Skip to main content

Riding is good

This morning I went for a recovery ride at Blanket's. Temps were in the 30s and it was a beautiful sunny morning.  I was up at 6am and spent an hour and a half looking for a TV. Pretty ridiculous. Finally mustered up the gumption to brave the cold and I'm thankful that I did because I had a true moment of zen on an isolated South Loop. About 100 Canadian geese were heading south for the winter but they seemed to hover overhead.  I paused and looked up at them for a few minutes. They seemed to fly with me for the rest of the ride and after a while I no longer heard their calls, until they stopped. I'm glad I decided to go outdoors today.  I think it's important to take these pauses every so often. So much time I spend outdoors on a bike, the world seems to be whirring by.

I knew today would be an easy ride because my knees are still trashed from the road bike metric century (62 miles) on Saturday. Not so much from the mileage but my bike fit. Shoulders and just above elbows are also twingy. This is a bike fit issue I know. I think I'm reaching to far to the bars so I need to:
A: Move the saddle forward.
B: Raise the bars and stem.
C: Raise the saddle
D: Get a $$$ bike fit

Speaking of road biking, I am quite enamored with it to this point. Granted I've only been on the Silver Comet but I really like how quiet the bike is and how aerodynamic it can be. When I go back to the mountain bike, it feels like a fat behemoth. My 3 rides on the SC have been epic and rewarding. Last Saturday I pushed to a metric century with Steve Whittier. I definitely had more in the tank. RPE (rate of perceived exertion) was 5-ish so I could have gone harder.
 The week before I put in 54 hard miles. RPE was 7 that day with mixed in interval sprints at the stop signs.
Week before that was a 3-hour ride with Renee, my 1st road ride on my new bike. 30-ish miles.
Looking forward to making it to Rockmart next time for a 76-mile round trip.  Also looking forward to branching out on some isolated country roads.

Popular posts from this blog

Dilemma for bad-assery

It's been a long year of hard training and racing, both on the bike and trail running.  Mentally I feel like a need a break at this point although I trained 39 hours in November, my 2nd highest total of the year and most of those hours were of high quality. Physically, I feel pretty fresh still.  I feel as though I could just train year around but know that I need some sort of rest period for next year's race season.  My training has remained fresh in part because I attained a road bike, which I've ridden about 12 hours so far.  It's been a huge boon to my training although I still need to get a proper bike fit done to alleviate neck and knee pain. The training book I'm reading recommends to take a 2-4 week Transition period to let my body and mind recover before moving on to next year's Base phase.  Question I'm pondering is when do I begin my Transition period...I feel like I'm in a great groove right now and I'd like to build up my Lactate thresh...

MAF test results

MAF test #1 at Boling Park 8/6/16 Humid and warm. Went over 145 several times and up to 147.  Average was 143, 144, 144 for each mile. 1-mile intervals were 8:54, 10:24, 11:34 I found it difficult to stay below 146 and was surprised how often my HR alert went off. Breakfast was larabar, half kindbar, coconut oil. MAF test #2 at Boling Park 11/19/16 14-week interval Factors: Living with my 3 month old precious infant daughter for the past 3 months! Poor sleep and 30 mph headwinds.Temps in 60s.   MCT oil and egg ham muffins for bfast HR strap would not wake up until 2nd mile so I took miles 2,3,4 for the test HR went up to 147 and 148 several times and it was difficult to keep it at 145 but I am not going to adjust my times due to the headwinds, which pretty much evens everything out or close enough. 1-mile intervals 8:18, 8:45,8:49,8:57 HR per lap 143, 146, 146, 146 Note, my HR strap didn’t work until after the 1st half-mile so I’m ...

6 months a father! A hero for eternity?

Yesterday, my daughter Kitai turned 6 months old. It's hard to believe! Her name is Japanese in origin and means fox. The fox is her motif animal I suppose and she has taken to it really well. She seems rather fiery and wiley I will say. Time is surely flying although some of that time seemed to pass by at a glacial pace.  It seems like just the other day we had her on the changing table and she was endlessly fascinated with the shiny wood paneling on the table. She also was rather enamored of our library chandelier. So much that we dubbed it her "boyfriend." I'll never forget seeing her for the first time and her little face scrunched up as she was laid on wife's chest right after being delivered. I think I said, "Oh wow, look at that." The midwives said I had a huge grin! Kit didn't cry right away, it took several minutes.  It may sound funny, but I do get the sense that this is not her first time around.  Her birth was like a runaway freight trai...