So we’re a little over 4 months into the 2013 season.  Being part of the Kokanee Redbike team was quite a motivator for me.  I remember looking at some pics of our New Years trip to Radium and thinking that I might have indulged a little too much in the fall.  Stepping on the scale after getting back to Calgary confirmed this fact.  I generally start hitting the trainer 3 or 4 times a week for an hour in January or February.  This year I also had to start cutting weight.

Netflix was definitely my friend

Please note that I blew the end-caps off.

So after a number of weeks (actually months) of counting calories and hitting the trainer multiple times a week I was down about 20 lbs.  My muffin-top was nearly un-noticeable.

The pose is really just me goofing around. I think there’s still red wine stains on my jersey from the Banff Grand Fondo.

From there the weather in Calgary started to improve and I was able to get out on the basement a few times and hit the road.  The trainer is alright but it’s not a replacement for real miles.  I do find that you have to be careful with riding 5 or 7 days in a row because it’s easy to keep the intensity high (and grind the crap out of your junk).

As long as your geared up, this is heaven compared to the basement on the trainer.

In March Mike and I hit up Penticton for a week to get some k’s in and it was pretty sweet. It was early in the season but with working half days, the 3-4 hr rides were about right.  After getting back from the training camp I really wanted to keep the k’s rolling but 2 weeks of crap Calgary weather had something to say about that.  So I was back in the basement riding the trainer.  I don’t know about you but, after hitting the open road, going back to the trainer is pretty difficult.

Sweet weather in Penticton

Just about the time the weather started getting better I picked up my new mountain bike from the guys at Redbike.  I decided to go with a long-travel 29er and focus on more long-format races as well as Super D’s and hopefully an Enduro.

Rocky Mountain Instinct 970

Now the weather in Alberta is pretty ideal for road and mountain biking.  I was able to get some solid trail riding on the single speed in last weekend in Edmonton and today I knocked off 137 km’s riding to Longview to get some jerky.

This is my single speed but the weather is from a month ago.

All in all I’d say that I’m in a good place as far as conditioning is concerned for this early in the season and the challenge is going to be continuing the progression.  With the team involvement I think I can do it. Besides, I finally found someone more obnoxious and inappropriate than me (you can guess who).  Oh, and I just shaved my legs again so I look way faster and need to live up to that.

So smooth, so pale.