Fitness Thread

[csb]

Based on my attempts to bunny hop/wheelie the bike out in front of the house, I'd say the Single Track lifestyle is well out of reach for the foreseeable future.

Here's the deal- wheelies are a skill to be learned. It's best when trying to go slightly uphill and you gotta really punch it on that downstroke to pop the tire up and then shift that weight to ride it. 

You don't pop a wheelie from a standstill- it's way easier while moving. The same goes for bunny hops. Riding up and over something is much easier with momentum. Just trying to BMX it and get all the hop out of the bike is hard. 

So a big tree root is always going to be easier to pop over when you've got some speed. It's when you slow down and try something from an almost stop that it seems impossible. 

Singletrack works well because you don't have options to not go over the thing and then you go over the thing and realized you lived and go about your life. 

Now I feel like some old Grandpa telling his grandkids to buck up, so I'm going to see myself out. 

 

[Supe]

Getting the tire up isn't the problem.  I used to be able to brute force it up on a BMX bike with my arms, not so much on a 29er.  My street is uphill, so that's where I've been trying.  I think the issue is that the steep part of the hill has a lot of a crown and turns left, so when I get a good pedal push there, I come up crooked and can't keep pedaling.  By the time it straightens out, it's already flattened and I don't have enough gear.  I was able to get it up about for about 1 1/2 turns of the crank before coming back to earth.  Things definitely improved when I stopped pulling on the handlebars, and started pushing them away as hard as I could to let the weight transfer do the work.  

The bunny hop is another story.  I can get the front to pop (stand up, squat, toes up/heels down, and then push the bike out), but that feeling of lifting the back of a bike with my feet is something I've never been able to get right, regardless of bike.  That's the one I'd like to really be able to figure out though, because there are a lot of roots, small limbs, and bridges with a 4-5" lip that it would be nice to be able to clear.  Right now, I have to scrub all my speed to hop it over with the front tire, but go slow enough that I don't taco the back wheel and give it a chance to climb instead of hit.  

 

[snickerd3]

sounds like you need to built some ramps to practice

 

[Supe]

That's the problem - I need to be able to get onto that deck, just without the ramp!

 

[csb]

Remember that most of that is all about standing and shifting your weight. Your bike is way more nimble with you standing up. 

 

[Supe]

So last night's trail.  First five minutes of it - AWESOME.  Smooth, flowy, packed dirt, tons of downhill speed, some pump sections, very few roots, even caught full air on two occasions.  Sharp corners on some of the downhills, enough to actually put you in a two wheel drift as you brake.  The rest of the approximately 2.7 miles?  Climbing back up what you just rode down.

It.  Kicked.  My.  Ass.  I did not realize how warm it had gotten outside (88F and humid), and was WAY under-hydrated.  I ended up stopping 4 or 5 times along the way to catch my breath, and by the time I made it back to the car, I was ready to blow chunks and had the shakes.  Barfed a little in my mouth at the QT before I got out of the truck to grab a Gatorade, but eventually made it home.  Lesson learned, drink water ALL DAY LONG before going out again.  

I feel like a truck ran me over today.  Aside from getting dehydrated, my biggest issue is that during one of the aforementioned two wheel drifts, my back wheel caught a flat rock on the outside of the track.  I was going left while the rock kicked my bike to the right, so I had to do a really sudden snatch/weight shift to catch it and not get launched into the woods.  I saved it, but pulled something in my neck/lat, and can feel it all the way down my back today.  Really made the uphill pedal fest pretty painful.

On the plus side, I think that's more cardio than I've had collectively in the past 30 years or so.

 

[Road Guy]

nice !

I'm jealous, the wife got a "permit" to hike Rocky Mountain National Park for Sunday, her and the daughter and I were supposed to go, but I am going to try and back out and go ride somewhere..  I've walked alot........... dont get much fun out of walking anymore ....

Ill make sure to send you all pics of Sky Pond  

 

[csb]

I'm jealous, the wife got a "permit" to hike Rocky Mountain National Park for Sunday, her and the daughter and I were supposed to go, but I am going to try and back out and go ride somewhere..  I've walked a lot........... dont get much fun out of walking anymore ....

