I called that one wrong

I spoke too soon yesterday. This morning, the club was doing a ride known as "the Red Bay Loop". The day was full of drama. It started off with a flat tire, and then the replacement tube went kaboom in the living room...which at 7:30 in the morning is sure to get the blood pumping. Did I mention that was my only spare? I had to mooch one off the other riders, which I would pay for later on.
It was 34 degrees when I headed out, and it didn't warm up a whole lot for the rest of the day. We had a steady 15-20 mph wind. A wind which we never got a reprieve from. We either got a headwind or a crosswind, but never a tailwind.

About an hour and a half into the ride, that second spare tube gave out. It turns out it was patched. Thanks a lot for that one, I appreciate it. After getting yet another tube I was back on my way. My hands got a little cold, but my feet suffered the most, and I mean suffered. They hurt they were so cold. There were 4 of us in our new group and thank God one of them had parked his van at a secondary spot and he drove us back to our cars/town. I didn't get the total mileage I set out to get, but I didn't care.

The revised trip totaled 73 miles, but it felt like 173 miles. This ride definitely is the toughest/most grueling I've ever done, or hope to do.

At least I got my hours in, and I can take it easy tomorrow.

It doesn't take much

I'm closing in on the end of the week, and as of this morning I still had 5hrs to get in. Yesterday it rained all damn day, and today the temperature was about 17 degrees colder...ohh, and it was cloudy with high humidity. Despite the less than stellar weather I had to get at least 2hrs of saddle time in. Attired in my usual array of every stick of winter clothing I own, I struck out on what would be a grueling 2hr ride. See, there was a piece of the puzzle I wasn't aware of until I got into my ride...a nasty headwind.
Overall I stayed fairly warm except for my feet. I did feel some wind blowing thru my fleece jacket, but I wasn't in any real distress. The wind though, combined with the cold feet and slight chill combined to make a miserable time. Maybe 15-20 minutes in I was thinking how I could make up the time in the next couple of days if I cut the ride short. It was that bad.

In the end I man'd up and suffered thru it, but that had to be the toughest ride I've had since last season. I'll be happy if I don't have any more of days like this for the rest of the '07 season.

Where'd my sprint go?

Yesterday I did some sprint intervals- 3 small chainring sprints w/no gear changes, 3 big chainring efforts w/1 gear change, and 3 big chainring efforts w/2 gear changes. It's supposed to hone your ability to sprint without having to dump the chain to a higher gear first. This was the first high intensity effort I've put in for my 2007 training, and I felt it, or I should say, my legs felt it.
Anyway, after yesterday's more intense effort I kept today's ride low key. If it wasn't for the coming rainstorm I probably woulda taken today off.

January was a good month, I got in just over 39hrs of training, for a total of 775 miles. By the end of my Base training I should have plenty of miles in the legs to support the more intense training to come, and of course my early-mid season races.

They shoot cyclists don't they?

Whenever I'm doing longer rides, or intervals, I choose the seclusion of a road on Eglin AFB property. The lack of traffic allows me to concentrate on intervals, and not worry about cars. I wasn't a half mile from the parking area when I started seeing shell casings littering the side of the road. There must've been 50 or 60 scattered over a couple hundred feet...

Maybe this is what they do to you when your rec. permit isn't up to date.

I know that the Rangers do war games out there, but I've never known them to conduct their games so close to the main road.

In any event, that sort of thing keeps my rides on military property...interesting, to say the least.

3,000 miles to Graceland

I have logged 3,000 miles since getting the road bike, back in August. I rolled the odometer over to the big 3K with today's 22 mile ride.
For anyone in the market for a roadie, I can highly recommend the Giant TCR C3. I've had no problems with it in the 5 months that I've had it, other than a couple of saddle changes, and a switch to new tires it has not needed anything. It handles really well, it is stiff enough that you can really get the power down on the road. I've offered up my impressions on the TCR C3 on a couple of occasions. Two things have not changed; The Xero XSR-3 wheels are lacking-they're heavy and they don't roll very well. Still, to their credit they are stiff- in 5 months I've not had to have them trued. The brakes are the other weak link. On long descents they are less than confidence inspiring. Of course, if you don't live anywhere near the mountains then these brakes should give you no problems whatsoever.

