The title speaks the truth. Well, doesn’t so much speak it, it’s just written there. But it is the truth. Mark and Bill both made a blog post today. Mark whines about being sore and gravel riding, and Bill has some nice pictures of a cyclocross bike he’s building for his wife.

All our clothing is on sale. Shoes, gloves, skull caps, jerseys, tights, you name it, it’s on sale. Buy one item get 10% off, buy two get 15% off, buy three or more get 20% off all items involved. So c’mon in and get geared up for the cold weather that’s finally arrived, and get ready for the lovely spring we’re eventually gonna have.

Okay, so Wednesday I went out for a ride in what would prove to be the last of our nice weather for the week. With TransIowa looming in the distant horizon, I headed north from Ankeny in search of some gravel miles. In no time I was grinding along some fairly well worn gravel roads, exploring places I hadn’t ridden before, and most of all, fighting a brutal north wind. With the wind wearing me out and making me cold, plus the lack of many good east/west routes, I turned around after about 8 miles and decided to call it a day. I learned a few things on my ride. Mostly that I really need bigger tires, and better bar tape. 700×23 and well worn cork aren’t going to cut it for 50 miles, let alone 300+. The plan is to run 700×38 Crossroads Armadillo Elites, and some new tape with Bar Phat under. I also realized I was going to need a stronger upper body than I currently own.

With that, I resolved to hit the gym more. Having just joined the local Y, it’d be a breeze. Or so I thought. I haven’t lifted weights seriously in at least 8 years, and hardly at all in the last 3-4. Sure, I’ve done some minor strength training stuff, push ups, chin ups, etc, but not hitting the gym type weight lifting. I (predictably) over did it. I tried not to. I just got caught up trying to figure out exactly what lifts to do, and how much weight to use, and so on, that I ended up working a lot harder than I both thought and intened to. Resultantly, I’m still pretty sore today mostly in the biceps and shoulder areas. Despite lifting quite a bit with my legs, they feel pretty good, but then again they get a regular workout.
I guess that’s all for now, stay tuned for more training updates and gear ideas for TransIowa V3.

So, yesterday it was mentioned that we’d be getting more pictures up on our photos page, and oh boy, did we ever. Lots of good stuff in there, mostly from last year’s race season. We also have new Redline’s in our product catalog, with fancy new photos and descriptions of all the bikes. Be sure to let the page load fully for full functionality.

Don’t forget about the trainer ride tomorrow night, it’s fun and good for you too.