The deep freeze

It has decided to get very cold around here. I don't mind the cold that much, but around here, no opportunities for winter sports ever seem to materialize. Sure, there's alpine skiing, but the length of the runs is a little short of what I would qualify as being worth the trouble. No, what I really wish we had the opportunity to do around here would be some skate skiing. I'm not very good (read: I suck.), but I would love to have a full season to work on it. And the shape you would be in for the cycling season afterwards would be just phenomenal.

I tried skate skiing back in Flagstaff. It's funny to think that I learned all of my winter sports (telemarking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing) in Arizona, but that is just how life works out sometimes. I learned how to really skate ski, last January, when Golden and I went to Whistler, BC for her bro's wedding. We stayed in this fantastic 3 story house right by a groomed skate trail. We went and took some lessons from this really nice french lady. I'll never forget the main point of her lesson: "Skating should be beautiful." When she put it that way, I knew exactly what she meant.

I believe the same thing about someone riding a bike. If someone is on the bike properly, has some experience or takes the time to actually observe the good, experienced riders around them, they will ride with an elegance that is difficult to quantify. Too many riders are choppy, sloppy, or downright ugly on the bike. I hear and read about all of these gadgets that people use for bike fitting. There are lasers and any number of "gee whiz" doo-dads, but all those do is put on a bit of sizzle, instead of offering the steak. What you really want is the eye of the fitter; their experience, if you will. I know that what Jeff and I shoot for with fitting bikes for people is the beauty, the attainment of elegance. Those two things will always lead to efficiency and power.

If the wind and the cold keep up through the weekend, I'm heading back to the woods for more mtn. biking. It's a lot easier to put up with those conditions in the woods, than on the open roads. Just a reminder to everyone in the area that we have group rides leaving from the shop on saturdays at 10am. Expect a pleasant base pace ride with lengths up to 4 hours.

In the "Couldn't get any uglier department", check out this sequence from the bunch sprint at the Tour of Qatar:
click to enlarge

Graeme Brown is a menace in the bunch sprints. He's worse than McEwan in terms of dirty manuevers in the final meters. And now, Tom Steels gets to recover from yet another horrendous crash. Just think how bad it would be if he hadn't been wearing a helmet...