Cross Training: No riding, No weights

Wed is normally the brutal Hill Ride, but with the snow on the roads there would be no riding outside today. So, my plan was to either hit the trainer in the basement while watching TV or go to the gym and do another heavy leg workout. I was starting to look forward to doing some long L3 intervals on the trainer since I find it really hard to maintain a constant power output with all the rollers in the area. I'm either cruising up hills in L6 or coasting downhill in L1.

Instead, Justina and I walked 3 miles into Bethesda to meet a friend for drinks and dinner at Black's. Its been a while since I walked a long distance in the snow and this was absolutely the most beautiful walk. It wasn't too cold since we kept up a pretty brisk pace. And, it really didn't take that long to get there, maybe 45 min?

After a couple of glasses of wine, oysters, gumbo, french fries, and an unbelievable chocolate cake dessert, we headed back home. Funny how the return trip always seems faster. It was a bit colder, but once we got going it wasn't too bad.

I can't wait for the next big snow storm.

EZ Ride turns into the Ride from Antartica

So today's ride was supposed to be an easy recovery ride after a long week of hard rides and heavy legs. My plan was to hook up with the 7am ride and just sit in. I was running a bit late getting out of the house and thought I'd be able to catch the ride near Anglers. When I got to Anglers just before 8AM, there was no one in sight, so I headed off towards Democracy via Falls. I get to the corner of Sorrell and Democracy and start back tracking the route. I wound up doing a couple laps up and down Sorrell, still no ride. I'm thinking, man, they must be flying today and I've completely missed them or they are going really slow. Finally a dozen or DC Velo riders come along and I hook up with them. At this point, I'm completely freezing and I can't get warm. We ride the rest of the way back to Beech Drive at a very easy pace, and my hands are killing me. I'm usually pretty warm during rides, and the cold usually doesn't affect me, but today was a completely different story. I was freezing. My fingers were still tingling 8 hours after the ride. I need to get new gloves and winter tights.

Can you really get WIND BURN cycling?

The supposed EZ Friday ride, turned out to be a hammer-fest. Present were Randy, Paul, Simon, Jay, Harry and myself. I really didn't want to go hard today, but that's the problem riding in a group of really strong riders. There is always at least one that wants to go hard or at least one that can turn it on and make everyone suffer.

I guess the only way to do an easy ride is to go SOLO.

Anyway, I just want everyone to know that I'm OK. I just got back from the emergency room, where I received treatment for WIND BURN. The ER team is going to write up a case study since they were completely amazed that one could get such a severe case of WIND BURN from riding a bicycle. They also replenished my electrolytes via IV and put me on oxygen. Now, if they'd only have hopped me up on some pain killers, I'd be ready for the weekend hammer-fest.

PS: only joking about the ER story but it sure makes great copy.
PSS: my legs are killing me right now

Weights and F'in Stationary Bike

Wasn't able to get outside today, but went to the gym with Justina. My plan was to ride 2x20m intervals at Zone 3 on the stationary bike and then a heavy leg workout.

I really hate riding the bikes at the gym. I'm not sure why, but my knees always hurt and I'm deathly afraid of causing any knee strain that will nag me when I'm actually riding outside.

I warmed up for 10m at Zone1, and then increased my power to mid Zone 3 range for my first 20m interval. The one thing about riding a stationary is that its a lot easier to maintain consistent power output, which is extremely difficult to achieve outside. Outside you are always fighting the wind, the hills, and its real difficult to maintain a consistent output. So 20m at Zone3 was definitely starting to hurt. I could definitely feeling the blood flowing through my legs, and I was sweating like a pig.

I rested for about 3m and then started my 2nd 20m interval, but Justina was getting ready to leave, so I was only able to do a 10m interval but I increased the power output to the higher end of Zone3.

I completed my workout doing legs: single and double leg extensions, single and double legged curls and then leg presses.