Finally, for anyone really interested in taking their training to the next level, I cannot overstate how impressed I've been with my Powertap. It's some of the best money I've ever spent.

Pluggin' along

Yesterday's group ride finished off my weekly hours. I had never been on this route before, so color me surprised when we had some honest to God hills to climb..I'm talkin' about climbs that take more than 30 seconds to do! I was told of a hill in the area that takes around 3 minutes to climb- I'm gonna have to see that one to believe it.
Anyway, the ride was a good one and I even got to show my stuff on the hills...and I did do my part in tearing off some legs- I contributed to dropping a couple folks along the way.

Totals:
Sat ride- 61 miles, 3hrs, and 1300ft of climbing (I know, it's sad. 60 miles to get in 1300ft of climbing)
Week- 9:14, 184 miles

After 5 straight days of riding, I am looking forward to the day off.

Big props to our crew over in Belgium- Americans turned in some great performances in the Cyclocross World Championships. Way to go guys, and gal!

Those days

Ever have one of those training days where everything goes right? You seem to be able to pedal for hours and hours? If you have a day like that come race day, your competition better watch out?
Today was one of those days. Despite a hard week w/ both riding and some core training, my game was on. As I was riding along I was thinking, "gimme somebody, anybody". Alas, I had the roads all to my self.
Tomorrow is the weekly club ride, so if I feel as good as I did today, then perhaps I'll tear a few legs off on the ride.

What is going on?

January is typically a slow month for cycling news, team rosters and training camps dominate the coverage. Not this year though. Doping is back in the forefront...unfortunately. It's crazy. We've got Peirero, Museeuw, and the Patrick LeFevre and Quick-Step story, and January ain't even over yet. Peirero's been cleared (although I'm not sold on TUE's) and Museeuw is retired, so those are non isssues. The real potential bomb shell is the Quick Step story.
The media obviously loves this sort of thing, it really sells the newspapers. Personally, I think that the media does more harm than good. The Quick Step story is a perfect example. If nothing comes of it but allegations the damage is still done. The public will have formed their opinion on the matter (helped in no small part by the newspaper), and for years to come, people will question the results of Quick Step-Innergetic riders and question the reputations of everyone involved.
Now, if the paper has it right then they're onto something big and will be heroes over it. Whatever the outcome, let's hope that innocent parties won't get dragged thru the mud during this whole mess.

Turning it up a notch

With the start of my final Base period I've added some intensity to the training. The last two days I've done some Tempo sessions. Tempo workouts are done at 76-90% of Threshold power, so while not a real taxing workout, it does add a little variety to the menu.

Today was a MUCH better riding day than yesterday. There's nothing like Florida weather...48 degrees one day, and 62 the next.

In Winter's icy grip

Winter has us in it's icy grip...a grip on our balls to be exact, and he ain't lettin' go.

It seems like months ago when I last did a ride wearing shorts and a short sleeve jersey, but in fact it's only been a week or so.
For the last few days we've had some colder temperatures(cold for Florida). Today the high topped out at 48 degrees. I needed to get some hours in, but I sure as 'H' was not looking forward to riding in these temps. To be honest, I don't know how you folks from colder climates do it. It took me so long to get dressed I almost said "the hell with it".

Besides the normal gear (helmet, shorts, jersey etc):
Leg warmers
arm warmers
wool socks
shoe covers
skull cap
insulated gloves
fleece pullover/jersey

I don't have to go thru that much trouble to get dressed to go to work. God help me if it ever really gets cold. I was wearing every stick of cold weather riding gear I own, and my feet and hands still suffered.

I was shooting for an hour and a half but I cut it short by 30 minutes...something about losing feeling in your extremities makes you want to cry uncle and go home.

Fresh start

A new day, and the start of a new training block. With such a light week last week, my TSB really made a jump (circled in red). It won't be that high for at least a month. It doesn't take much for TSB to rise though, a day off here and there mixed with some recovery rides and/or keeping the watts on the low side of your endurance pace.



