# Can I get an Amen?



## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

Whew, with some endurance events on the schedule this year and me somehow managing to get into SSWC (http://www.sswc08.com/) it was time to officially get back on the horse and start some long painful endurance rides on the dirt.

So, we decided to do 45 miles on the single speeds yesterday. The weather was gorgeous here in Nor Cal, sunny and in the 50's. Completed the ride with no mechanicals (not even a flat!), no "badjenny" bonking moments, no crashes and no drops. I finished a little hungry, a little sore from being in the saddle so long and with the faint start of my wierd tan lines returning to promise another white-y skin suit in the bikini look for yet another summer. We rode straight to the local pizza joint after the last hill of the day to refill on pizza and a couple of brews. It was a good day.

So 45 miles on the SS, does that get me a hallejulah from my dirt soul sisters?? What did you do to challenge yourself this weekend? What left you with the dirt stained perma grin? Let's inspire each other with our accomplishments, big or small. Brag on!


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## connie (Mar 16, 2004)

Where are you at that there is even dirt visible, let alone temperatures that allow you to expose skin to the sun? 

I'm jealous.


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## Team Pro Laps (Jul 1, 2004)

*On my feet all day*

Spent almost 4 hours hours hiking & bush whacking around a local county park west of Austin to check for single track potential. Happily, there are about 900-1000 acres with single track potential in spades. Nice topography, but not dauntingly rugged, like some Texas limestone Hill Country can be. Will take two or three years to develop, but there will be some smoking hot trail out there, all designed to conform with sustainable IMBA standards and guidelines. The ultimate goal is a mountain bike race venue.


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## diannetics (Jan 20, 2008)

AMEN! That is an awesome ride for January!

The weather here in NC was brutally cold today, but SO and I were stir crazy after not riding yesterday. So, we rounded up a couple of buddies and started out riding on the forest service roads in 23 degree weather. Road turned into trail (snow & ice), but I managed to stay upright :thumbsup: We only managed about 2 hours before everyone was frozen solid, but any day riding beats a day on the couch! 

P.S. Decided it was time to register myself instead of posting as gearguywb's girlfriend


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

connie said:


> Where are you at that there is even dirt visible, let alone temperatures that allow you to expose skin to the sun?
> 
> I'm jealous.


same here, with wind chill its probably below zero; some local roads are closed to due drifting; the ski lifts are closed due to wind....

An hour on the "lifecycle" interval mode with a bunch of tunes at the gym is going to have to do.


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## TheotherH (Jan 21, 2004)

Congrats on doing a 45 mile ride and on an SS too!

How about snow-covered perma grin instead? Snowshoed for about 2.5 hours yesterday on one of our well-known-in-the-biking-world "north shore" mountains, Seymour.










And to challenge myself today (my brain anyways), I'm reading about inventory writedowns and fraudulent accounting practices. Woo hoo...not.


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## Gatorbike (Mar 13, 2006)

*Owwww*

Well I live in Fl so I get to ride all the time. Wednesday evening I took a handle bar to the groin. OUCH! Hospital visit later I have no internal injuries just a huge lump on my femoral artery.:nono:


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## verslowrdr (Mar 22, 2004)

Yeah, I'm getting cozy w/ the rollers myself. But the skate skis are still getting hard use during the week, and yesterday I treated us to a mother-daughter dog sled ride since it was too warm to do anything else with the hellhunden. Youtube evidence:


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## Neen (Sep 27, 2004)

I was all proud of myself for doing 35 road miles in 30* temps! (It's a little too wet to ride in the woods here, last week was too warm for everything to freeze). You girls rock!


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## msrutzie (Nov 14, 2006)

When my former boyfriend was killed two years ago I adopted his parents. He was an only child, adopted at that, and they had no family in the states. Last Saturday we lost his mother to an illness she had struggled with for 10 years. I spent the last week sitting with my adopted father who is obviously devastated after losing both his only child and his wife of 56 years within 2 years of eachother. :-(

I was supposed to be racing in AZ this Saturday but bailed on the race to help my adopted father through this tough time. After being off the bike for two weeks it felt good to get a 15 mile road ride in, a 7 mile hike in Sunol Regional Park and then a 20+ mile ride with 3000' feet of climbing on my singlespeed this weekend. No HR monitor, pedalling drills or worries about mileage or time, just riding to ride. 

