Saturday, June 25, 2011

Breaking In


It's best to make faces
at the wind.
Saturday: The replacement crankset has arrived!  To break it in, I took a nice stroll from Montpelier to Lake Elmore, through "moose country", a total of about 42 miles and a max of 10% grade.  I made the stroll solo today, enjoying the slightly cooler weather along the way.  It was great to have a crankset that is... well.. whole, and not missing a large part of the spindle.  While the old crankset was ridable with the damage, the new one is much more stable and noticeably stiffer, especially during out of the saddle efforts.  I figure on being back to racing by July.  Since there are no races nearby that I can enter, next weekend will be spent doing long hours, just like this weekend.  I can figure on doing long hours tomorrow as well.
Start of the Elmore steeps
To briefly recap the week... previous to Saturday
Tuesday: I did plenty of hours this week, including a practice criterium in Essex Jct, where I finished in 7th.  The race itself was a blast!  I managed to sneak off some attacks in the saddle with my bum crankset.  Not being able to power out of the saddle or use my smallest and fastest two gears was a huge disadvantage.  With the replacement crank installed, I'm excited to say that the next event, practice or sanctioned will at the least have all 10 gears and be a hell of a lot faster.
Wednesday: Not that interesting... rode... few hours.  NEXT!
Thursday: I also was able to make it to the GMBC South Greenbush Time Trial after spending about 3 hours in the saddle prior to the TT on Thursday.  Ben and I ventured to the Time Trial.  Full in aero gear, minus the profile bars, I took to the sub 9 mile course straight on into the head wind.  After catching four people, and only being caught by one tank on two wheels, I'm pretty happy with my performance still considering the lack of lower two gears and ability to grind out of the saddle.  This coming week brings options for the Time Trials as well as race paced rides.
Friday: I spent the day mountain biking in Camp Johnson.  Not many miles, but lots of hard work climbing through the woods, over roots and GETTIN' MUDDY!  A good break from getting dirty on the wet rain soaked roads of this fair Green Mountain State.

Montpelier to Elmore is both challenging and fast.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Part of training is resting

Pond Rd leading towards Rt 116 from Dorset St.  One
of many roads taken in the past ten days.
The past 10 days have been spent dodging rain and not always successfully.  Today, although beautiful was spent resting and getting fresh for the days ahead.  While this entry is short and to the point, I'd like to stress the importance of resting, whether active or passive.

After spending multiple days in the saddle, doing rides both easy and hard the body needs a day which it can rest and recover.  The enjoyment of the saddle can sometimes be a curse, especially when the weather does not always cooperate.




Laundry day!
All in all, be sure to rest, no matter how nice it may be, it might be just as nice to just sit and enjoy the sun.  Rest days are also great days to do laundry.

In a quick gear update, I've been told a replacement set of cranks are on the way from FSA.  Racing will resume within the next two weeks.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Catching Up

While racing has been postponed by health, and now componentry problems, training has still been fantastic, but in order to get back to racing I am in need of a BB30 Crankset with a 172.5mm arm length.  
Please let me know if you have one you'd like to offload.  I've got wheels and other components for trade as well.  Contact me for more information at SkiDemon55@gmail.com

After being sick for about two and a half weeks, my recovery and catch up is coming along steadily.  Once the school year ended, systems shut down and began the reboot process.  The past three weeks have been spent riding lots of hours on difficult routes and paths.  To catch y'all up to speed, here's an idea of what the weekly schedule has been like:

Sunday: Long hours 4+
Monday: 3hrs easy + Mtn Biking
Tuesday: 2.5hrs, hard and fast + 80 mile commute
Wednesday: 3hrs easy
Thursday: Time Trial + Mtn Biking
Friday: 3hrs easy
Saturday: Rest/Cross Training

While all of this sounds glorious, most riding has been very wet and miserable.  While I don't mind getting wet, it does get old having to clean my bike after every ride.

Recap of the past few days:
Thursday evening was marked with the New Haven Jct TT, a 13.something loop out beyond Bristol but before Middlebury.  I was joined by UVM strongmen Ben C and Jake W and the Wonder Woman herself, Shannon B.  We all took strong to the course in the evening sun, along with 16 other competitors including 1K2GO pointman Bobby Bailey.

With strong legs I managed to launch myself about 10 miles past the first turn.  Completely missing the course by said 10 miles, I used the time to continue working on my TT effort.  Looking at the map after the ride, I realized I had ridden out into Starksburo (past the Rt 17 turn to App Gap).  Whatever TT I had just ridden, I won... but only because I was the only one doing it.  Whoops.

Friday, now known as dirt day, was spent roaming the back roads of Chittenden County with 3 fellow UVM riders.  We spent the afternoon being led through the countryside by Tristan B who capped our ride off by leading us onto a goat road in the middle of no where.  I will honestly say, I have never had so much fun while being so terrified.  Perhaps this goat road will become a part of the future Tour De Vermont.  Flanders, eat your heart out.


Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!