I'm curious to hear how that goes for her. I'm pretty tempted by a not-at-capacity RMNP. 

 

[Road Guy]

i was telling her that now might be a good time to hit longs peak. but there isnt a gate at the Longs Peak lot so it might not really be enforced.

 

[Dleg]

So last night's trail.  First five minutes of it - AWESOME.  Smooth, flowy, packed dirt, tons of downhill speed, some pump sections, very few roots, even caught full air on two occasions.  Sharp corners on some of the downhills, enough to actually put you in a two wheel drift as you brake.  The rest of the approximately 2.7 miles?  Climbing back up what you just rode down.

It.  Kicked.  My.  Ass.  I did not realize how warm it had gotten outside (88F and humid), and was WAY under-hydrated.  I ended up stopping 4 or 5 times along the way to catch my breath, and by the time I made it back to the car, I was ready to blow chunks and had the shakes.  Barfed a little in my mouth at the QT before I got out of the truck to grab a Gatorade, but eventually made it home.  Lesson learned, drink water ALL DAY LONG before going out again.  

I feel like a truck ran me over today.  Aside from getting dehydrated, my biggest issue is that during one of the aforementioned two wheel drifts, my back wheel caught a flat rock on the outside of the track.  I was going left while the rock kicked my bike to the right, so I had to do a really sudden snatch/weight shift to catch it and not get launched into the woods.  I saved it, but pulled something in my neck/lat, and can feel it all the way down my back today.  Really made the uphill pedal fest pretty painful.

On the plus side, I think that's more cardio than I've had collectively in the past 30 years or so.

Hey, I'm thinking some of these posts might belong in the "Help I'm getting old!" thread.

 

[csb]

I went to the gym today to see if the 6:15 class might be a good fit. There were only three other people plus the trainer. It was glorious to have all the equipment I needed right there for me to use. GLORIOUS. I still made it to work around 7:50. This might be the ticket. 

 

[Road Guy]

congrats on getting back!  I like and prefer the 6 AM slot, but the new job / commute made that go away, to me thats a good time to work out - 5 AM is still like ughhhhhhhh

We went up to 6 people per class this week - I hadnt noticed, but I was like, why are there so many people here?  

We still get funny look from Karen's and Karl's walking there dog by the gym 

I keep a log of the weights I use in metcons and its crazy how I have dropped a good 10-20 lbs on weights I used to use  - maybe that is just the first 2-3 weeks back and getting used to all this shit again

 

[csb]

congrats on getting back!  I like and prefer the 6 AM slot, but the new job / commute made that go away, to me thats a good time to work out - 5 AM is still like ughhhhhhhh

We went up to 6 people per class this week - I hadnt noticed, but I was like, why are there so many people here?  

We still get funny look from Karen's and Karl's walking there dog by the gym 

I keep a log of the weights I use in metcons and its crazy how I have dropped a good 10-20 lbs on weights I used to use  - maybe that is just the first 2-3 weeks back and getting used to all this shit again

That's the bonus of having been so new to the gym. I have no idea what my bear complex was last time. I kinda want to use the open gym time some of these afternoons to see what my working weights might be on some common lifts. 

This also means I can bring the Rogue box back. The house will seem so empty without it. 

 

[Road Guy]

I assume yall use wodify? 

I think its pretty neat if you go to the online version you can do a data dump after around 6 months and I sort of separated out all the movements (S2O, HPC, PC, etc) to try and see some progress..

 

[csb]

We don't. I have a note saved on my phone with my lifts. The programming they use does do a "We did this on January 16!" kind of thing. I can also make notes in Google connect. 

I was looking at the times on the board during today's EMOM and it took me until minute 19 to realize that the reason there weren't any times for yesterday's workout was because it was also an EMOM. 

 

[Road Guy]

lols!

I do enjoy looking at the data - we seem to use a lot of standard benchmark workouts ( like our guys personal version of the all the girl wods) that mainly have names based on widespread panic songs (you saw the hippy looking owner of our gym in the other thread I think)  - but its cool to know you did the same workout 6 months prior and beat your time, or did a little more weight.