Not sure how many of the 15 races I had on my 2008 calendar I'll be able to make given this change of events but I'll be grateful for the days I can get on the bike. Some days riding is the only thing that gets me through these tough patches in life. Well, that and the amazing friends that I am blessed with.


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## CycleMainiac (Jan 12, 2004)

AMEN Sistas!

TPS Paleface? Or some place I am unaware of?

It was a great day for riding here today, cool and sunny.

We had a birthday girls ride on the back trails. We made our way to a look out at the birthday girl's request. This was a near repeat of another b-day ride two weeks ago to the same spot. This time it was realized there was a nearly 30 year age range on the ride when the youngest (26) joked about us all coming back on her 53rd b-day.

It's pretty cool to have biking friends of all ages. Today was also K-Dog's 2nd dirt ride since a very bad leg break she suffered two summers ago in a 4-cross race.

SpinninCin, V, K-Dog, LadyBiker, CajunSpice, Dawn, Kris-10 (1st pic) me (2nd pic)


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

Connie: Oor ride was in the Folsom, CA area. About 20 mins from Sacramento. I am lucky to have trails just a few minutes ride from the house, the ocean a 90 minute drive and slopes 60 minutes away. Most of the time a sweatshirt suffices, a really cold day is 40 degrees! I love it! 

I am so spoiled by my climate. Big props to those of you who venture out on your bikes in below 30 degree weather. You rock. 

TheotherH: That picture is unreal! Please tell me that is not photo shop!! 

CycleManiac: I love seeing that many women riding together and of all ages! I hope I am still riding when I am in my 50's. Heck, I hope I am still riding in my 70's. 

Msrutzie: So sorry for your loss. It is amazing how good the bike therapy can be to get you through hard times. My bike and long rides with my best friend got me through my fathers diagnosis with Alzheimers and a divorce. There is nothing like a little physical suffering to reset the brain. As for the races, sometimes getting derailed makes you realize how bad you want it. I broke my collarbone a few years ago, I came back hungry and had a great season. 

Team Pro Laps: Thank you! It is folks like you that make it all possible. We need more trails, keep up the good work. 

By the way, I got Marla Streb's book, "The Life Story of a Downhill Gravity Godness" as a xmas present. It's a good read, very inspiring.


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## gabrielle (Jan 2, 2005)

Jeez. (hug)

gabrielle


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## gabrielle (Jan 2, 2005)

45 miles on an SS? Holy crap.

I went down to Whypass for the DOD's All Comers' Meat (see the Oregon forum). My first trail ride since...September. It was a blast and the DOD as usual were fabulous hosts.

gabrielle


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## Impy (Jan 6, 2004)

Amen sistah! Nice job. 45 miles on the SS is quite an accomplishment, and auburn has some nice steeps to challenge you too!

WOW am I jealous - I didn't get into the sswc08, although I sure tried. It filled up so fast! Just as well as I am rarely riding the SS much these days - instead I have been on the 1x9 in anticipation of an endurance event in march (vision quest). My accomplishment this week was a 50 mile ride that included 10,000 feet of climbing, last Thursday. I have never previously done that much climbing in one day, and it was an amazing experience. Hopefully I can get my speed up to par and make the time cut off in my event, which is a serious concern for me.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Holy Fock!*



Impy said:


> ...50 mile ride that included 10,000 feet of climbing,...


That is a lot of climbing. I can't even imagine 10k feet. I think I did 6.5k once over 48 miles at Annadel and it just about killed me.


