Spring in the Wasatch

Life is good! Nothing beats a little mud, snow, rain, tacky-packy, rocks, water, sand and smiles on a 2 hour single speed ride. Ahhhh, spring in the Wasatch...

St. George Bummer...

I wish I had something good to report about the ICUP race today, but I wasn't there! I'm stuck in SLC with an itchy rash from hell that started on Monday and is still going strong. The bad thing about this is I can't sleep at night and I'm up every 30minutes putting some sticky steriod cream on my bod. I've even hopped in the bathtub at 2am, twice, poured in some oatmeal crap that's supposed to soothe your skin, desperately seeking and relief, even if it's short term. When I last looked at the clock on Thursday and it was 4am! That sucks. I don't think I've had more than 3-4 hours of shut eye a night this week.

So, after a botched attempt by a well-meaning VA intern, I got ahold of my Dermatogogist nephew in Indiana today to see what the pro's would do in a situation like this. I can't not sleep the rest of my life. I need help, and it's got to get here right now. He speculates I developed an allergy to something at home, possibly fabric softener (which my wife changed 3 weeks ago) or some fragrance (I even bought Jane flowers 2 weeks ago that are still hangin around on the kitchen table). It could be any number of things and it's a long process to figure out what the culprit is. So, he put me on a 2 week Prednisone dealie (don't tell Brad Keyes - it ain't cheating if the Doc says do it!) and that ought to cure what ails me. He said the down side is my appetite will increase, my metabolism will not and a weight gain is most likely. The good thing is this kind of steriod doesn't shrink your nuts! Wheeew.. He also advised me to not pee in a cup, cuz you won't pass the test. And, I'll have a lot of energy. I've got to find a race somewhere and test this stuff out. Jane's lined up a bunch of house chores for me to take advantage of my soon-to-be new found energy. That sounds like a ton of fun :-(

My next race won't be until the end of March in Moab. I'll do a IHE boost session the week before and see how things go for that one. The steriod advantage will be gone and I'll be left with my wilting old self. Crap! In the meantime, it's back to the trainer and doing what I do.

IHE Initialization phase is done

I've finished the 3 week initialization phase and live to talk about it. I've been to base camp 3 on Mt. Everest and have determined my climbing days are over. There was a time back in the early '80's when Everest was on my radar screen, but no more. It's unbelievable how hard it is to breathe at that altitude.


This is the io Program screen for week 3 that says "by the end of week 3 you reach base camp 3, 850 m below the summit of Mt. Everest..." I believe it!


One of the neat features of this system is the ability to surf the web and read your favorite blogs during your "training."



How do I feel so far, you ask? Fine. I think it's too early to say since I haven't pushed myself very hard, but that will change next weekend. My first XC race of 2008 is March 1st in St. George and maybe that will tell me something. I know for sure Leadville will answer the question.

I can say though that I did an interval workout yesterday and my power numbers were up by 20% over the last time I did the same workout and, my heart rate was down. Granted, my fitness has improved through my regular training schedule, but I am improving and my time on the bike is less than what it was this time last year.

Looks like a so-so weekend weatherwise so I hope to get back on the road. That trainer riding is getting my butt sore...

IHE Update

I'm 3 days into the 3rd week of the initialization phase and have climbed past the 20,320 foot summit of Mt. McKinley. By Wednesday I'll be at Camp 3 on Mt. Everest! The last 4 days have been exhausting, to say the least. When I left session 13 today I felt like I was drunk for about 15 minutes afterwards. I must be a light weight cuz you're supposed to be back to normal after a few breaths of ambinet air. Not me...

Also, it appears my mask was only working intermittently during the first 9 days and I may not have been getting the full intended boost, i.e. I was mixing ambient air with depleted air and not going as high as I was supposed to. My body was not being stressed properly and I was not really climbing as high as I was programed to climb. After making a correction to the way I inhale, I can definatley say I am getting the full effect now! As a matter of fact, during the last 3 sessions I almost passed out several times, and I've had to cheat and grab some ambient air to stay upright. It was way intense, and a little scarry. Even 5 minutes with significantly reduced oxygen made my head very light and my arms tingle. I can't help but think a lot of that is because I did not get aclimatized correctly during the first 9 days and suddenly jumped out of the plane at 20,000 feet. I don't recommend it.

I have 2 more days left in the 3 week initialization phase and will then do 5 day boosts as the year moves along.

I'll post a few pictures tomorrow so you can see what the gizmo looks like and the changes to my body. Stay tuned.

Utah Weather

Blizzard in the morning,




Nice and sunny a few hours later. This was yesterday.



Ya gotta love Utah weather. Forecast for the weekend - sunny, in the mid to upper 40's. A bloody heat way, it is!