riding...outside!

i missed my opportunity to ride with my longtime friend brent hanlin on saturday. the soon-to-be THF/Ghisallo team rider was back in st. louis visiting relatives and stopped by the shop on friday. i wanted to get together with him and ride, but the morning was as stressful as they come. eli was out of control crabby. when he went down for a nap late in the afternoon, i took off on the road bike.

i headed over to marshall road to do some steady climbing. it's not much, but any climbing is better than none, especially when i've only got 2 hours. my climbs felt awesome. cadence is good, power was great, heart rate was right where it should be. six of those and it was back home. my legs were actually a bit sore this morning! trainer riding, however much you do, still doesn't prepare you for putting that torque into the pedals like real life hill climbing. so glad i got the chance.

the beautiful mrs k and i got out together today for a rare treat. she wasn't feeling well, but she's a trooper and we got in an hour and forty minutes. we rode down to jefferson barracks, around for 3 loops, and headed back towards home with a couple of loops around carrondolet park to top it off.

so i've been hovering around that 7-10 hours a week with my riding. it's incredibly hard to do with the lack of daylight and the crappy weather. the trainer is driving me nuts, which is driving me to ride when it's not comfortable outside. i remember the entire winter of 99-2000...i didn't ride outside ONE time from the cyclocross champs in november until froze toes in february. only trainer work. i was working on my house at the time, hanna was born in january, and it just worked out that way. miraculously, i got second at froze toes by a nose to none other than eric pirtle. funny, i haven't been able to repeat a good result at that race since then, no matter how much i ride outside.

we'll see. i'm feeling good things ahead.