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## stingray_coach (Jun 27, 2006)

"So, we decided to do 45 miles on the single speeds yesterday. The weather was gorgeous here in Nor Cal, sunny and in the 50's. Completed the ride with no mechanicals (not even a flat!), no "badjenny" bonking moments, no crashes and no drops. I finished a little hungry, a little sore from being in the saddle so long and with the faint start of my wierd tan lines returning to promise another white-y skin suit in the bikini look for yet another summer. We rode straight to the local pizza joint after the last hill of the day to refill on pizza and a couple of brews. It was a good day"

This post would be so much better with pics...of your tans lines. Im just saying.


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

stingray_coach said:


> This post would be so much better with pics...of your tans lines. Im just saying.


Ask and you shall receive....


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## TheotherH (Jan 21, 2004)

badjenny said:


> TheotherH: That picture is unreal! Please tell me that is not photo shop!!


No photo shopping. Just lots of white snow, steel gray skies, and a bright blue jacket does the trick.


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## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

Winter was hard for JMH and I last year. It was our first in Utah, so we had some palm-tree withdrawl to deal with and we were learning how to skate ski, so workouts were really inefficient and not good training. 

This winter is a different story. I think we have fully recovered from tan-line withdrawl symptoms (buying ourselves some shiny new Swix Star carbon XC poles really helped  ). We still aren't fast on our skis, but we are getting to be a lot smoother, and we can actually train now. Long skis are a pleasure. My goal for this winter is to come into spring really fit - so I am either riding the trainer or skiing every workout-day. 

Anyway, on Saturday, completed 25k of skate and on Sunday, 20k (10k of skate uphill and 10k of skate downhill!). I am pretty tired, but in that awesome endurance-miles way. 

On a side note - any skate ski racers here?

C


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## Berkeley Mike (Jan 13, 2004)

*Yes!*

From a Soul Mister.


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## PennyRich (Jul 13, 2003)

I've spent the last 2 weekends on new trail construction, adding a loop to an existing trail system.


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## EJP (Apr 30, 2007)

chuky said:


> Winter was hard for JMH and I last year. It was our first in Utah, so we had some palm-tree withdrawl to deal with and we were learning how to skate ski, so workouts were really inefficient and not good training.
> 
> This winter is a different story. I think we have fully recovered from tan-line withdrawl symptoms (buying ourselves some shiny new Swix Star carbon XC poles really helped  ). We still aren't fast on our skis, but we are getting to be a lot smoother, and we can actually train now. Long skis are a pleasure. My goal for this winter is to come into spring really fit - so I am either riding the trainer or skiing every workout-day.
> 
> ...


Yep. I do a lot of classic skiing, as well. AlaskaRider is also a very accomplished nordie.

It was 8 degrees at home this am. At the ski area (Eldora), it was 20+. Mmmmmm, temperature inversion. Skiing good.


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## jewels (Mar 17, 2004)

Now that's some serious endurance training on a SS, Amen sistah! I spent the whole weekend dirt biking w/ a crew of local girls here. I wish I had my camera, the views of the N shore cliffs were unreal...just when I thought I've seen it all we'd come to an exposure that made me love maui all over again. So much fun. I've ridden (or rather pushed alot) some of these trails on my mtb many years ago, but w/ a motor I saw so many other new trails. I'm lucky to hook up with a very local crew who had access to all the private lands, it was a great weekend. My body is sore today. Great thread, let's hear more snowshoe'ing, trail building, biking, anything stories from the weekend!


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

TheotherH said:


> No photo shopping. Just lots of white snow, steel gray skies, and a bright blue jacket does the trick.


LOL, at first I thought that was a reference to the Borat pic, but TheotherH's shot made me have Disney music in my head....


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## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

Are you skate racing?


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## EJP (Apr 30, 2007)

chuky said:


> Are you skate racing?


Not a whole lot this year, but I have done quite a bit of it in the past. At this point, I am figuring on doing a couple more biathlons (which are skating) and one half-marathon (could be either skate or classic--will depend on the snow in March). I am not on a structured training program at all, though. Just kinda going out and doing what I feel like. I spent many years training specifically for nordic racing..........


