SMB Fitness Test

OK I’ll start with my excuse. This was a big week of training. I had four days this week with over four hours of training and yesterday I rode 60 miles. So today was the Sound Mind and Body Fitness Test. I work at this gym twice a week teaching cycling class… yeah that’s right, headset, lycra and all. They have strict guidelines about how fit their employees have to be, we are examples after all right?

I really had no idea what I was in for when I arrived. To pass the test your score had to fall within the acceptable range of fitness. My goal was to top the charts in everything and score the highest ranking if I could.

1 Mile Run: We started with a mile run on the Burke Gilman trail, a marked ½ mile out and ½ mile back. I ran that the fastest of the group in 5:27 but I can certainly run faster, (see above excuse) seriously my legs were tired.

11 Pullups: Next we did pull-ups, to get the highest score you had to do 11 – piece of cake.

11 Dips: No problem

Stretch 21 inches: Feeling a bit tight from my ride I was still able to manage 22.5

Situps: 3 types, straight up, hands behind head and with a stick.. highest score if you could do it with the stick and your elbows out – wasn’t very hard actually. This test seemed to be off a bit.

51 Pushups: You had to do 51 pushups in under two minutes with your chest hitting your partners fist every time down to assure you weren't cheating. I just did them all at once without resting then callapsed after 51. This was pretty hard.

Back extensions: With someone sitting on your legs you had to hold a back extension straight out for three minutes to get the highest score. I think everyone was able to do this one.

Go give it a try and let me know how you rank!

First Ride on the Turner Nitrous

My best buddy and bad ass mechanic

Matthew Noell (picture from '05 NORBA Nationals with his son Wilder) has been putting my two new Turner bikes together for me. I’d love to say I have been helping, well I guess I have, but Matthew does most of the real work. The last touch for the Nitrous was putting the front derailleur on. I took care of that on Monday before I hit the trail with my new Nitrous for the first time!

Tiger Mountain’s Preston Railroad trail just reopened on April 15th for mtn bikes. I ride this trail more than any other.

It’s close, it has some climbing, some wicked single track and some challenging technical riding – it’s perfect and fun. Last year I would do some race pace training by trying to ride the 13 mile loop in under an hour. I got as close as 1:06, but I still think it’s possible. I am not the fastest out there so someone must have done it - If you have let me hear about it in the comments. This year I’m going to do it. I wasn’t feeling particularly good today and I climbed the road in 24 minutes.

The Nitrous is amazing, super nimble and a blast to ride… precision.

Worst fork ever

The frame is only 4.5 lbs. With all my carbon FSA components on it the bike is amazingly light. I am itching to take it to DHZ and weigh it. First impression: fastest XC race bike I’ve ever been on, the RP3 had absolutely no bob on the climbs and the bike is meant to go FAST. I can’t say the same for my RockShox Air Titanium. Bought it a few years ago and got a lemon. I’ve spend about $340 getting this fork rebuild on three occasions. By the time I finished the climb up the road to the trail head it was bottoming out and had no air in it.. POS. Clank clank clank all the way down. I now only buy Fox suspensions, they might be a bit heavier but they are simply better products, just ask your local bike shop guy.