Saturday, December 7, 2013

Dec 7 - Interval Training

15.5 miles
Now that it is more level and I am following the Thiels Mountain resupply route, travel is a lot easier, but that does not mean it is easy. There are a lot of new soft snow drifts with occasional hard snow. In order to keep moving I go as slow and easy as I can. But frequently as slow and easy as possible means a full out effort. So it is a lot like doing intervals of all out effort followed by short recoveries. Of course there are some drifts that are too soft and too big so I have to push out of those.
I thought the sleds being too heavy was a problem and of course it is. So I moved as much weight from the sleds as possible to the panniers. It made it worse. So I put as little weight as possible in the panniers and that works much better.
I am running with very little pressure in the tires. I sometimes worry that it will pinch flat, but it gives me the float I need. In all my messing around with the load I left my shovel behind, TWICE. What an idiot! So I traveled 3 times as far as what I actually progressed towards the pole. However I have things figured out so I think it will be better going forward. Except a wind storm has moved in and they say it will continue until Monday.
I am back on the same route the skiers are using. The ski tracks do harden the snow a bit but not nearly as well as bike tracks do. Unfortunately for me there are only ski tracks on the ground.

3 comments:

  1. Juanito still isn't on the bike yet huh? lol

    He is probably wishing that heavy bike was weighing his sled down. Maybe it will be ditched off the side of the path sooner or later and you can score a free bike!

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  2. Hey, that's my shovel! Don't leave it behind, I need you to sign it when you get back.

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    Replies
    1. Hey, thanks for the shovel and stove. Two of the things I didn't loose on the trip, even though I tried twice with the shovel.

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