Getting somewhat ready
Posted on May 25, 2009
This weekend I rode pretty hard.
Being a long weekend (still is) I am enjoying the time on the bike… So far i have put 20 hours on the bike. Still have to days ride to complete the full week, but things are looking good. Another great block of training.
Saturday was the usual swamis with a bunch of nobodies… except for Karl. Not sure if they pace is getting easier for me or if they are going easier or what is going on, but I am holding on to the ride on a consistent basis. Seems right, after years of not seeing the finish line with the group.
Anyways, before the ride even started, someone broke a seat clamp and it was the dumbest crash I have seen in a while. just a bunch of guys folding in front of me, for no apparent reason. Mark got hurt and I hope he is OK. We stopped and chased back on, but he decided to turn around after 2 miles. The adrenaline must have worn out and the pain settled. sucks.
So the ride was a pretty good. Numbers were actually pretty good and probably the highest I have seen them in a while. LT watts was just a tad under 340, so pretty happy right there. My weight is coming down and 179lbs looks promising in the next 2 weeks.
I felt pretty good but I could tell I put the effort in. Sunday was another hard day, so I needed to conserve in some manner, but not waste the time on the bike either. So it was perfect.
Sunday I did a ride with my neighbor Joe. I pulled his ass everywhere… joking… I know he will read this.
Left early, which is great cause you get back early.
I was ready for some real punishment and he dished it. Started off with a bunch of smaller 200-300ft climbs and I decided right there to hold my efforts at a certain level. 300w and nothing above that for too long. In the first couple of climbs he put about 30 seconds to a minute into me. i was still warming up and i knew that if i held my pace throughout the day I would eventually close that gap or at least maintain it and not get completely destroyed.
We went east to Crest and the climbs started to get longer and longer. I was feeling good but the swamis effort did put a dent into me. Kept my pace and the gaps on the climbs were holding steady. 300w on the climbs and on the stair-steppers I would reel him back in a bit. 300w on the false flats would net me close to 17mph, so that helped maintain the gaps.
We tagged along all day and slowly I started to feel my legs get sore to the touch. I was hurting but at the same time I knew this was exactly what my legs needed before hitting bakersfield. In the last climbs I stayed on Joe’ wheel and i have to say that even cooked as he might have been and how tired i was, we still managed double digits on those climbs.
It was a great workout. Back by 11:15, 78 miles, 6400ft of climbing.
Hopefully I get something like that next week. I feel like the training is going to pay off, I am just not sure what the results should be. I know I will be racing with some very strong guys (Karl Host, John Husk, Mitch, etc, etc). I mean, these guys put the wood down and I feel like I am closing the gap little by little. I know that straight up they would rip me a new one, but I think that if I play dead possum I can jump one of them.
Lets see what happens in two weeks.
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When I say “nobody showed up”, I mean that Neil Shirley, James Gunn, Chris Horner, et al…
I know there were some very fast guys out there.