Ripon Spring Classic

Saturday morning cool, misty, & foggy. Brian P. (team mate) picked me up at 6:30am and then we headed to Ripon. We were doing a fundraising ride for the college bicycle team. It was a 110 mile ride that had a bunch of gravel sections and plenty of hills. It was the perfect weather for a Belgium spring classic. My bicycle was clean prior, and by the end it looked like I was mountain biking with it. Great route!
There was about 40 riders and all was good until we hit the first gravel road. You know what happen then? Flat tires, there were a lot of flat tires. There was a sag vehicle, but we were waiting for people to change the tubes. This became very annoying after wasting about 20 minutes. One of the biggest problems with group rides is the pace/power. Especially when you have a variety of talent or lack of. The up hills people seemed to power up them and then coast down hill, this is not very efficient way to ride for 110 miles. So, what ended up happening after about 40 miles is that Erik L, Kyle J, Brian P, and myself started riding by our selves. The group pulled away from us and we started pace lining and eventually caught back up to them.
We kept doing our pace line and for a little while nobody disrupted what we were doing, but that didn't take long and then some riders rotated in and didn't know what they were doing screwing things up. They stopped at a bar and we waited for a bit and then decided to keep going, but added 2 more IS Corp riders. I am sure the group wasn't far behind. We took a wrong turn, but we were back on track in no time. We then saw the group coming up from behind us and we just kept going with our pace. We were coming to a climb and they were getting really close and Kyle said, on this climb we will drill it a little and drop as many people as possible. It was a pretty long steep climb and we did just that, there were only like four people that stayed with us from that group. Some of these new riders were powering up the hills too, but after I said something they stopped and were riding smooth. At miles 72 was the lunch stop, where some of us filled up with fluids, and some stayed to eat. At this point it was down to 5 of us to finish the ride.
As we got closer to the end I was getting extremely tired and every hill was a struggle. I was not the only one hurting and I was glad I had the fitness to finish the ride. I am was happy when it was done and all I wanted to do was EAT! Brian and I then stopped for food and then he dropped me off.
This was a long day and I am very thankful for having an understanding wife and puts up with my bicycling hobby. I was gone all day, not getting home till 6:30pm, and by the time I was unpacked and hanging out with her it was 7pm.
Sunday, I washed my bicycle and then went for a quick 30 minute easy ride. I had to be ready to leave the house at 9:30am to go to the home show in Milwaukee. As for the week of training; Monday, not sure yet, may go for a ride, but I might have to mow my grass again, that will be the third time this year. If I go for a ride it will only be for an hour and will be easy. Still need a little more time to recover. Tuesday, will depend on rain or not, if it is not raining I am going to motor pace. Wednesday, depends on my TSS, I might meet up with OBC or just do my own thing. Thursday, I will probably only ride of an hour to hour and half. Friday, will probably be a rest day, but might go for a little leg opener. Saturday, if the weather is ok I will race in Illinois. Sunday, hoping for a 3 hour endurance ride.

Motor Pacing #2

Motor pacing last night went fairly well. I had Jake from work drive the car while Ryan and I motor paced behind. Jake not being a bicycle rider was a bit heavy on the gas pedal at times. We had one person that almost pulled out in front of us. I saw this coming so I managed not to panic and had a exit strategy. While Jake just kept follow the road and Ryan panicked and grabbed a hand full of brakes, but managed to stay up-right. This was just south of Fond Du Lac.
The route was great and went like this. We started just north of Kewaskum on Hwy 45 to Hwy K north a little more to Hwy T east to Hwy G south. We rode for 45 miles with an average speed of 27+ mph. The only way to reach speeds like these is either motor pacing or racing. I am looking forward to the next time and I am thinking of doing the same exact route, just improving the speed.
Tonight I am going to meet up with some OBC riders and tomorrow looks like some rain/T-storms moving so I will probably take the day off. Friday will also be a rest day and Saturday 110 miles for Ripon College. I do have some plans on Sunday, so I will be just winging that day.

Jim Giese's Training Ride

This past Saturday Jim hosted a group training ride. Let me say that he did a phenominal job. Nice job Jim. He had sprint spots and a 6 mile mini circuit race, for a total a 4 harder efforts. There must have been @ 40 riders, which was awesome. Good to see the familier faces and seen a bunch of new ones too.
First sprint was by the intersection of Pleasant Valley & Hwy M. I timed this one right and won it for 5 points and for a pound of coffee. Second sprint was by the intersection of Decorah & Hwy M placing 2nd for 3 points, and I let my team mate Grant who won it. Third one was the 6 mile circuit race where I placed 2nd for another 3 points, I timed this one badly but managed a good position behind Jeff Melcher. Fourth one was by intersection Hwy 60 & Division, this again I was 2nd for 3 more points and behind Jeff Melcher. I really had fun doing this ride and it was a great way to judge my fitness against others without having to sign up for a race. I also won the GC for the total ride, so my winnings on the day was 1 pound bag Fiddleheads Coffee, a water bottle, a T-shirt, and a bag of protein things that tasted good. I rode to the ride w/Jim S. thanks for the company. And seen that Jeff also rode out, but when it was time to come back I was by myself. Brian P. rode with me back to West Bend thanks for the company. Had a total of 72 miles.
Sunday I went out with my wife, first time outside for her this year. We rode two hours really easy for a total of 30 miles. I then mowed the grass and believe it or not in some spots it really needed it. I weed eated, not sure if that is gramically correct? And then I edged my sidewalk which was a lot more work than I anticipated even with the edger. I got a lot of sun this weekend and possibly a bit to much.
This weeks training is hopefully going to look like this....Monday, off (funteral), Tuesday, motor pace, Wednesday, meet up with OBC, Thursday,recover ride, Friday, off, Saturday, Ripon 110 mile road ride, Sunday, recovery ride. Should be another good week of training. Oh and by the way I had a record amount of saddle time this past week with almost a total of 14 hours.

