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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.