New Years Eve resolutions for 2008 - UPDATE

OK what the HELL did I commit to :

1) Loose weight + get fitter at that date I was around 168 - Goal was 159# April 12 and 155# May. As of yesterday Feb 26 I was 158.4# so that plan is looking good.

2) Get stronger on road bike so I can climb hills better in 2008 . Very hard to keep Metrics on a statement like this. But here I go.. I set up a training log and purchased a trainer . I have ridden 34 hours since 1/1/08 so I'm definatly doing something towards this goal for sure..

3) Solve or improve back issues. - OK - I created an Excel work sheet to keep track of my stretching + strengthing over 25 different items I'm tracking . I have been doing very good at this averaging 6 days per week with a very complete plan.. With additional weight loss I feel great . Time will tell when we get riding outside on how the BACK is doing.

4) Ride road bike 2000 miles in 2008- No problem here - I'm at about 400 miles so far. Should be able to double this goal..

5) Rock + Ice Climb less - OK what does that mean ??? Well I did 108 days climbing in 2007 so lets say I cut that in half for 2008 . YTD 7 days 2008 OK so far.

5) Hang out with Keith more - So far so good we have been riding togeter at least every other weekend since Mid DEC.

6) Decrease time to ride Steve Coventry loop - plan to better time each month 2 mins with goal of 55 Min or better. - OK time last season for this loop was arounf 65-70 Mins.. Roads not ready for this ride yet maybe in Mid - late March. Updates to follow..

7) My son Jonathan proclaimed 2008 would be the year of the BIKE - I'm good with that and also working towards that goal. We just need spring + summer so Jon can get my old bike + start riding.

Training Week 2/18/08 - 2/24/08

Number of Bike rides: 5 road bike rides on trainer
Riding time: 7.5 hours .........
Best ride of the week: Sat + Sunday trainer rides with Keith @ My house this time - watching the TOUR of CAILF.... GO LEVI !
Other: Stretched 8x this week- this is becomming a huge amount of hours per week -- I est. 6 hour this week.
Notes: 6 walks 3.5 Hours Total.....
Weight : Low for week - 158.6 -( goal 4/11/08 - 159# -- GOAL #1 taken care of)-(GARY stretch goal 5/15/08 - 155#)
TOTAL EXERCISE THIS WEEK: 7.5 Hours Bike, Walk/Hike 3.5 hours - Total Hours = 11.0

Training Week 2/11/08 - 2/17/08

Number of Bike rides: 1 road bike ride on trainer + 1 Mtn bike rides -
Riding time: 3 hours .........
Best ride of the week: Tue Night Mtn Bike ride at CASE with Guys with studded tires , riding with ICY base on trail during a snow storm - WHAT A BLAST . - Av HR 128 - MAx 155
Other: Stretched ( 6X ) times this week + Ice Climbed Sat + Sunday. Sat I was outside about 7 hours with temps between -5 and maybe a high of 15, Sunday was a marathon day a bit warmer maybe between 10-30 with 11.5 hours outside and climbing 6 routes right till dark. I would say actual climbing time Sat 2.5 hours + Sunday 4 hours.
Notes: 3 fast paced lunch time walks + two Hikes 3.5 Hours total
Weight : Low for week - 161.4 -( goal 4/11/08 - 159#)-(GARY stretch goal 5/15/08 - 155#)
TOTAL EXERCISE THIS WEEK: 3 Hours Bike, Walk/Hike 3.5 hours, Climb 6.5 hours - Total Hours = 13.0

Car Status Monday FEB 18

The BODY work is 95% done and it looks like I will get it back this week...

The OLD PArts :

Even with New Bike @ Home I had to get one more ICE climbing weekend in this season.....

This weekend was up in Upper State New York again @ The DAK's. Up near lake Placid.

Jonathan W. + I drove up Friday afternoon @ 4:00 - woorst traffic I have seen in month between Hartford + Springfield. Must have been all the skiers heading north they finally got a few feet of snow last week.

