Dobovedo's Journal of Journeys

I spent all last week in Ohio, heading up primarily for personal reasons but then also for some face-to-face work sessions with co-workers. The beginning of March is traditionally Opening Week of the local group riding season, and regardless of the weather conditions, the first rides are attended by at least a few of the hardier riders. Those group rides have gone by the wayside a bit in recent years, but I always hold true to the idea that the first day of Spring is the first Monday, Wednesday or Friday of March. As such, I headed north with a hatchback loaded with bikes and bike gear. I did bring my trainer just in case the weather turned really bad, but one way or another, I was going to get some outdoor riding (and running) done.

As it turned out I began a five day Hell [Freezeth Over] Week on Tuesday, not Monday or Wednesday.

The rest of the story »

Last Saturday, no… two last Saturdays ago… I did a fun little event with the Asheville Triathlon Club. It was called an Indoor Triathlon, but that’s a bit inaccurate because only two thirds of it was indoors. It was a non-competitive event, more along the lines of timed group training. Good way to start out the season. First up was a 20 minute lap swim.. basically just see how many laps you can cover in the time allotted. After that was a 45 minute spin class led by one of the ATC members. Prizes were given for hard efforts and enthusiasm during the various sets. So far so good on the indoors part. But then…

We headed out into freezing temps and an even colder wind chill to do a 5K run. So much for indoors!

The rest of the story »

If Saturday’s temperatures were nice, Sunday’s were even nicer. I had decided when I got up that no matter how warm it got, I was going to take an easy day and stay inside. The previous days efforts hadn’t hurt my lungs any, but I am still feeling the lingering effects of my cold and would like to see it go away completely before I do too much in the way of hard riding or running. I did my best to ignore the temperature and the sun coming in the windows and all the facebook posts from friends.

But when the temperature hit 65 at 3:30 pm, I couldn’t take it anymore.

The rest of the story »

I had been watching the forecast for Helen, GA for five weeks, and five weekends in a row were either cold and rainy or even colder and snowy. Too wet to make a trip down to get some riding in on everybody’s favorite climbs… Brasstown Bald, Hogpen Gap and more. This past weekend however, we got a break in the weather, and then some. The forecast was for sunshine and highs in the upper 50s.

Shorts in February? Maybe…

The rest of the story »

If you linked here from Twitter or Facebook just because of the blog title… you’re going to be disappointed. The D is for Distance. On Friday evening I went back down to Franklin for a “pair” of workouts on the Greenway and fitness center. I started out with my first run longer than two miles since I did a 5k on Thanksgiving morning. I doubled the distance and did four miles. I was still feeling mild cold symptoms so I kept it real light and easy: run pace of 9:30s. The plantar fasciitis continues to fade. Just the mildest of irritation from about mile .25 to .75 and the rest of the way was barely noticeable. After the run I doubled my previous 400 and did an 800m swim. Again.. mostly just playing around and taking it easy, although I did manage to make it the entire length of the pool on an underwater swim.

If you’re still looking for Double Ds, you’ll have to search elsewhere. But I’m sure you’ll have no trouble with that. It is the Internet after all.

There’s a generally excepted rule when it comes to exercising with a cold: If it’s a sinus/head cold, it’s OK to do light to moderate workouts and if it’s in the chest/lungs, get plenty of rest. I’ve always followed that rule pretty closely and it seems to work. For me, the progression of a cold is always sore throat –> head cold –> chest cold. Sometimes it goes back to head cold and sometimes it repeats the whole cycle. I managed to develop a very sore throat last Saturday and it was on fire through most of the day Sunday. Based on the severity of that sore throat, when it finally began to shift into sinus pressure and congestion I was expecting a whopper of a cold. From Sunday night through Tuesday morning it did shift, but I discovered that it wasn’t as severe as I had been expecting.

So.. what the hell does all this have to do with Fat Tuesday and Fat Tires?

The rest of the story »

On Saturday I woke up to a view out the window that looked a little bit something like the photos at left. I wanted to go for a ride. I wanted to go for a mountain bike ride. I wanted to go for a mountain bike ride in the snow. Question was… where could I go that I’d actually be able to do a little bit of riding with tough conditions and little skills? The answer came in the comments of my previous post – Bent Creek Experimental Forest (part of Pisgah National Forest) just south of Asheville, and nestled up against the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Thanks Marianne!

The rest of the story »

Looks like once again the weather gods have conspired to deliver nasty weather just in time for the weekend. With the exception of last Sunday, this is seven weekends in a row.

Difference is… this time I don’t care.

The rest of the story »

OK, this may seem like a strange way to write about a new riding experience, but bear with me. Sometimes I’m amazed at how many dead people surround us. I am referring to cemeteries and burial grounds. Not the large, obvious ones in cities and towns, the ones with chapels and mausoleums and landscaping and caretakers sheds and fancy iron gates and smoothly paved access roads. I’m referring to the small, sometimes private family ones, out in rural areas, just an over grown gravel or dirt drive to a few dozen headstones. Often partially, sometimes completely hidden by overgrown vegetation. Seemingly neglected for ages, yet maybe not. They are there, and yet not there. They barely register on the consciousness. I found one today on a bike ride. And the funny thing is.. there’s a sign pointing right to it.

The access lane is less than a quarter mile from me and I’ve been past it a dozen times on my runs up Fork Rd. Until today I never saw the sign.

The rest of the story »

Didn’t ride Monday, so the “streak” ends at six, but I did go out for a blisteringly fast two mile run. OK, maybe it wasn’t all that blisteringly fast. And maybe blister-ingly is a bad word to use when talking about running. In any case this was the first time I did the uphill/downhill Fork Rd. in under 16 minutes: 15:48. Average heart rate was 171, and somewhere along the way I manged to max out at 181. That’s still horribly inefficient, but I’m getting better. While I’m not really setting out to make any specific time goals, I figure as long as I’m running such short distances I may as well have some fun with it. The distances will start going up in another couple months and I’ll go back to pacing myself. But in the meantime, maybe I do have some time goals. I’ve got some 5Ks on the calendar and I’d kinda like to see what kind of times I can get down to. 21:00 is fairly realistic. Can I go under 20:00?  That’s a 6:27 pace. I can do that for one mile – but 3.1 miles? Not likely, but I guess I’ll find out.

Wow… hard to believe I used to run three miles in nearly the same time as I now run just two!

How long has it been since it’s been sunny on the weekend? Six weeks by my count. Woke up good and late and found the temp hovering in the low 40s here at home, upper 30s in Sylva. Figured it would be right around freezing up at Balsam Gap, so I pulled on the heavy bib tights, the fleece IM jersey and other appropriate clothing and headed out under the big, bright blue skies for a 40 mile ride. I overdressed just a bit so I could a) be sure to ride easy and b) stop to take pictures without catching a chill.

Got it perfect yet again. Comfortable the whole afternoon.

The rest of the story »

Had to look at my stats to figure out the last time I rode five days in a row. Eight months ago, all the way back to the first week of June. Nearly double the miles. In five rides I didn’t quite make 100 miles, but I suppose 98.5 is close enough to round up. Regardless, I’m getting a bit worn out. It’s been a long time since 100 miles in 5 days would be enough to wear me out.

Hell, usually 100 miles in one day doesn’t do that! Oh well, it’s a start.

The rest of the story »