Better than the trainer

Headed out at 4:30 last night with the sun still sorta in the sky. Those evening rides seem to start at 4 pm now. Headed out the long way to Moonstone which meant some big farm field sections before getting into the hills. It wasn't that I wanted a long warm up, ok, ya my legs were feeling like bricks. I also wanted to enjoy the sun for as long as I could and farm fields equals no trees which meant more sun. Simple logic.

Going once.

It took a good 40 minutes for the legs to start feeling the happy place. Lots of grunt work around the house and work the last few days has played a part in this. Hit the start of the climbs along Anderson Line and took the right onto Stage Coach road. I've yet to find the stage coach but I did see a barn. The hills looked like they were on fire, my video camera doesn't do justice.

Going Twice.

The climb up Moonstone road doesn't seem as long when you can't really see where the top is. Ya wait that's a lie, it still is long. Some rights and lefts back toward Vasey line. An interesting thing was not going up but going down at 60-70 km/h with very little vision. My hands were a little closer to the brake levers than normal especially after having both a cat and a fox (not in chase) cut across the road in front of me. My lights are getting a great workout.

Gone!!!

2 hours not on the trainer keeps me happy. A great warm up for this weekends adventure. Will be heading over for the high noon start where I'm going to do everything I can to beat Watson. If your first your last!!!! The long ride will work great to burn off the calories that I'll be consuming after the ride. Hydration is very important!!!!

On the cat name front. Here is the list so far.

Bonk

Misfit, Someone is drinking way to much of Peter's spiked Kool-Aid. Watch out for the roofies!

Ringwald

Scratchy

Crank ( since that is the one you liked the most)

Stan

Watson (because someone else has a Watson fetish besides just me)

Max

I'll leave it open till the end of the day then I'll have the pole up over the weekend.

Work before play

All in a name

With the long shadows of the fall and the even longer amount of time spent indoors I decided to take a visit to the local OSPCA. Of course you know what that means. I needed some additional entertainment so I brought home this little monster.

I've yet to figure out a name for him. He came with Barney but I'm just not sure. I've thought Bonk because he likes to headbutt things and it's a cycling thing also. Still not sure so here is where I will leave it up to you. Through me some ideas, I will then put up a poll and the winning name will become permanent.

He is strung out, like any kitten. Very vocal, like most kittens and his owner. Him and Molly are getting along, of course the Molly Monster voiced her concerns about someone else taking some of the attention away from her.

Work then ride

Adaptation

I was finding it interesting how quickly the body can adjust to temperature changes. Not just slow ramp ups but major changes. Last night while riding in the cold and dark, that's what most of my riding will be for the next month if I want to avoid the trainer, I thought wow I'm really warm. Almost to warm. Now it was just above the freezing mark during my ride and I was more than comfortable for the 1.5 hours.

Now I think back to a couple weeks ago for that night cross race at Hardwood where at one point I could barely feel my fingers and that was only a 30 minute race. I was wearing about the same amount of clothing and I was actually working harder at a slower speed being on dirt and grass while riding at intensity. Normally much easier to stay warm. So what changed? Nothing except for the fact that it has been cold for the last few days in the evenings and I've been out in it.

On the reverse side of the thermostat I look at how hard I blew up at Mountainview Ontario Cup race when the heat went through the roof in the course of the day, I popped hard, less than a week later in the same conditions I rode to the win at the 9 hour feeling amazing. A couple days in the heat and the body adjusted. Many years ago in my former ski instructor days I remember being out in minus 30 and being fine all day by mid season but yet those first few days of the season it was almost impossible to keep the fingers and toes warm.

So obviously my body adjusts well to the changes but I wonder about other people. You know the ones that say" I hate the winter" or the ones with "the heat kills me" Is it that they don't try to adjust or is it that there body can't adjust as well? I guess this is part of the reason that I ride in shit conditions instead of opting to the trainer. I got a message from a friend involving having a hard time making himself go out in the rain and cold. Mentally he just didn't want to be out in it. Yep, it sucks being out there but it's still better than the trainer. The other thing is you may have to race in unfavourable conditions. This season has been completely crap for cold, rainy, conditions or extreme heat. I don't think there were to many races that weather was what it "Should be!"

So what is more important, training the body to be strong and in peak or training the mind to be ready to deal with the worst conditions? In most cases it's harder to do a controlled workout while being out in the most unfavourable conditions but yet the mind is getting ready to be completely miserable but yet on the trainer with wattage or heart rate you cant be very precise with intervals and be as strong as possible. It's a hard debate because both are at the top of the scale of importance.

What am I going to do? For this winter season my plan is to do as much of my endurance rides outside as possible and all my high end intervals on the puke machine. I think this will give me the biggest benefit. Ok now the truth, I want to do everything I can do avoid 3 and 4 hour rides on the trainer, it's boring even with movies etc. I also want to take advantage of the wattage trainer and push my legs as hard as I can. 3-5 minute intervals are bang on consistent when i set a wattage on that stupid machine where out on the road there are slight ups and downs on the road that will give my legs a break during those longer intervals.

I'm hoping that we don't have a repeat of the 2009 weather next season but at least I will be as prepared as I can be going into it. It would be nice to not spend longer cleaning the bike than it does to do the race that makes the mess (o-cups) and hopefully the endurance season brings only rainbows and butterflies with trails made of chocolate.

Time to work.

??????????????

Got nothing, rode my bike in the dark, booked my pass out place for Saturday, ride my bike again tonight in the dark. That's it.

Try to be creative tomorrow.

The great white north

Great weekend away from the regular grind around the house. Lots of mellow time and it was fun spotting snow patches on the drive up. The weather Saturday was not as nice as it was farther south but I still did the last unofficial ride on the Anthem. One is clean and put away the other was due for some abuse.

Not really knowing what the roads/trails would be like up there it was a safe choice. Once I saw all the bright orange jackets wandering around the bush armed with high powered bb guns I was pretty certain I'd be sticking to trails that resembled roads. I had a little concern that they would not be able to tell the difference between a deer and a skinny guy on an orange bike.

The main roads into and around the cottage are gravel but lots of rollers and turns to keep things interesting. The rare times I did come across another person out there I did get some weird looks. I was starting to guess that cycling is not very popular up this way, then I came across this.

Yes that is a cyclist on that picture. Continued on my planned out loop out to the 518. Let's just say that I'm already planning a trip up here to ride this road on my road bike. Great views, some good climbs and very little traffic.

The sun broke a few times and stopped for a moment to enjoy.

The closest I did get to some trail riding was this.

Of course I made every hunter jealous as i ran into Bambi out there. Kinda startled me as I heard the trees snap when the deer took off in the opposite direction. Spun my legs out after 2 hours and headed back to my hang out for the weekend.

The view was amazing but the lake was a little to chilly to do much more than look at.

Sunday was spent waterfall/rapids searching on the way home. This is where I scoped out the 518 as a ride. What an amazing road. If we keep getting a break in the weather I may attempt to get a good long ride up there before the snow comes.

Tonight, the MNS will be back at it. An interesting thing is the weather is very much a flashback to the winter of last year. First Monday it was crazy warm, like its supposed to be today, the next Monday there was a dusting of snow but still rideable. The following Monday, snowstorm. Not sure if I want a repeat of that or not at this point.

Back to the real world of work this morning.