Anyhow we get up to our Hotel and it's COLD -- I MEAN COLD below ZERO - So we planned on our 7:00 Am ICE climb knowing it would be a brutal cold start to the day. I'm guessing it was 5 Below zero when we hiked up to the Start of our first route of the day Multiplication Gully.

Jonathan working up the 2nd 1/2 of the climb the $$$$ Pitch. I did a short section just enough to get high enough so JDW could get to the top. The route is 225 feet long and our climbing ropes are 200 ' lg.

Shots of route from the road down below..

Later we went to Cascade pass + I lead Sisters left . I had a MINI EPIC during the climb more on that soon.... The line I took was the left most ice in this Pic following the natural groove up under a tree sticking out. More on that later !!!!!! This route was close to 150 tall .

Steve part-way up the route This was the 2nd CRUX the corner below to the left was very balancy to get past, with very little ICE .

A bit further up the route

The fun soon begins .. Hmmm if I push off with my left leg maybe I can get up higher ...

Next I duck under that tree sticking out of the ice. After this point things got very imtersting for SURE !!!!! A big chunk of ICE came off just above the dead tree sticking out and broke it off, As it tumbled below it hit the ropes and almost dragged me OFF. I heal on and got to finish the route with the Section of tree in my ropes causing all kinds of drag .

Jonathan on the next route we did .........

More Jonathan .............

Sunday - We went to the NORTH FACE of PITCHOFF ..........

Steve after taking off my sweaty shirts from the approach HIKE .... Gotta keep Dry in this sport or you will frezze to death later on the long COLD belays ... Weeping Winds from the bottom behind me.........

We did Weeping Winds below as our first climb Sunday: it was 3 pitches and 500' of climbing .

Gary if your reading this DON + KRISTINA showed up also - and Don did two Fantastic Leads the second on the right side of this Picture.. I think HIS BEST lead so far and a HUGE jump in ratings from what he has done so far ( it was I would say grade 4- ) and I'm sure his confidence will go up with this lead- GO Don GREAT JOB !!!!!!! Oh yeah Good Job climbing a very long steep route Kristina !!!!!!

Jonathan did a route up the center flow , and I did one up the ice on the left. I called it a adventure route as it went into sone trees but was still very verticle.

That was it for Sunday..

Monday we hade a great day planned but it started raining around 7-8:00 PM Sunday night and by AM it was 50 degree's and the ICE climbs were waterfalls . So we drove home buming we did not get to climb on Day 3 of our little ICE TRIP//////

OK I finally got it Today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2/13/08

My NEW TOY..................


My Sweet S-WORKS

Today is the first day of riding my new ( almost new ) Bike. Wow -- I got on it lowered the seat a little bit and it just felt like it was made for me. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun on this bike this year.

Now all we need to do is to get ------------- RID OF WINTER !!!!!!

It may just because I'm so happy with my new ride but it feels so smooth and feels like it's just meant to go fast and be ridden a lot..

Before I put the pedals on I weighed it @ 15# Flat...... The pedals add just a tad over 1# so a 16 Pound bike is such a huge upgrade for me....

Ths bike has so many tid bits of CARBON FIBER - stem + bars-- I'm just going crazy......

Cranks are just so nice ( also Carbon)..............

Seat post is sooooooooo nice

Thanks GARY ,

DAD

OK this will be my REAL new Bike Tomorrow 2/12/08

I can't wait to get my hands on this bike !!! It's around 15#'s, Full Dura -Ace + Sexy fast looking .. The OLD MAN may have a fighting chance keping up with the Guys this season .

New Bike for my next ride if I get tired

Mtn Bike riding weekend - 2/9 + 2/10/08

No one wanted to ride SAT so off to Case I went Sat AM for a SOLO ride. I took the Specialized EPIC cause it has the studded tires on it. I planned to ride for 2 hours SAT in case Sunday was a rain out. I started off at the line street lot and found several fresh sets of tracks heading for the summit so I pushed hard hoping to join up with another group ride. At the summit I met three Guys and rode with them out the Blue down Chain ring they did a detour to the stunt trail then took Swamp + Fort out. The trails were 99% rideable with less than a inch of snow and very little ice. I could have ridden the Blur with regular tires as the other guys were all on regular tires. I bailed from that group after I climbed past the fort and retraced back the high steel bridge as I wanted my 2 hour ride. I met another group and rode up the Fern with them to the power lines were I turned around and went back down fern - to Swamp + Fort and out to car - 130 min ride , average HR for the first 90 Min's 150 - Average for the full ride 145 so YES I was pushing hard all day. NICE RIDE ........