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## brownieinSC (Apr 19, 2004)

Here in South Carolina we got excited with our inch or two of snow last week! Hopefully my daughter will get to really see a snow one day. It has been very cool for us ~around 20 at night and 40's during the day. not cold but I don't own a lot of cold weather riding gear because we rarely need it.
My husband and I went on my first ride since surgery yesterday. It was a very easy short ride to see how I would do ~ more like 5 miles and lots of easy gears! 
Congrats on your great ride!


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## alaskarider (Aug 31, 2004)

Responding to the original post: my bragging for the weekend is that I did my first set of intervals (on skis) in more than a year! Time to get back into shape...

(No riding here at the moment...well, at least not much good riding and the skiing is great.)

On another note, so sorry to hear about your loss, msrutzie.

And to continue the thread hijack (my ears were burning):



EJP said:


> Yep. I do a lot of classic skiing, as well. AlaskaRider is also a very accomplished nordie...


I do nordic ski race, both skating and classic, but am not nearly as active a racer than I used to be. I'm always glad to hear of new nordic skiers...I've been working to convert two of my friends from mtbers/climbers to mtbers/skiers and I think it's taking hold. I guess it helps that winter isn't great for climbing season, either.


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## LyndaW (Jul 22, 2005)

badjenny said:


> So 45 miles on the SS, does that get me a hallejulah from my dirt soul sisters?? What did you do to challenge yourself this weekend? What left you with the dirt stained perma grin? Let's inspire each other with our accomplishments, big or small. Brag on!


Congrats getting a spot at SSWC08 - lucky girl!

Anything fun in the dirt gets a big hallejulah from me.

A big accomplishment for me was running a 3 day training camp. I had 27 riders come to play. We rode 55 miles, 52 miles and 62 miles. I did the first 2 days on my SS and opted for gears on the last day.

In pics:


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## brg (Sep 7, 2004)

you girls are making me jealous!

45 miles on a SS and 3 days riding in the desert. sounds like heaven.

Right now it's -6 degrees windchill outside - no riding for me for a while.


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## IttyBittyBetty (Aug 11, 2005)

brg said:


> Right now it's -6 degrees windchill outside - no riding for me for a while.


brg - It's gonna be in the upper 40s on Saturday. Wanna ride?


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## jenamin (Aug 8, 2005)

tan lines? sun exposure on something other than just my cheek bones? tan lines on the legs and arms?

sniff. sniff.

we'll be "racing" (read: pushing bike) in _cooo-oooo-ooollldddd snowy weather _tomorrow...  not so sure i'm so smart about this one.

tan lines. i want tan lines. does All White count as like one big anti-tan line? i know :cryin:

it's not even quite feb yet!

okokko -- the original question was: what have you done in the last week (can it be 2)? um, ski ski ski, ride ice/snow/dirt, ride rollers, push weights around, eat eat eat, and ... wish i had been able to play with LW in the desert;-)
jj

oh, and for badBadjenny: AAAAMMMMMMENNNNNNNNNN!!!! yehaw! keep up the dirt inspriations!


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## IttyBittyBetty (Aug 11, 2005)

*Keeping Active*

Winter is no time to slack off! I've been tele skiing my tush off, trail running (in daylight and the dark), riding my SS at night in the cold and wind while chasing a pack of super fast SS guys, riding the trainer indoors, and doing almost daily yoga.

Yesterday was yoga and an hour on the trainer. Today will be yoga and an hour and a half trail run. Tomorrow will be a mountain bike ride (probably on the SS) with brg. Sunday will be telemark skiing A-Basin with a GF. I think I'll rest on Monday!

Jeny, what race are you doing tomorrow? NO wait. I know! Duh.


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## stingray_coach (Jun 27, 2006)

badjenny said:


> Ask and you shall receive....


LOL...you are not near as hot as I thought you were. lol


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## screampint (Dec 10, 2001)

Amen!

Although I'm quite jealous of the 50 degrees...


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