Is it May?

WOW, what beautiful weather we are having in the middle of March.It is going to be a good week for riding outside. I rode outside on Saturday with a small group of around eight. We left Wheel & Sprocket North shore at 9:30am and head out to Holly Hill. It was quit cool yet and very windy, but the ride back was really nice. I had some good tempo efforts and had a lot of fun! We had some mechanical too of course, a broken chain, flat tire, seat post bolt break, but no crashes, just good fun in the sun. I had about 70 miles total.

Sunday I went out again, but this time by myself. I had some time constraints, so I was not able to ride from Wheel & Sprocket again. I rode towards Holly Hill again, but didn't go to the church. I rode 45 miles and again put in some good tempo efforts. I had to leave a bit early, so again my ride back in was nicer than going out. Oh well, need to balance cycling, life and of course the wife.

Monday, I went out for an easy 30 miles. Ryan P. joined me and we just talked a spun. It was nice just spinning around. The roads were wet in some spots, but for the most part fairly dry. Temps where in the mid to upper 50's and winds a little lighter. This ride was kept very easy, you need these days too in training.

Today I am going to ride again after work and will be putting some good temp/threshold efforts. I should be able to get in two hours before the sun goes down. Tomorrow (Wednesday) my brother in going to be the motor pace driver while Ryan and I follow. Thursday will be another easy day and Friday will be an off day. Saturday I am keeping my options open for now, and will see what my schedule allows me to do. Same goes for Sunday! This is going to be a good week of training.

Practice for Training

Last night I did a little motor pacing practice. I call it practice because it was only for only thirty minutes. I wanted my team mate to get some time in too, he was able to get in 20 minutes. We started from my work and headed towards Extreme Ski & Bike. We jig jagged over to Hwy Y and then headed south. I went to Hwy Y & Hwy 60 and then we switched. He went from Hwy Y to the shop. This was very short for both of us and would have been nice to get in more time, but we only had so much daylight to work with. I need to get a designated driver so that the both of us could be riding at the same time.

The roller works really good, keeping us from taking the paint off of his bumper. We picked up some of our new kits, not everything was in, but I was able to get two bibs and one jersey. I ordered a white jersey too, I really like the way the new kits look. Anyways, back to motor pacing, I am looking foreword to more training and it is suppose to help increase my speed. I did do some of it last year at the end of the season, so I never really got a chance to see if it helped my racing. Starting motor pacing early this year should help, but time will tell.

I commuted to work yesterday and wanted to today too, but it is suppose to rain. I will probably train in my basement tonight for two reasons, 1) daylight, not enough of it right now and I need to get in 90 minutes. 2) rain, I don't feel like riding in the rain yet. Weather looks promising all weekend so I am looking foreword to getting outside both days. Next week I weather permitting I should be riding outside after work since daylight saving is this weekend. YEAH!

Motivation

I am getting pretty bored with riding my rollers in the basement. Winter decided to show up again on Friday 3/2/12 and cold temperatures all weekend keeping me in the basement. Daylight is getting longer and the extended forecast is looking promising. Can't wait to get outside. Saturday 3/3/12 I switched up my training a bit and did something that I haven't done in two years. I trained to a training video. It was a Coach Troy video and I did the Mount Lemon climb. He does the climb with a video camera and talks during it telling you what gear to be in and what kind of intensity you should be doing. The climb is located in Tuscon, Arizona, which my Mom lives out their and someday I will do it for real. Anyways it was something different and I enjoyed it very much, even though it hurt a bit. Total workout was one hour thirty minutes.

Sunday, I rode with my wife in the basement. She rode while watching the Biggest Loser. I listened to music with my head phones. She rode for one hour thirty minutes and I rode for two hours. For my training on Sunday I knew I wanted to ride for two hours. I did a mix bag of almost everything, zones wise. I feel I am the strongest I have ever been, so training is going well.

The weather looks to be very promising the next two weeks and I will be commuting to work on my bicycle and getting some riding outside after work. Daylight saving is this weekend and that will help my after work riding out a lot. Looking forward to two plus hours of riding after work OUTSIDE! Looking to work on my steady state efforts quit a bit in March. I will be starting a little bit of hills training and hoping to get in a bunch of motor pacing. Biggest thing that I am looking for in March is to get OUTSIDE!