Life of an Age-Grouper

Damn, it's been a long time and thousands of miles since our first interview. A ton has happened in your life since we last spoke or should I say since I last interviewed you? Last time we talked you had just left your job as a teacher to start something new....working at a bike shop. Is working at a shop everything it's cracked up to be? Ha. Well, I will focus on the positives here and say that I was able to meet and form great friendships with some really awesome people. It was good to spend a year in the bike industry and get a glimpse into how a shop is run (and realize more about how a shop should be run); in addition, my friend/ co-worker Paul taught me a lot about basic to intermediate bike mechanics and really the importance of understanding how things work, Without that time in the shop I probably wouldn't have ever had the opportunity to be an athlete ambassador for Liv/Giant- an experience that also afforded me the opportunity to meet more awesome pe...

I'm sure that everyone has been stoked on this weather, I certainly am.  This very short Winter has been welcomed and has provided ample opportunity for everyone to get outside earlier than usual.  I have even rode in shorts a few times although I still wear booties since my feet have the worst circulation ever.  As you start to ride and run outside please remember basic safety protocols.  Cars haven't seen you in awhile so make sure to take caution, wear bright clothes, rock your Road ID and always assume drivers don't see you.  Also make sure that your bike is in good working condition. Swing by your LBS (local bike shop) to have it tuned and given the once over.  If you ride as much or more than I did outside this winter than you know that your bike is an absolute mess.  Make sure you give it some TLC otherwise you might have to deal with the consequences. On a personal note my legs are becoming stronger.  This has been most evident on bike r...

I have put together some solid weeks of training and finally had some long awaited breakthroughs. Despite making regular progress I feel that this past week I took a jump forward instead of the normal, single step forward. I went on a long, hilly ride with Matt this weekend with the main focus of dialing in my nutrition. I resorted to a 300 calorie per hour game plan based off of the method used on a Vermont training trip. The 300 calories formula worked great. After the ride I had plenty of energy and would have been ready to run. I still would like to get my nutrition dialed in a bit more before race day despite the solid day on the bike. Figuring out what my body needs to be successful at long course racing can be considered a breakthrough but what I deemed as a break through for that ride was how I felt on the hills. My climbing legs are coming back! I was getting nervous about there whereabouts. I'm nowhere near where I want to be but I was elated to feel confident ...