Sunday I hooked up with a group ride out of Glastonbury @ 9:00 AM - We headed on some nice trails south of CASE I have never ridden - and eventually ended up crossing Hebron Ave at the 1/2 way point on the Tinty Trail. Conditions were getting damp as it was raining and wet snow falling, but we pushed on.. We rode down past the section that was logged out last year + around the res. - one of the ridders had a slip and got wet so we headed toward the low steel bridge and back Coop Saw Mill and climbed back up and again crossed Hebron Ave heading south back to the cars. It was 15-20 mins further -- with my ride Sat and the mushy snow + Mud sapping my energy bad I was very shot at the end of this ride.

Four solid hours of HARD MTN BIKE riding this weekend for me..

Training Week - 2/4/28 - 2/10/08

Number of Bike rides: 1 road bike ride on trainer + 2 Mtn bike rides - Riding time: 5 hours .........
Best ride of the week: Sat Am Mtn Bike ride at CASE sole but hooked up with three different groups, I road hard with few breaks - Av HR 150 for the first 90 Min, 145 av. HR for the full 130 mins!
Other: Stretched ( 7X ) times this week .
Notes: 3 fast paced lunch time walks + one walk @ Home Sunday 2.0 Hours total
TOTAL EXERCISE THIS WEEK: 5 Hours Bike + Walk 2.0 hours - Total Hours = 7.0

Training week 1/28/08 - 2/3/08

Number of Bike rides: 1 road bike ride on trainer.
Riding time: 1.00 hours ( Bad BIKE riding week ) Travelling north night + 3 days Ice climbing + Trip packing night, and Twin son's Birthday night.........
Best ride of the week: none - riding trainer alone SUCKS !!!
Other: Stretched ( 5X ) times this week . Plus ICE climbed in upper state NY - DAK's -Fri - Sat + Sunday.
Notes: 1 fast paced walk ( Hill intervals 4x) this week -- Plus Short hikes Fri- Sat + Sun going to Ice climbs ( say 1 hour all 3 days) 1.5 Hours total
TOTAL EXERCISE THIS WEEK: 3 Hours Bike + Walk + Hike - + 3 days ICE climbing ( lots of hours but hard to capture real exercise hours ) Maybe 5 hours real verticle climbing time, out of approx 16 hours outside in three days. So est. 8.0 Total Hours

Ice Climbing Feb 1-2+3 Up in Upper State New York - in the Adirondaks

Friday Feb 1 - Jonathan starting Sisters Left in Hurricane force wind with stinging snow . Yes we were having a BLAST !!!!!!!!! Sisters Right - Jonathan did the first 1/2 and I did the upper 1/2.

Jonathan + I did Chounaird's Gully as the first climb of the day Sat. The route goes from the top of the snow triangle center botton of Picture up to the trees on the left Flow of ice. We did two pitches it's about 400 feet long. This was one of my first DAK's Ice routes I did way back in the early 90's with Sergio.

Crystal Ice tower @ Chaple Pond - Jonathan did the firat pitch just out of sight ..

Then I did the first ptch of White line Fever - from the top of the Flow above ( see pic below - route goes up groove heading a bit right above ice at center botton of Pic) It went up a tiny runnel of ice not real hard but very heady with very little protection. Super cool !!!

This is Pitch 2 of White line fever with Jonathan maybe 125 feet of the way up the 200 foot long thin runnel of ICE. Again like the last pitch very thin Pro and delicate climbing.

Steve on lead at Cascade pass Sunday AM ( DAY 3)