Carl Buchanan - Mountain Bike Racer

So it begins...

2008-05-13T11:08:00Z

Monday marked the first day of actual purpose directed training for me outside of the group road rides. Heading out of the house at around 5:15pm to pick up a Fulcrum spoke wrench from Bike Tech and then proceeded to finish my 20 minute warm-up before heading over towards Lookout Park hill for a few uphill intervals. As I crossed over the river from George Wyth and made the turn to the river trail, I saw Super Saul heading my way so I slowed my pace just a touch for him to catch up. He decided to...(read more)

Rested

2008-05-12T11:24:00Z

I ended up taking the entire weekend (Fri-Sun) off the bike, although not entirely by choice, which has left me fairly well rested. Amy was busy with work all day Saturday and it was raining off and on all day so I never really had the chance to get out for a ride. Sunday was of course Mother's Day so my riding was not a priority. We did go to the quarry in Shell Rock to pick up some landscaping bricks to clean up the nastiness in the front of our house. 52 bricks that had to be transported across...(read more)

Tension

2008-05-09T11:17:00Z

I read an article yesterday concerning some pretty bad road rage between a car driver and about 50 cyclists yesterday from Sydney, Australia and was blown away that anyone in a car would take it that far. Well, we got a little taste of that last night during our group ride although, it was no where near as bad as the incident in Sydney. We started out with eight riders heading West on 27th street at around 28mph and rolling through the draft lines really smooth. Speeds were good, comfort level was...(read more)

Throttle out-of-control

2008-05-02T11:07:00Z

We had another small group make it's presence for the Thursday Night Pain Fest including J. Fry, Mike J., Mike F., Craig, Finn, Bullerman, Carey, and myself of course. Surprised J. Fry with my camera that he loves so much This was the view that I had of the group a couple of times last night. The wind was coming from the SSE so we opted for the Dike-Hudson loop and the pain that it provides with it's rolling hills and head/crosswinds. It did not take too long before I fell off the back a...(read more)

Throttle control

2008-04-30T11:14:00Z

We had a whooping six people show up for the group ride last night, probably due to the lower temperatures. I know that it was 55F when I arrived home at 4pm and when I left at 5pm it felt like the temps had already started dropping. I actually went back home after less than a mile to grab my knee warmers to help keep some heat in. Wish I would have grabbed a heavier jersey too but I didn't and it was getting pretty darn chilly by 8:30pm when I arrived at home. The six of us set out on the very...(read more)

Too much H2O

2008-04-25T12:39:00Z

Small group of five on the road ride last night including Mike J., Mike F., Kat, Bottke and myself. With a small group and some fairly ggod winds from the SE we kept it fairly calm and did the New Hartford loop. Mostly just rolling hills with a couple of tough ones, overall really friendly. Mike, Mike, and I had some fun contesting the sprints and what not but, most of the ride was keeping the group together and riding in a pace line. It's a good chance for those who are not able to get out with...(read more)

Fitness......it's coming back

2008-04-23T11:10:00Z

Headed out for a warmup through the park and around Big Woods Lake around 4:45 yesterday afternoon to get ready for the Tuesday Night Group Pain Session. There were a lot of newer faces in the parking lot behind Bike Tech last night including everything from Cat. 2 racers to recreational roadies. I was feeling pretty good and was making mental notes of what to expect from the night's festivities. The wind was coming from the North(ish) so J. Fry and I declared that we would head to Finchford...(read more)

Finally getting the time in

2008-04-21T02:32:00Z

Even though we were bombarded with rain this past week I was still able to get away from the torture of my house (removed 48 gallons of water from my basement in two days) for a couple of hours on each of Saturday and Sunday to log some road miles. Saturday was a solo ride along the New Hartford loop with a 14 mph wind from the North. Actually became quite a nice workout when I was out in the countryside with no windbreaks. Temps stayed in the low 50s and there was just a bit of drizzle during the...(read more)

4 Years, 9 days....

2008-04-17T11:18:00Z

My last night working at Europa Cycle & Ski was last night....16 April 2008. My first day there was 7 April 2004. I did the exact same thing on both nights too. Assembled one bicycle and spent time working the sales floor. I am sure that the bike I built on day one was an entry-level hybrid or comfort bike but, last night I went out in style. Brett requested that I assemble a bike that one of her friends had purchased so I was delighted to finish my days at Europa with a 2008 Cannondale Synapse...(read more)

Time for pain

2008-04-16T11:26:00Z

I was able to make it to my first group ride of the year last night. It was a smaller group of eight riders of varying abilities which was good for me since my training has been well under the norm so far this year. Hopefully last night's ride was the turning point of that problem though. I headed out about an hour early in an attempt to get the blood flowing through my legs again. Rode around on the paved trails in Waterloo and Cedar Falls putting in a few slow sprint efforts and a couple of...(read more)

Need to get back...

2008-04-15T11:10:00Z

...on the blogging track. Things have been a bit crazy around here for the last few weeks so my blogging and my riding have both suffered for it, badly. It seems to rain every day that I am NOT working and of course the weather is perfect every day that I am. I have been going crazy with it to the point that I went for a ride in the rain just to get out on the bike. Riding in the rain is like prepping for CX season anyway, right? Although, a 90 minute ride in the rain equated to a 45 minute bath...(read more)

2008-03-31T02:29:00Z

I was able to get out for three consecutive days of riding this week. Amazing. Thursday was going to be a fairly easy spin on the CX bike through Black Hawk but, it turned into a bit of a resistance workout by the time I was heading through the park itself. Lot of trail that still had snow and ice on it so I just worked on powering through it and trying to keep the front wheel straight. The longest stretch was about 200 feet or so long and about 3-4 inches deep so it was a pretty nice little piece...(read more)

SystemSix out to play

2008-03-24T02:09:00Z

Had some time to ride on Saturday and opted to take the SystemSix out for a little bit of Iowa asphalt. Kept it pretty short with a 90 minute ride out and about the country roads to see how the snow is melting and how the roads handled the winter weather. The asphalt seemed to fair a little bit better than the concrete did overall. Busted up concrete all over the place ready to swallow a small car in some areas. Temps were around 30F which actually makes for a pretty nice ride as long as I kept moving...(read more)

Wagon walking

2008-03-20T11:28:00Z

Amy and I took Rhea for a short walk in her wagon yesterday since the weather wasn't too bad. She tends to get a little on the happy side when she gets to go for a ride. Should be interesting to see her in the Burley trailer this year too, she might even stay awake this time. Picked her up from my Mom and she started cheesing from ear to ear as soon as she saw the wagon. Sun was a little bright so Amy hooked her up with her Oakley Gascans . Note the very cool argyle "O". Polished Rootbeer...(read more)

Share the Road

2008-03-19T18:55:00Z

Plates are in. Now go get yours....(read more)