Wednesday 28 May 2008
Midweek training (or not)
Monday 26 May 2008
A BikingBakke weekend
Wednesday 14 May 2008
RPM guage near zero
I'm trying to do the right thing by taking it easy, the intensity of the Tuesday Hammer would have brought short term pleasure, but I fear it'd knock me down for what looks to be a beautiful long weekend on the horizon. Fortunately as I commuted home yesterday I saw Tyler running on the paths, so I rode next to him for 20 minutes.
I feel a little better today, but not perfect. I'll try to do some leg strength drills on the way home, slow RPM and low heart rate but working the muscles... hopefully that can bridge the gap enough to let me feel like I got some exercise (so I can sleep at night), without sending me further down the spiral.
Chilling out for a day or two is the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean it's fun!
Monday 12 May 2008
Race wasn't a failure after all...
1. Course was awesome. Twisty, turny, climby, fast, fun. And dry.
2. Organization was good. Not only was it well organized, it was enthusiastically organized!
3. Road trips are fun.
4. Mondays just don't feel right unless my legs are sore and tired... the sign of a good weekend.
5. Seeing how the depth of the Alberta field is better with each racing season.
Awesome day overall!
Sunday 11 May 2008
Race failure, 99.9 or 100% my fault
Shawn and Devin arrived for the 8am carpool up to Edmonton, relatively promptly, and after we fiddled with the bike rack for a bit we managed to get moving. Stopped in Red Deer for a little breakfast and some terrible coffee in my travel mug. Despite a few sprinkles on the way to the course, the course was basically bone dry - and a really nice course at that.
Race started out fast, the first lap got me warmed up well. After that, I settled in to my pace and felt good, despite how high the pace was. First lap I spent most of the time in 5th, then the second lap a lot of time was spent in 3rd. I even had the honor of spending most of the third lap leading, which was kind of novel.
Here's the part where things really started unwinding - I started cramping, despite not feeling like I was overdoing the pace. All of a sudden I went from feeling pretty positive to going backwards through the field - fast. Look out so guys don't rear end me! I had finished my small bottle of energy drink, and my feed bottle was plain water. I hobbled through the rest of the laps wondering why I had no endurance and thinking about how I should be training different. After getting passed at the line for whatever double digit spot I was giving up (I wasn't exactly racing for the line although I did pedal a bit faster so I wouldn't look like a total duffer), I went back to the car and got myself ready for a frigid bathe in the river.
I slowly rode down to the water, and put on my sandals so I could wade in with my bar of soap. I soaped up my hair really good so I basically knew I'd need to dunk my whole body in, but even the minute I was in the water made my ankles sore from the cold. Eventually I got myself in, boy was that refreshing. I thought my legs would cramp and I'd just float away.
Standing in the wind by my bag, I couldn't even feel the chill since my skin was numb. As I toweled off I saw my other small water bottle in the bag and took a drink. To my surpise, it wasn't my recovery drink. Which, despite mixing them last night in different colored bottles, made me realize I'd taken my double sweet just the way I like it mixture of recovery drink out on course today, complete with a it's ratio of protien and whatever else. No wonder I cramped!
So now I didn't feel so bad, I can take a bout of stupidity better than trying to rationalze pure physical incompetence. Problem was I pre-rode with just water, went to the start line with the water bottle, then quickly went back to get it and just grabbed the first one I saw. My guts still didn't feel all that great, but didn't really matter now that all I had to do was sit around then drive home.
I'm hoping to have a better race at Stoney Plain.
Wednesday 7 May 2008
Tuesday Hammer
1. Devin was dominant on the Hammer.
2. The Hammer took my post work stress level of 11 down to zero by the time I was home.
3. Good fun, good workout!
Sunday 4 May 2008
Sunday Exploration
Coincidentally, right when I was leaving, I got an email from Craig, didn't know he was in town again. We chatted, but the main point was I'm already in the car, can I pick you up for a ride in 20 mins?
I wanted to explore west of Grand Valley road, and suffice to say, we definitely got our exploring in. New rancher restaurants, beautiful paved roads, indian reserves, Petro-Canada lease roads, logging roads, seismic cut lines, all while enjoying the beauty of the Wildcat hills made it a great afternoon.
All in we did 3.5 hours of riding, 90%of which was new to me. Awesome!
Saturday Ride
Friday 2 May 2008
Good deed for the day
Step 1, call AMA to unlock it.
Step 2, pull out my keys and play games with the little dude. No, not in your mouth. Press the little buttons dude. Yeah that's right, set off the alarm. Why don't you help us out and unlock it... Presto!
Step 3, AMA we don't need you anymore. You're welcome chiquita, yes I can tell you were so worried, not a prob.
Step 4, resume course, pick up bike.