Time to start my Core training program. No rest for the weary.

Pain cave

Ever wondered what the "pain cave" looks like? I think this is a pretty good representation, courtesy of Tristan Schouten and some World Cup Cross action.

A day of rest

Saturday I finished up my last week of Base 2, with a 2hr ride. I ended the week with a little about 45 minutes over my goal...which didn't hurt my feelings any.

Today was a day to just chill out and take it easy. With all the rain it was easy to kick back, and that's exactly what I did.


I just stretched out on my bed and read Core Performance. I'm gonna start on this tomorrow, I've been neglecting it too long.

Easy does it

I'm in the midst of a R&R week, and my training is coming along nicely. Next week starts my final Base period, and then it will be onto more intense workouts... you know the ones, the ones that make you puke or at least make you wish you were dead. My Performance Mgr Chart shows the extent of my training since October. If you look closely at ATL and TSB you can see how my training blocks have played out. CTL keeps going up and up.


By the time my first Build period arrives, I should have around 2000 miles worth of Base in my legs, which I think is a good start.

In other news, the trailer for the new documentary, "24 Solo" is online, and it looks effing awesome! I just hope it will be shown somewhere that I can get to. I don't want to have to wait until the dvd. I had to do that for "Off Road to Athens".

Amazing

What an incredible story!

Page turner

I just finished reading The Death of Marco Pantani, the tragic biography of the Italian cyclist. It was a very good book, sad, but informative at the same time. You come away with an insight into the "Wild West" nature of EPO doping in the mid-late 90's and what has changed since then and what is the same.

The calm before the storm

Today was one of those days that makes me glad I live in Florida. Mostly clear, and a high of 70 degrees. Absolutely gorgeous weather. It should come as no surprise that I grabbed my bike and got some riding in.

But ohh how quickly fortunes can change. In just 24hrs we go from this, to this. That's a 25-30 degree difference....Damn! To top it off, there is supposed to be a 15-20mph wind which should really add that something special to the day.

From here to there

I finished my hours last week, and will be capping off my second Base period with a 5hr recovery week this week.

In getting my hours in last week I really got around. 3 of those hours were in Atlanta, on the Silver Comet Trail...which if you are ever in a position to ride while in Atlanta I highly recommend the Silver Comet. Very scenic, and most important, you can ride without concerning yourself over cars.

While it didn't offer much in the way of gradients, scenery was not lacking.

A tunnel...cool!

By the time I got back home, all I needed was 1 hr to finish off the week. Wouldn't you know it, I couldn't get home in time to hit the road. So you know what that means?

Trainer hell!

I suffered through it and got a total of 10:45 and 200 miles for the week. 5hrs this week will be a walk in the park by comparison.
I can't believe it, next week will start my last Base period. There's only about 2 1/2 months till my first race of the season. I'll be ready though.

That was tough

Another 2hrs in the books. I've got 5hrs for the week and it is just Tuesday. I wouldn't normally do my two longest rides back to back, but I've got to go to Atlanta on business, and while I'm gonna get some riding in while I'm up there, I just knew I wouldn't be able to get really long rides in... an hour and a half would be pushing it.

If I thought that getting up early yesterday morning was hard, getting up today was even harder. Trying to convince the body to get up and go ride after 3hrs the previous day takes some serious motivational skills. Once I was riding I felt surprisingly good, getting out the door was the hard part though.

I'm gonna get an hour on the trainer tomorrow morning. I wonder what kind of trick I'm gonna have to use to get myself up for that one?

Gettin' your shoes on

They say the hardest part of going running is putting your shoes on. I can attest to that. The hardest part of going out for these early morning rides is getting dressed. The alarm went off at 5:45am, and I SO wanted to go back to sleep, but I managed to drag my carcass out of bed and get some breakfast and get my gear on. I got out later than I wanted to, but at least I got out the door. 3hrs down, 7 to go. I'll have another 2 in the bag tomorrow.