What do you use to sign up with?  We like Wodify but for people like my wife who may "only" work 3 days a week she will cherry pic when she works out based on who is coaching and who is in the class, it sometimes provides too much info if you know what I mean...  I am sort of stuck doing either 5 am or getting fat!

 

[csb]

We use Zen Planner. All I get to see is if there are spots. Also, our owner doesn't post the workouts until like 9 p.m. the night before, so it's hard to cherry pick if you fall asleep at 8:30. 

 

[Supe]

Mrs. Supe is almost ready to go back to the gym.  I'm scared of being able to measure how weak I've become!

Bike riding definitely seems to be helping.  Probably mostly attributed to the sweating than anything, but I lost 6 lbs last week without even paying much attention to diet.

Hit trail #3 on Saturday.  Went around 6:30-7:00 so we could get in a little over three miles before it got dark.  Temps were still around 88F (down from 92F) and humid AF since we had rain on Friday afternoon.  Three muddy areas, but the rest of the trail was clear.  This was the other trail that was part of the greenway system we went to previously.  Less elevation change (by 100 ft, and it was a longer trail), fewer really fun spots, DEFINITELY the more technical trail with some decent rock gardens, big roots at the top of short, steep climbs, etc.  Had my foot down in several spots, and hugged one tree after losing momentum.  Still had to stop in several places to cool off/stop wheezing, but mad it.  Then I sat in the truck for ten minutes or so wondering where Mrs. Supe and Junior were.  Apparently Junior was ready to barf this time, not me, threw in the towel, and walked it out the last quarter mile or so.  

I really do have the question the people who choose to hike in the middle of a single track trail, especially in a greenway that has multiple dedicated walking-only trails and paths.  

Did suffer at least one casualty though.  Started hearing a clicking noise coming from the bottom bracket area on a steep climb at first, and then more and more frequently.  I'm HOPING its not the bottom bracket, because getting anything serviced at Trek right now will be a nightmare.  I THINK it's just the right pedal.  The left one is still tight, but the right one has already developed slack on the inner bearings - I could actually rock the pedal side to side about 1/16" or so on the spindle.  Hopefully that's just it, the company called me yesterday and is sending a replacement.  If my fat ass kills a second set of pedals, I guess I'll just have to buy the RaceFace ones instead.

I also bought hydraulic brakes for Junior's bike, only to realize when I went to install them that the bike came with some shitty brake/shifter combo that Shimano uses with mechanical disc/v-brake bikes.  Even if I popped the lever out, one of the shift levers is oriented on top of the bike, so it would hit the new brakes.  Had to fork over another $32 for a 3x8 shifter set from Shimano that I ordered which were a NIGHTMARE to find in stock, no clue when it will get here.  I'm hoping the pull ratios are the same for all the Shimano stuff, because I have no way of knowing until I install it!

 

[Supe]

Side topic: What do you guys think will happen with CrossFit now that the CEO made a George Floyd joke?  Reebok has already pulled their sponsorship, and Rogue has pulled all CrossFit branding/sponsorship from the Rogue Invitational events, and seems to have told CrossFit (the company) that it expects leadership changes or its pulling out altogether.  Will Glassman sell and CrossFit appoint a new CEO?  Will the CrossFit Games organizers bail and start CrissFit instead?  

 

[csb]

Side topic: What do you guys think will happen with CrossFit now that the CEO made a George Floyd joke?  Reebok has already pulled their sponsorship, and Rogue has pulled all CrossFit branding/sponsorship from the Rogue Invitational events, and seems to have told CrossFit (the company) that it expects leadership changes or its pulling out altogether.  Will Glassman sell and CrossFit appoint a new CEO?  Will the CrossFit Games organizers bail and start CrissFit instead?  

Yesterday was a mass exodus of affiliates. The only way for them to recover is for him to get as far away as possible. 

I'm personally a fan of the rebranding to Planet Fuck This. (credit to makewodgreatagain)