February 24, 2009 Tattoos

Tattoos have become an ever more popular way of expressing ones interests. Having encountered many friends and casual acquaintances with tattoos expressing the love of riding or paddling I thought it might be fun to ask people to send pictures of their tattoos for all of us to enjoy. So if you have a bike or paddling related tattoo please email it to me and I will post them all on my blog for people to see. If you want to remain anonymous just let me know. If not we will let people know who's tats are who's. Lets see who has what...it will be fun. Oh by the way if you think this is just a crazy idea please feel to let me that too.

Email to : KHoff14092@aol.com

February 1, 2009 YWCA Pool Training

Well if you didn't have spring fever before yesterday and you attended the pool training session at the YWCA in Sioux Falls you do now. It was son nice to get back in my boat again and enjoy the feel of the paddle in the water. It was nice to see alot of new faces and hopefully we will see them more often this summer on the rivers and lakes. Thanks to Jarett Bies for setting things up. I look forward to the next one. And remember open water is just around the corner. Yahoo!

January 28, 2009 Training Session

There will be a training session at Two Wheeler Dealer tonight at 7PM. Bring your bike and your trainer and ride with us. We will be doing a one hour session with a training video. Join the fun.

January 22, 2009 Spring Training Begins

Last night we joined with a group of 13 other individuals to do some indoor training at our favorite bike shop, Two Wheeler Dealer. Everyone began arriving and setting the bike and trainers up as early as 6:30PM as we were hoping to begin the session at 7PM. Everyone lined up their bikes in front of the television which would be our training guide for the night. The training DVD we were riding with took us through one hour of interval training. From spinning to hills we used all our gears to maintain and keep pace with the video. It was a great time as everyone was enjoying the ride and each others company. The nice thing about these sessions is that you can go at your own pace in what ever gears you like, I call it customizing the session, The bottom line is you only get out of it what you put into it. Everyone has different goals. The hour went by quickly. At the end of the hour all that was left was an empty water bottle and a towel soak in sweat, gross huh. So if your feeling like this might be just for you, join the guys at Two Wheeler Dealer for their next training session. They have sessions on Sundays at 4PM and Wednesday nights at 7PM. Try it, you might just find it addicting.

January 21, 2009 Winter Thaw

I had to take advantage of the winter thaw today to get in some road time. I hit the trail at about 3:30PM with a temperature of 38 degrees and light winds out of the west, a perfect winter day. I opted to start from the zoo and head north around the bike trail assuming that the northern part of the trail out around the airport would be clear of snow and ice. For the most part it was. There were a couple places like under the bridge at Minnesota Ave where the snow was drifted in about 6-8 inches deep. In these areas it was time to walk and carry the bike, kind of like riding Cyclocross. The good news is the were not long stretches at least on the north end of the trail. There were quite a few guys riding the river on their quads taking advantage of the nice day. I was making pretty good time all things considered. This was the first time I had ridden on one of my bikes since Thanksgiving. It was kind of fun to see the number of water fowl in certain areas. There were thousands of geese on the fair grounds property and where ever there was open water along the river their were huge numbers of duck, particularly Mallards. So as I said everything was going along pretty well until I hit downtown and the section of the bike trail that is more protected by trees. The farther south I went the more snow packed the trail became. No let me say that snow pack, hard snow pack doesn't bother me, but the farther I went the deep the snow got in places. By the time I hit Minnesota Ave and I-229 it was becoming real work to maneuver the trail. There were parts between Minnesota and Western where they had cut through the three foot drifts, but the snow had blown back in and made it very difficult and at times impossible to ride. I will say this. It was a great work out and great for improving your bike handling and balance. I was so glad to get past the old steal bridge by western and back up on the dike on the west side. The path was clear and smooth, a nice change. When I got back to the Jeep I realized just how much of a workout it had been and how much of a sweat I had worked up. Once I started standing around I began to get colder. So in the Jeep, heater on full of I went to pick up Kay. Oh yeah she had to work so she missed all the fun. I am thinking she is OK with that though. Spring is not that far away anymore.

December 19, 2008 Yes We Still Exist

I just felt the urge to let everyone know that Kay and I are still in the neighborhood. It seems that when I do my regular check of blogs it is as if everyone is gone, that they have faded away. Now I understand that for those of us into outdoor activities this is the worst time of year. We are all sitting back and dreaming of the warm sun on our backs and the sound of our paddles knifing through the water. The sounds of our tires on the pavement and the click of the gears as we shift our way up the next hill. Well that will come soon enough, but I always wonder what everyone does in the winter to try and stay in shape for the summer. For some the answer may be just to rest and let the body kind of rejuvenate. For Kay and I it is just making some changes to our habits. Moving our activities inside out of the snow and cold. For us it is all about going to spin classes, doing some weight work and even spending some time in the pool so we can at least be close to water. We also ride at home as we have our road bike on trainers so we can ride when ever we feel the urge. The older I get the more I seem to find the need to be active year round as if I don't it is much harder to get back into it in the spring. The other part of getting through the summer is planning out activities for the summer. Looking for event schedules and picking those we want to participate in. It is a time for setting goals. Remember goals are just that don't be afraid to set them high. If you don't accomplish all of them that's OK, at least you had some. So anyway we would love to know how your winter days are going and what your doing to pass them by. Also if any of you have run across anything that is already scheduled for next summer that involves peddling or paddling please let us know. Keep the faith this snow and cold can not last for ever, we are in the middle of "Global Warming" after all. Also Kay and I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

November 28th, 2008 Perfect Day

It was a perfect day for a ride. The temp was in the high forties and the winds were light and for the end of November that's not all bad. The best part of winter riding is that you pretty much have the trail to yourself. There were a couple other people out, but nothing like in the heart of the summer. It was interesting riding the southern portion of the trial as I have never really ridden on ice and snow pack before. I must say it was not really a big deal. All in all the bike held the road quite well. I must admit it was hard not to think of riding in the summer again as I peddled along. There is just something about the sun on your back. By the way just a note. I was told of an incident on the Michelson Trail where a man had a crash with his bike. Unfortunately he was not wearing a helmet, probably not cool, and now has some permanent brain damage. Please remember to wear your helmet and encourage others to do the same. It is a simple thing that can protect not only your brain from permanent damage, but save your life. OK enough preaching. Just let me say that if you get a chance to get out on one of our nicer winter days, go for it. You really do see things differently this time of year.