Todays' Hill Ride

Today's ride was pretty hard. My legs felt pretty tired after going hard everyday since Saturday and I really wasn't able to push them without thinking I'd pop. So, I stayed within myself, and didn't try to max out. This turned out to be good training in terms of holding back. I normally try to blast up the hills but find myself popping towards the end of the ride.

There were some heavy hitters today but fortunately for the rest of us they really didn't hammer too hard.

I'm getting better at climbing and learning the fine balance of not pushing too heavy a gear and not spinning too light of a gear. I'm working more and more to try pushing heavy gears and spinning light gears to determine what works best for me. Its amazing when you get it right how effortless it feels.

Great ride today.

Wed Hill Ride led by a Mutineer

If you didn't do this ride, you missed a great ride.

Randy's morning email stated he wanted to do the regular ride instead of the usual Wed Hill Ride. But, as always the case with folks from the other side of the pond, Ad Bax led a mutiny and completely caused chaos within the peleton as we reached Newbridge. Normally we turn right, but Ad and his rebel rousing Hill climbers stayed straight. The rest of the group followed us but quickly turned around to head up Newbridge when they learned that those going straight would be doing the Hill Ride. So, we splintered into two groups today: Climbers and "Slackers" (I think I remember hearing Ad mention this term). The climbers consisted of the lead Mutineer Ad, his all-world son Nick, Paul, Jay, Bill and myself (and someone that normally is in the A.Fenty entourage).

We continued on Bradley and made a left on Persimmon Tree, and a right onto MacArthur, and was thus able to continue on the normal 5+ Hill Climb route. Making the right onto Mnt Gate, I was in the front and Ad kept egging me on to attack. About half way up, I attacked with Nick. He pulled through and I was able to stay on his wheel to the top. For the first time in a long time, my legs actually felt really good, and my cardio felt OK. Fortunately for me, Nick didn't keep the hammer down as we rolled through the neighborhood. The others caught us someplace in the rollers, and the 6 of us flew down Brickyard. We kept a pretty good tempo up Anglers, and down the park. Coming out the park, the tempo was still pretty good and no one was really attacking.

Now this is where it gets funny. We're all in a line coming up the stretch before the VWF and I'm thinking "OK my legs feel good, my breathing is under control, this is normally where Nick attacks. I'm going to show him and beat him to the punch". Well, Nick is pulling us and I'm sitting I think #2 letting him pull and hopefully getting tired. I think to me myself "Now is my time to attack", so I attack hard to the right shoulder. I'm giving all I have, almost popping a nut in the process and pooping in my shorts, and off on the left side I hear a freight train coming and it's Nick in full flight, legs spinning a hundred miles an hour. Needless to say, all I could do at this point was start laughing as he left me in the dust. I think I was laughing because it reminded me the one thing about cycling, and that is 'no matter how strong you think you are, or how good you are feeling at a particular moment, there is always someone riding right next to you that will kick your ass'. And I laughed the rest of the way up to the VWF.

The rest of the ride was fun. Nick and Jay got away coming over Brickyard. I stayed with Ad and Bill through the neighborhood, but Ad sneakily got a jump on Bill and myself as we made the left onto MacA. Ad was chasing down Nick and Jay, and I was sitting on Bill's wheel as he chased down Ad. I'm thinking this is great, Ad is busting a nut to catch Nick and Jay, and Bill is busting a nut to catch Ad. What am I doing? I'm just sitting in, doing no work almost the entire way along MacA before we turned up Eggert.

I'm telling you this was one of the best rides I've done in a long time. Probably because I'm getting my legs back after vacation and feel like I can test my boundries of endurance. During the past week or so, I've just been hanging on by a thread, just waiting for the rubber band to break. Today, I felt really good.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope everyone that reads my blog puts on at least 15 lbs during this holiday weekend.

Yin and Yang

Here are two completely opposite activities I enjoy watching when I'm not riding my bike. I love going to the ballet, and I love watching MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting. There is nothing better then watching people dance as if they were tied to strings completely defying gravity. And, watching two guys try to kick the crap out of each other. You just have to be able to appreciate athletes performing at their best, whether they are dancers or fighters.