Geeking on Gear

Partial gear check.

Sometimes it's almost as fun to get geeked out on the gear as it is to actually use it.  This is the mode I've been in the last couple weeks with Tuscobia and Arrowhead coming up.  I've been tweaking my clothing, gear and setup based on lessons learned from last year's races and current test runs and I'm liking how it's coming along.  I've ditched the panniers this year for a handlebar bag, which will be less kludgey and will force me to be more selective with my gear.  I still have to put my rear rack back on to hold my sleeping bag, and add my gas tank and feed bags to the mix, but otherwise I've got a decent shakedown of how I'm storing stuff.  A quick breakdown of my setup from tonight's test ride (not complete at this time):

Handlebar bag
- Bivy sack
- Self inflating matress (won't self inflate in the cold according to what I've read, but I can blow it up)
- Mid-weight merino wool long underwear
- Fleece pullover
- Wind vest
- Lobster gloves (might look at swapping these for mittens that fit over gloves)
- Down jacket
- Tuscobia Beanie

Frame bag
- 1 pint titanium pot
- Esbit stove (in pot)
- 12 Esbit tablets (in pot)
- Matches (in pot)
- Aluminum foil for wind screen (in pot)
- Light winter gloves
- Mid weight winter gloves
- Mid weight fleece balaclava
- Cold Avenger mask
- Glasses case
- Peanut butter (3000 calorie required minimum food)

Other bike gear
- Aero bars (handy for pushing a heavily loaded bike up steep hills)
- ATV bar mitts
- Bar ends (a must for me on flat bars)

Clothing (note: I was pretty overdressed for the temps that were in the mid teens.  This was intentional since I'm playing around with temperature regulation right now)
- Long sleeved, mid-weight base layer (synthetic)
- Long sleeve thermal jersey with full length zipper
- Mid-weight fleece with full length zipper
- Light balaclava
- Lightweight glove liners
- Bibbed shorts
- Lightweight, synthetic long underwear
- Soft shell pants with zippered leg vents and suspenders.  I'm really digging the suspenders.  Makes them comfy like bibbed shorts
- Mid-weight wool socks
- Insulted hunting boots sized 1.5 sizes larger than I normally wear for extra sock room
- Safety glasses
- Helmet

I was only a couple miles into my ride tonight before I had my top two layers almost completely unzipped and my leg vents open.  I figure this setup should be comfy at zero degrees and possibly down to -10F. With the extra layers I had on board, I figure I would have been good down to the low end of Arrowhead extremes, with the exception of my feet.  That may just be a matter of more socks, but worst case I have some overboots on the way that should get me down to those temps.

A Good Start

Halfway there.

  

With winter racing coming up and Trans Iowa on the calendar again, it's time once again to set my well intentioned goals that I have a habit of failing to follow through with.  So far I'm doing a lot better this year though.  My TI goal weight is 160lbs, which would be 20lbs lighter than I raced at this year.  Right now I'm on track to hit that by the end of the year, which is a couple months ahead of schedule.  Whoooo me!  On top of that my training is going better than it was at this time last year, and between that and the weight loss I'm starting to see real improvements.  

There's a downside though...  I'm kinda missing that extra fat in this colder weather.  Between the dieting and lower body fat I'm finding that I have to re-think my layers.  Last night over the course of an hour I couldn't manage to get warm despite doing hill intervals.  Temps were upper teens with high single digit north winds and I thought I had dressed well enough for it.  A mid weight base layer, heavy long sleeve jersey and windbreaker vest up top, lightweight tights over long underwear on the bottom.  Wool socks with my winter cycling shoes for the feet, mid weight ski gloves and a beanie rounded things out.  Last year that probably would have been fine after 10-15 minutes of warming up.  Not so much now.  Toes froze, fingers were right behind the toes, and my core was chilly at best.

Tonight I was determined to be warm, even if it meant sweating a bit more than I'd normally like.  I traded the light vest for an insulated soft shell vest, the tights made way for soft shell pants, I added some neoprene covers to the shoes and finished things off with my Cold Avenger mask.  Winds were slightly less and the temps were about 5 degrees warmer.  Much, much better.  The mask ended up coming off less than two miles in since it just wasn't working well with my helmet and glasses (need to work on that) and I was never cold during a 45 minute light spin.  Additionally, the vest and jersey both have full length zippers so temperature adjustments could have been made on a longer ride to minimize sweating.  The kit weighed a few ell-bees more, but it was worth it.  Now I'll just have to hope for some colder temps to adjust my lower temp clothing.

Practice, experience and such.  Can't have enough.

Moonshine Metric Forecast

It's not too late to sign up... 
 

Gravel Conspiracy

Yep, that's pretty much how I felt.  Detailed ride report to come...

On The Upswing

Registration opens tomorrow for Arrowhead, count me in.  Signed up for the Tuscobia 150 a week ago.  Hitting the Night Bison this weekend and the Gravel Conspiracy the following week.  Gonna try to squeeze in a weekend of mountain biking in Wisconsin before the Moonshine Metric at the end of the month.  Things are picking back up and a laid back summer has me feeling fresh and excited to grind again.  I'm a month into the base building period of an actual structured training plan and I've already set a new PR on one of my one hour gravel loops.  I'm still a slow guy but I'm feeling the strongest that I have since '99, a year I fondly remember as "that one that I could actually win shit". 

Also, I'm pretty sure I just farted a rainbow.

Metaphor

The Summer Of...

... Whatever the hell I want to do.

I'll save you the three margarita sappiness I'm currently in the midst of.  Here's some pics.

Inspire away.