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Two Century Rides

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If you read my last post about my October 2010 goal, you noticed that I have ridden an unusually high number of miles for so late in the season.  That is because in October and in November I rode my first two century rides.  October 9th was the Viva Bike Vegas , and November 6th was the Tri States Gran Fondo . The RTCSNV Viva Bike Vegas is a 115 mile loop that starts in Downtown Vegas, goes down to Lake Mead and over the brand new hoover dam bypass bridge, through Boulder City, up to Red Rock Canyon, then back down to Downtown Vegas.  It also climbed somewhere around 6100 ft.  As per my usual blog postings,  here is a map and elevation profile, both pulled from the event's website:  K Jo and I headed down to Vegas that weekend looking forward to some fun.  Oct 10th is our anniversary and I can't think of a better way to celebrate seven years of marriage than by spending seven hours in the saddle.  My morning started early as the ride started at 6:30.  We stayed at the Gold

October 2010 Goal Update

It's a little late in coming, but here is the goal update for October.  Goal for October: Bike 275 miles, run 35 miles, swim 5 km.  Actual stats: Cycled 316.93 miles (thank you, Viva Bike Vegas), ran 27.25 miles, and swam 4.55 km.  Totals so far at the end of October: Biked 2147.59 miles, ran 409.87 miles and swam 105.7 km.  I did some quick calculations and so far in November, I have biked 239.24 mile.  This means I have 613 miles to go to meet my goal... I don't think that will happen... However, I ran 5 miles last weekend which means that I only have 85 miles of running to go to meet my goal.  With 7 weeks left in the year, I would have to run about 12 miles a week which is completely doable.  I think I will shoot for that goal for sure.  Stay tuned for a post about two century rides that I did within a month of each other.  Thanks for reading!

SR-114, 146, and 265

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I think I am crazy... That is the ONLY explanation for my behavior.  Tuesday, (September 28th) I rode three state highways.  I am training for a century ride in Las Vegas on Oct 9th called the Viva Bike Vegas .  Okay it's not really a century ride (100 miles), because it is really 115 miles so it is a century-plus-fifteen ride.  In order to get ready, one has to spend more time on a bicycle than should be allowed by local, state, federal, and universal law.  Case in point, Tuesday I spent 4:52:02 in the saddle and rode 84.5 miles.  A milestone for me as that is the farthest I have ever pedaled my bike and it is the longest amount of time I have spent on a bike seat...  ugh... Interestingly enough, it was not my butt that was sore, it was the back of my calves that were sore... huh...  Anyway, the three highways were SR-146, SR-114 and SR-265.  SR-146 starts at US-89 in Pleasant Grove.  It rises slowly through some nice neighborhoods passing schools, churches, parks and even a go

August 2010 Goal Update

Well it is the early in the morning on the first day of September and it just hit me that I need to throw down a goal update.  My goal for August was to bike 350 miles, run 60 miles and swim 10 km.  I was close.  As they say, two out of three ain't bad.  I a.l.m.o.s.t. got to my biking goal pedaling 333.1 miles last month.  I did run 71.6 miles and swam 16.7 km so those goals were accomplished, and I actually competed in, and finished a half ironman triathlon.  That race was August 28th.  I finished in 6:11:31 falling short of my goal of sub 6 hours, but I am still happy and proud.  I will post another entry about the race itself.  I still have one triathlon and at least a century ride this year, so I feel like I still have plenty of time to get to my goal.  So far I am halfway to my biking goal, almost two thirds of the way to my run goal and I am less than seven km short of my swim goal.  Look for a posting about my race to come shortly and keep watching every month for goal upda

SR-65... and 86

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Few things are more exhilarating than blowing snot rockets with one hand on the handlebar at 35 mph down a 6% grade.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I did a little descending on Thursday (Aug 12th).  Okay... a lot of descending... But I also did a lot of climbing, so I EARNED those 35 mph snot rockets.  I went on a long ride to the tune of nearly 5 hours on SR-65, and since I decided to add all the little short highways I also did SR-86. SR-65 starts at I-80 near Mountain Dell Reservoir.  It heads north, descending down a short hill to Mountain Dell Golf Course where it then climbs a steep grade for a mile until it levels out and passes Little Dell Reservoir.  About a mile after passing the reservoir, the road ascends a little over 4 miles to the top of Big Mountain Pass where it continues down into East Canyon.  A short while later, it passes East Canyon Resort , then East Canyon Reservoir where it intersects with SR-66 .  The road meanders north east for a little less t

July 2010 Goal Update

August is here, July is over.  Time for a 2010 goal update.  July's goal was 400 miles cycling, 65 miles running 15 km swimming.  I fell short of the biking goal and biked 301.33 miles.  I smashed the running goal and ran 95.2 miles this month.  A big portion of that was running two half marathons this month.  The Handcart Days Half Marathon and the Crandall Canyon Memorial Half Marathon .  K Jo and I both ran both of those races.  I did them as training runs in preparation for the Bear Lake Brawl Half Ironman.  Handcart Days Half was in Bountiful.  I ran the first 3.5 miles w/ K Jo then kissed her and said, "Have a good race, I am going to start running now."  I finished 2:02:41, K Jo finished in 2:24:37.  It was a good race and a nice course, but there were only three aid stations and no bathrooms that I could see on the course.  Crandall Canyon started at 8800 feet at the top of Huntington Canyon then rose and descended to the entrance of the Crandall Canyon where the

June 2010 Goal Update

Hey blog fans. Just a quick update on my 2010 goal. In June I had a goal to bike 650 miles, run 60 miles, and swim 15 km. I fell short in the bike, rode 291.9 miles, and the run, ran 32.8 miles, but I exceeded my swim goal with 19.2 km. Training is going pretty good. I'm feeling stronger, and going faster than I have in the past, so I feel great. The real goal is to stay fit, and I am doing it! Yay me! In about a week and a half, K Jo and I are off to sunny SoCal for the Strawberry Fields Triathlon and in only 8 weeks I will be doing the Bear Lake Brawl Half Iron Man! Hope you all have enjoyed reading!

SR-190

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Don't you hate it when you're riding your bike down a hill and all you can think is, "Go faster you stupid car."? I didn't actually think that on Tuesday (June 29th), I have before, but not then. I thought I would because I rode SR-190, aka Big Cottonwood Canyon which is a big... freaking... mountain... As the saying goes, what goes up must come down, I went up the mountain and so I HAD to come down the mountain... to the tune of wind screaming past my ears at over 50 mph... but only for a second or two. My average speed down the hill was probably closer to about 35 mph. You still get pretty good screamage at 35 mph. I had a pretty rough weekend... Work was crazy... I was busy attending a wedding reception and church, and I went home teaching. I have stuff going on at home that is UBER stressful that I won't go into now and Monday afternoon... I sliced my finger opening an envelope... that's right... an envelope. Monday night, I went to a movie w