Monday, July 2, 2007

July 1

Some days it's just not worth the effort. I was scheduled to go the distance 65 miles in preparation for my first distance ride (in 20 years) -- the 70 mile Mountain Mama. 15 miles into it I realized I forgot money. I began devising how I would talk the mini-mart owner into "loaning" me Gatorade, water and a banana. The heat and peleton's were a bit demoralizing as I was on my own. The new high-span on the Sanibel Causeway had just opened up and tons of roadies took the opportunity to test their legs on the only hill in the area.

At 26 miles something felt funny -- other than my a**, legs and hands. I was getting a flat. A problem again. I took out my CO2 tire kit to balance the weight of extra water cages. By 32 the front tire was flat and I was wondering why I spent the money on the kevlar lined Specialized tires. Fortunately I have a loving, understanding wife who drove out to rescue me from a 4 mile hike in cleats back to the car.

Contemplated finishing the miles on the trainer... for a nano-second.

Rest day today and get psyched again for Tuesday.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guilty or Innocent?

Floyd Landis will be in town to promote his book tomorrow. I plan to go after work and hopefully get a chance to get a picture / shake hands with a fellow PA native. I am in the camp that thinks he is innocent. I think WADA and UCI are giving him the shaft. I know doping is a problem, but they got it wrong this time. The science doesn't support the result.

July 2, 2007 at 11:52 AM
Anonymous said...

Hey guys,

I got back on the bike this past Saturday for a self-inflicted torture session. I couldn't quite figure out why I couldn't get into a good groove, but then it came to me...I lost my cycling fitness by being off the bike for 2 weeks. I guess Spin classes aren't enough.

Eventually, I started to feel good and decided to work some hills into the ride. I hit a few hills and then even double-backed to hit one good one again. As it would happen, I needed to cut the ride short due to time. Since I sacrificed the better part of the past 5 months to train for the Tahoe event, home projects took a back seat. I actually got up @ 5:30 AM on Saturday to prep the bike and sneak out before anyone else was up at home. On the way back, I stopped at my favorite little cafe for a quick shot of coffee before returning home. Yes, caffeine...will need to discuss the pros and cons as it can be considered a 'supplement'. More to follow...

Sunday found me at the gym in a 2-hour spin class. I like to torture myself once a week with a back-2-back class. I pushed it and my legs are still sore. In retrospect, I wish I would have gone out on the road again because the weather was just perfect yesterday...but had a lot of yardwork left to do...plus stuff with the boys. I am still a bit sore today, but that may have more to do with digging 11 holes in my yard with a shovel and pick.

That leads me to 'recovery'. This is another topic worth discussing as we prep for 'Mama'. We can add this to the nutrition discussion.

One item of advice for now regarding nutrition: during my Tahoe training season, we would start thinking about nutrition / hydration the Wednesday before a big Saturday training ride. That is, increase the fluid intake and start eating appropriately by Wednesday. As one of my coaches said, "this is not the time to be on a diet." Eating appropriately will keep the glycogen stores up, help you perform optimally and speed recovery. Sorry if I sound like an ad for a supplement, but have been reading/experimenting with this stuff quite a bit lately.

July 2, 2007 at 12:13 PM

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