Affordable Weight Loss

Since Moab 2 weeks ago, I've been all excited to Stans my SS wheels and get rid of the 210 gram tubes. I finally got 'er done this weekend. At first blush I thought wow, no tubes, no rim strips, tubelss ready rims and tires and a big 468 gram savings. Sign me up. The reality is the savings was 71 grams per tire, 142 grams total. The next big weight saving will be in the tires.

I was not able to get the Stans rim strips to work with the Bontrager rims, so I had to buy Bont's pre-formed rim strips and separate stems. Together they work like a charm and inflated without a problem, and they've held air without leaking. I added 100 grams, 2 squirt bottles, of Stans to each tire and I'm good to go. Total cost was $28 - not bad.

What a weekend this was. Finally sun and ridable weather. I put in a hard 3.5 hours with a big group of Roadie Saturday and got my doors blown off after 1.5 hours. Man, those guys are fast! Great workout overall and great for the attitude and spirits. I rode again today and enjoyed the sun and even warmer temps. Life is good...

I'm 2 days into the second week of sucking oxygen depleted air from a compressor. All is well and I can't say I notice anything dramatic at this point in time. Breathing the air is getting a little more labored, so I know something is going on. I don't see any apprarent deformaties so I'll keep on sucking.

I also need to clarify what it is I'm doing. The process is actually intermittent hypoxic exposure, IHE and not intermittent hypoxic training, IHT. IHE is passive and involves 5-minutes exposures to altitude followed by 5 minute exposures to amibent air. IHT is done on the bike using a mask and requires significantly more airflow. IHT is more flexible and will allow you to train low and sleep high, if you so choose, giving you the best of both worlds. That sounds cool, but unfortunately that's not what I'm doing. Although I won't be sleeping at altitude, IHE should provide a noticable benefit.

As a side note, Marnie Knoop won the Utah State 5A 500-meter freestyle Championship held in Provo this weekend. Way to kick ass Marnie. She's also picked up a full ride swimming scholarship to BYU (I'll forgive you Marnie) and will be headed that way in the fall. I'm proud of you Marn's.

Enjoy the warm weather.

Altitude Training, Week 1

I started the io-USA altitude training program at the Momentum Gym in Sandy and have finished the first week. The first phase is three weeks long with 5 days on and 2 off. This is a passive protocol in that I do not exercise during the 60-minute sessions. The way it works is you put a mask on your face and breathe high-altitude oxygen for five minutes, followed by ambient oxygen for five minutes and alternate that sequence 12 times. You get 30 minutes of high-altitude breathing in each one-hour session. During the first 3 sessions the oxygen concentration is set at 11%, then lowered to 10% for sessions 4 and 5.

Here are a few observations after the first week. I noticed a dryness in my mouth with the mask on, and the air smells a little funny. The funny smell may be because both the face mask and tubing are new and may have some residual smell left over from the manufacturing process. It’s no big deal. I haven't felt any tingling or dizziness during the sessions, but I did notice on the 4th and 5th sessions that I had to breathe a little harder. I also noticed during the 4th session I was getting a tad bit sleepy. Just a bit, not a lot. After the 2nd session I had a minor headache during the evening, but that most likely was because I was dehydrated from working out earlier that day and did not drink enough water during the day. I drank a lot the following morning and have had no headaches since. Now I’m drinking water during the 5-minute ambient phases of the session. I slept very well after the third, fourth and fifth sessions, but not after the first and second. I'm generally a good sleeper anyway so I'm not sure whether altitude training had anything to do with that. I'll monitor my sleep patterns for future reference. Overall I feel fine. I’ve ridding the trainer a few times, but nothing of significance that I can use to measure progress. As the weather improves and I get outside, I hope to report a noticeable difference.

On another positive note, I got into the LEADVILLE 100 again. Yahoo!!! If ever there was a place to test the benefits of AT training, it’s Leadville. I’m stoked.

io, Altitude Simulation Training

I’m pleased to introduce my new sponsor, io, “Live better from the inside out.” io is a New Zealand based company which manufactures an altitude simulation device that does not require living or sleeping in a tent, like previous altitude technologies. Instead, this technology requires just 1 hour a day, and no tent. All I have to do is slip on a mask, sit in a chair and let the machine take me up to 18,000 feet and back down to sea level. The adaptive protocol is a little more specific than that, but you get the idea. I’ll be going higher than I’ve ever been before without leaving good ole SLC!

Here’s a clip from their website: “io altitude simulation is the replicated breathing of high altitude air. The result – boosted energy levels and sporting performance, finding relief from various health conditions or simply enhancing well being.”

This technology will hopefully make getting to the 12,600 feet turn around at Leadville more pleasant and get me back to the finish in the top 10, assuming I make it through the lottery.

My plan is to start the initial 3 week program on February 4th so I’ll be posting my progress, protocols and feelings here over the next 3 weeks. After that, it will be boost sessions every 6-8 weeks for the rest of the year.

In the meantime, check out the io link under Sponsors and the Altitude Training link in the Good Links area to get a more in depth look at what this is all about.

Moab Weekend

I spent the last weekend in Moab with 5 of my Mad Dog teammates riding the snow, ice, sand and slickrock, and it was great. The temp ranged from 35-50F on Saturday and 33-39F on Sunday, which wasn't that bad. Of course, any day in Moab is a day worth living, no matter what the conditions. And as an added benefit, there was so much moisture in the sand that it was firm and very ridable and the few patches of snow were no big deal, and sweat was never an issue.

This was my first real chance to check out the Rig SS, and I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, I was blown away by how much fun it was, and how it worked the crap out of my legs. I rode about 4:15 (tss 327) Saturday on both the Soverign and Amassa Back trails with a 32x20 setup and when it was all over, I was toast - burnt toast! Early in the day, when I was fresh, I was seeing a heart rate in the 160's and up to 175, but later in the day, 20 minutes into the Amassa Back, I was pushing my guts out and could only hit 159, briefly! The SS drained my mojo and left a shell of a man in it's wake. Lucky for me, Chris Holley rode the SS on Sunday and let me ride his 1x9 29er. Thanks Chris, that saved my trip and life.

I learned a few things this weekend.




One, I love my SS.

Two, I'm switching to a 29er for my race bike. I did two front wheel stands that would have flipped me over on my Element, but rolled out of them on the Rig. I was able to go up and down drops on Posion Spider that I walked last year. And, I was impressed with how it smooths out the trail, and I was on a hardtail with 35 psi in the tires. A dual 29er, tubeless would be the bomb for an endurance bike! I also decided SRAM XO grip shifters are a must have. They don't ghost shift and half shifting is not an option. Way cool - bye-bye XTR.

And three, riding with Chris & KC, Carson, Scott and Karl is more fun than should be legally permissible. Thanks for another great weekend in the desert.

Winter Wonderland?

Will it ever end? While Chris and KC were enjoying a pleasant, sunny, warm ride at Brad Keyes' Gooseberry Mesa resort this past weekend, the rest of us were home battling the snow and ice. When I'm complaining about the July heat remind me to look back at these pictures.