is the Biekie does not allow for any easy way out. If you don't show up with what it takes you are in for some hard work. That is what I learned. The day was still awesome and I am glad I went but I have an all new respect for the American Birkebeiner.

It should be noted that each of my fellow Team Strong Heart teammates with the exception of Melinda who was sidelined with Pneumonia did the Birkie. It was John's first Birkie race and he started with the 10th wave and finsihed at 3:08 which is absolutely phenomenal! That should earn him a first or second wave start for next year. That is one hell of a performance, good work John!

Snowy Ski

I skied tonight with the snow coming down, that was fun! The effect the snow has in the trail lights is always cool. The trail probably received an inch of new cover while I was there. The new snow was light and fast. The best thing about this snow is it is going to run pretty much dead center over the Birkie course. From what I understand the trails were already in decent shape. I think this snow is icing on the cake for the Birkie folks, what a difference a year makes! This time last year you couldn't buy a snowflake. I'm feeling pretty lucky considering I registered back in October.

My training continues to tick along. I have had successful weeks being able get in the time that I need. I don't put in crazy amounts of time into training, in fact, I'm sure people would be surprised how few hours I actually put in per week. I am focused on hitting the mark each week and putting the pieces together bit by bit.

Knock-knock

knock-knock, knock-knock! Dang, what is that knocking?

I am sleeping and it is so warm & cozy... dad, wake up! I'm back.

Man, was I in dreamland....

I skied the Elm Creek Relays/TT series tonight. It was a small but fast group. I turned in a time over a minute slower than my previous time. That is no surprise following a week of sub-zero temps and a race time temp of 2F. Cold snow is slow.

After the race, with tonight's temp bottoming-out just like all week, I decided to cut my ski night short . I went home and put in the rest of my workout time on the bike. As much as I don't like indoor riding the trainer did the trick warming up my fingers and toes.

When I wrapped up my training time I still had one more chore to do. My Oldest daughter Katie (9th grader) is in orchestra. Tonight they went on a field trip see an Opera in Minneapolis and the bus was not due back until 11PM.

So at 10:45 I warmed up my car an went to the school to wait for their arrival. My car was soooo warm and before I knew it... well, you already know the rest of the story.

Knock-knock, dad!!

Winter's Dead Center

white & nerdy

As I write this (Fri. eve) the temperature outside is -6F and tumbling towards the teens below. Saturday's forecasted high is -2F. WOO-HOO! you got to dig it, I mean, this is it, the absolute dead of winter! From here on out it's just another day closer to spring...

We have had it pretty good this winter so far, it is mid January and we have had no real long-term plunges into the sub-zero range. I find myself hoping for a good wallop of arctic air this weekend, after all, what is a Minnesota winter without some real snow and cold? As we all know, heading into February, Old Man Winter's grip starts to slip. The sun climbs higher, daylight is more plentiful, and before you know it... dandelions!

Seriously, winters have never seemed shorter since I started xc skiing. Here in Minnesota, at our local latitude, the best we can hope for is a 100 ski day season. Suddenly, a hundred days of winter never seemed so short!

So I say; sock it to us Mother Nature and Old Man Winter! Lets see what you got!!

On a side note, I am pleased to report that I have been successfully hitting the prescribed marks on my training schedule. EVEN if it means mindlessly spinning my white legs on a trainer in front of the tube!

Happy New Year and back to work

Christams was great, but training-wise Christmas week was not good. Starting New Years Eve things have turned around again. Mary and I turned down party invites for New Years Eve opting to spend a family night safe and sound at home. That plan quickly fell apart as our kids all had alternate plans. I guess playing games at home with mom & dad is not so exciting to teen & nearly teen kids.

The up-side? I got to go skiing! So that is how I spent some of the last hours of '07. Actually, you want to know what I was doing in the very last hour of '07? At 11:30 I was at Cub foods in Champlin buying pop for my oldest daughter and her two friends, woo-hoo! I did make it home in time to kiss my wife as '08 arrived (then I hid out in the basement).

Fast-forward to tonight and the "back to work" part. Great ski night with a lot of familiar faces... Amy, Melinda, Dave, Tom, Bob, John, & Neil. I skied my longest and hardest ski of the season so far. Two hour plus with a 2K Time Trial thrown in and a team relay lap race to boot. I went home with probably 25K on my legs, tired, and parched!

Best wishes to everyone in 2008. Bring it on!