Cycling the Fourth Season

I've been commuting year round for several years now.  However the winter always challenges me.  It's not the snow as much as the cold.  I've never quite gotten the knack of keeping hands and feet warm.  This guy at Ice Cyclist seems to have some good tips.  I will definitely be upgrading my  footwear this year!

Just the owl and me at the dunes a couple of Sundays ago!

Steve's New Toys

Steve got some new gripper-things for his shoes after reading about them on the internet. Trouble is, unless the next Ice Age hits, they may never be needed (definitely weren't needed on this day, but not to worry, the lake-effect snow machine will change this). They look like crampons! Mike's got the Yak Tracks that have become fairly common among winter runners on the trails. I still want Steve to try them out because if they look promising, I'm going to get them too!

We Made the Earth Cam

http://www.earthcam.com/clients/noaa/indianadunes/

It's snowing...I'm stoked!

Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked

I'm the guy with the tattoo!

Moose Mitts

Well I suppose I'd better post something so my two readers out there don't think this is a zombie blog-living on for eons after I'm off to the Great Beyond. I bought some Moose Mitts to combat what has become chronic cold hands during the winter. The Moose Mitts are also called pogies. The temperatures plummeted this week to near zero and I've wimped out on my commuting. Maybe fortified with my Moose Mitts I can venture out over the weekend when the weather supposed to moderate to the 30's during the day. I've also purchased some Snow Sneakers to keep my feet warm. I'm looking to break my personal record of +9 degrees set last year. Bring on the winter!

Almost Famous

A photographer from the Gary Post Tribune was in one of the few cars I encountered running from my house to Wilson's Shelter at the Indiana Dunes State Park and back. The local report estimates that we got over 20 inches of snow over the last twenty-four hours.

Goundhog Day

Bill Murray would be proud. I had the perfect winter commute yesterday. The ice had finally melted off the road so I switched out the studded tires for my skinny tires. It felt like I was flying. It was cold but not too cold. Alas, it was bright and sunny, so the chubby woodchuck saw his/her shadow. Today-up to 18" of new lake effect snow!

Saturday Run

Every weekend runners young and old converge on the Wilson's Shelter Parking Lot at the Indiana Dunes State Park. During the summer they compete with picnickers who arrive early to stake out their turf (a Picnic table). In the winter there are few others, maybe a cross country skier or two, who care to brave the harsh winds and cold that settle in until the end of March. The lot fills with cars before 8:00 AM. Then it empties and fills through out the morning with waves of hardy runners. I shared a run with this group of ancient runners today. What a blast!

Lost Weekend

I love the internet! I subscribe to a blog called Boing Boing. They blog about all manner of things, including some guy who spoke at one of the TED Conferences. This guy, J. J. Abrams, has his talk posted on the TED site. I realize upon listening to him speak that he's one of the creators of a television series called LOST. As it happens, ABC currently has every episode available online to watch. Prior to a couple of weeks ago, I'd never seen even one of the episodes. Since then, I've spent many hours catching up on over three years of episodes. Maybe I'm a bit obsessed with it but it's cold and unpleasant outside so what the heck. I can certainly see why the writers want a piece of the internet pie because this is a wonderful thing. No need to TIVO your favorite shows. Can't wait to see where this leads-for me and the industry.

Groundhog Day

Well, the groundhog didn't see his/her shadow around here, but you can't tell by the weather over the past couple of weeks. We've been under a "Flood Warning" continuously for two weeks now due to some heavy rains. Tom Skilling has been going slightly mad on the evening weather! I've already got four February bicycle commutes in February, compared to none last year. One commute left my regular cycling shoes wet enough so they didn't air dry for two days. Last night I slid home on three inches of new snow. It was an adventure! I'm learning to commute in colder, winterier (is that a word) weather this year. As Richard Dreyfss would recommend-baby steps.

My old Nissan was put to rest a week ago. The repair bill of $2000.00 was just too much. I was hoping to get 300,000 miles but 226,000 is not bad. I'm reminding myself and anyone who reads this blog (both of you) that the greenest way to use a car is to buy used, keep it maintained, and run it as long as you can. It seems like Earth-friendly environmentalism has become trendy these days (For example, I saw a hybred Ford Escape SUV on the way to work the other day). But as with many other things in our whacked-out society, this seems to be more form than substance. President Bush did sign an energy bill that will finally mandate higher fuel economies but we lag behind much of the world in this.

January bike commute miles:163.2
February bike commute miles (so far):81.6
Total for 2008: 244.8

Happy New Year

In case you haven't seen this already...





Happy New Year from the shores of snowy Lake Michigan!

"My mind was a mile away..."

