Very Cold Weekend

Bike, CompuTrainer, indoor trainer, RAAM, Race Across America | UltraRob | Monday, February 20th, 2006 at 9:29 am

Tuesday it was 60 degrees which was probably because of the wind in front of a cold front. Wednesday it was cold and snowed a little and it just kept getting colder. Friday morning it was 1 degree and by Saturday morning it was -12 degrees. The high was 10 degrees.

I planned on riding a couple hours on the mag trainer. It ended up only being an hour because it took me longer than I thought it would to solder ends on the cables I ran for my CompuTrainer through the walls when we were remodeling. My computer is in a different room from where I ride and with little kids it just doesn’t work to string cables across the floor which is what I used to do. There haven’t been many cold days so I haven’t bothered with getting it set up.

Sunday it was -5 degrees in the morning. The only time I had to ride was in the morning so I couldn’t wait for it to warm up outside. I managed to ride for 3 hours on the mag trainer watching last year’s Giro. Even three hours was a stretch for me. Many years ago I did a 5 hour trainer ride and don’t have plans to do it again. I may be forced to if we get several nasty days since I’m training for RAAM. I checked out the page for the UMCA Indoor Challenge and some people are putting in insane hours inside. One guy has put in two 20 hour rides on the trainer. You’re allowed 5 minutes off the bike per hour and every 6 hours a 15 minute break although that time doesn’t count as part of the ride time.

At least riding the trainer Sunday motivated me to finish setting up my CompuTrainer. I plan on getting the Logitech MX5000 keyboard and mouse since it uses Bluetooth that gives about a 30 foot range. I just found today that TigerDirect has a rebate on it. The RAAM website has the CompuTrainer files for the complete 2006 RAAM course so maybe I should start riding it. One of the reasons I’m into riding my bike is because I love being outside so I hope I don’t have to ride inside too much.

Salomon X Alp Mid LTR GTX Hiking Boots