On Thursday I went out to the Indiana Dunes to run run my favorite route-Trail #9. It's a great winter day to run. Although it's cloudy, there's not much wind so the weather seems mild even though the temperature is still below freezing. There are only two other cars in the parking lot at Wilson's Shelter. It's easy to imagine that I'm the only person here. For the first half hour I see nobody. As I crest a small hill about a mile from the end of the run, I see a guy walking along in front of me. He's got a walking stick in his right hand but he's not using it. He's just swinging it as he walks along. This guy has done nothing to suggest he knows I'm closing in on him. I'm now only about 20 meters behind him. It's time to announce my presence.

"Hello," I shout. He seems to jump a foot in the air.

As I pass him he replies, "My mind was a mile away!"

"Sorry," I say,"Go ahead back there."

I go around a corner and up and over a small hill. I don't look back, but, I know he's out of sight behind me. Soon my mind is a mile away again too.

How often have I had this experience-countless times. I've heard it referred to as a "runner's high" but it it seems anyone can experience it.

Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced "CHICK-sent-me-high-ee")coined the term Flow to describe the sensation runners and others have experienced but have trouble describing. He's written several books about it. It's like Michael Jordan being in "the zone."

I'm a member of the coach's association in Indiana. The IATCCC coaches clinic in late January 2008 has a speaker giving a presentation entitled "Flow Theory: The Path to Peak Performance." I don't know about that, but, I'm fairly sure it's the path to peak experiences-a winter run at the dunes.

Falling Back

I'm sitting here on a Sunday morning trying to get motivated for a long run. I'm planning on running the Tecumsah Trail Marathon in about four weeks and I really haven't trained for it (this is becomming a theme for me!). I ran about 20 miles four weeks ago and it felt pretty good. I've been running minimal mileage since then. I'm up an hour earlier then usual because the time changed last night. We move our clocks an hour back and stay one hour different than most of Indiana and Michigan but the same as Chicago. What that means to runners and bikers is that afternoon workouts will be ending after dark. Many bikers have put their bikes up by now anyway. There's a chance of snow in the weather forecast this week.

Our high school cross country season ended a week ago. I always feel a little down afterward. Our team made their goal of running in the state meet-this year for the seventh time in a row. We return all but one runner in our top twelve so our future looks promising. Every year, I struggle to manage my time between cross country and my regular job as a counselor. I'm constantly rushing from work to practice or from practice to work. I suppose I should feel relieved that I can give this lifestyle up for awhile but I don't.

My bike commute miles have been lower the last couple of months, mostly becasue I need the car to get back and forth from work to practice. I have been averaging 2-3 days per week. I've also been doing some modest mileage on the weekends.

I watched a little of the web cast of the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials that was held yesterday in Central Park. I've run that loop a couple of times. That's a tough marathon and an imprerssive time by the winner. By the way I was saddened to learn of the death of one runner, Ryan Shay.


I guess I need to get in gear if I'm going to do this run. We're heading for the dark season.

Off to Camp

I'm off to cross country camp at
Tippecanoe State Park this week. As this is at least the 8th year for me to attend camp, it's become a harbinger of the end of summer and the slide towards winter. Thanks to the Windy City Biker for reminding me of this crazy biker guy! Check out the Ice Ice video for some winter fun!

bike commuting #6

I didn't do a lot of commuting over the winter but I did get my first lessons on how to stay warm:

hand and foot warmers
Col d'Lizárd Icebike tights
Stuff from Foxwear

I used my studded tires a few times and they worked great. Now that the temperatures have warmed a bit, I figure I'll get more into a commuting routine again. For now I'm focusing on commuting on Mondays and Fridays. I may transport my bike to work by car a few times too since I sometimes need to car to get to appointments. I'm running the remaining days in preparation for my trip to the Michigan Trail Marathon.



2007 Miles=425
Total miles=2075

Remembering George Cheung

I could see the big buildings of Chicago as I ran along Lake Front Drive in Beverly Shores this morning. It's the Chinese New Year. Today begins the "Year of the Pig" in the Chinese lunar calender. I can't think of the Chinese New Year without remembering George Cheung and his 50k fun runs. It's hard to believe that the last run was thirteen years ago. I never really spoke with George as we passed one another on the Chicago bike path, but he always came to our table at the buffet afterward at his restaurant. I have some great memories of my many trips into town for that run. One year Stu Mittleman showed! You can really freeze your ass off running 50km in February on the Chicago lakefront! I notice that there's a George Cheung Memorial Race in March along the same route.

Valentine's Day Snow

I caught up with this couple just before sunset at the top of Mount Holden. I forgot to get their names. It was a wonderful evening to snowshoe at the park.

Moller geht Schielaufen

Pardon my lousy German. It's all I remember from high school. I took advantage of a couple of inches of new snow yesterday and went snowshoeing at the dunes this morning. The snow was really starting to fly by the time I was finished. I wound up with a snow day of sorts because my work decided to close at noon due to the promise of really crappy weather this afternoon and evening. Maybe I'll go for another spin on the shoes later too!

Fun on Trail -9 (degrees)

This morning's run was the coldest of the year so far. The wind was howling in the trees but it was really alright in the woods. John (left) and Steve are looking a little frosty don't you think?