Actually it seemed to be the whole weekend. Things just seemed to move a little slower, or tasks seemed to be done a little quicker. Yet another good road ride with the coach. Some world problems solved, some sore legs were feeling better on Sunday. The start of a few yard projects and the finish to a couple others. All that along with lots of down time in a chair on the grass.
Decision on Buckwallow is finalized, no play for me. Some long rides are in the mix instead. Skipped it last year with no remorse and after hearing that a MCC club member broke his arm there was a preliminary warning or gentle hint. Flashbacks of last year? Hopefully for many that's a no.
It's funny that during the Buckwallow race last year I ended up working on the back yard retaining wall, I'm still working on that same area this year with the start of the deck. Hmmm what will I be building there next season?
Coffee and stretching. Later
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
slow to go fast
But yet another wonderful day, the mind, body and soul all willing to get out for a long ride. Unfortunately that line 2 out of 3 ain't bad is a complete farce when the missing component happens to be the body. It was a reasonably early start rolling south bound to meet Andrew for a rip around the Big Chute. The return of lots of info was a good thing and I was happy to see that my heart rate has come out of the basement, the legs on the other hand. I was hoping Mr. Watson was going to be feeling weak. Wasn't happening.
The first hour wasn't to bad but I did find that what is normally a comfortable bottom zone 2 in wattage equalled an mid zone 3 in heart rate. Yep, still very weak. It didn't take long for me to clue in that as much as Andrew doesn't put out much of a draft I was going to need all the help I could get to try and keep my legs in a happy place on the slow road to recovery.
Lot's of mini groups of riders that seemed to be all going the wrong way on the loop. The thought of chasing them down and telling them that local law allows you to only go clockwise around that loop on every other Sunday. It was not every other Sunday.
Forced stop at Port Severn as the locks were crazy busy. This led to the strangest question from a woman. "Where do you get your bikes from?" I know it's a simple sort of answer but that not exactly a normal question you get from some stranger off the street. Ended up into a nice conversation, some links to her brother's bike shop in that other country, etc. Wanted to be nice to her, she arrived in a yacht bigger than my house and I thought she might put me in her will.
It will be a slightly shorter adventure today but yet again more time on the road. Thoughts on the next two races are more than likely only going to be thoughts. Some sponsor commitments are going to have me chilling around a bunch of triathletes, that will be entertaining. The rebuild is on. 3 weeks till Hardwood.
The first hour wasn't to bad but I did find that what is normally a comfortable bottom zone 2 in wattage equalled an mid zone 3 in heart rate. Yep, still very weak. It didn't take long for me to clue in that as much as Andrew doesn't put out much of a draft I was going to need all the help I could get to try and keep my legs in a happy place on the slow road to recovery.
Lot's of mini groups of riders that seemed to be all going the wrong way on the loop. The thought of chasing them down and telling them that local law allows you to only go clockwise around that loop on every other Sunday. It was not every other Sunday.
Forced stop at Port Severn as the locks were crazy busy. This led to the strangest question from a woman. "Where do you get your bikes from?" I know it's a simple sort of answer but that not exactly a normal question you get from some stranger off the street. Ended up into a nice conversation, some links to her brother's bike shop in that other country, etc. Wanted to be nice to her, she arrived in a yacht bigger than my house and I thought she might put me in her will.
It will be a slightly shorter adventure today but yet again more time on the road. Thoughts on the next two races are more than likely only going to be thoughts. Some sponsor commitments are going to have me chilling around a bunch of triathletes, that will be entertaining. The rebuild is on. 3 weeks till Hardwood.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Time Flies
This is the first weekend in a long time when there has been no travelling, no racing, even low key training. I'm almost lost and confused on what to do with the extra time on my hands. Of course there is always that list of to do's that are always linked to my house. Even though it is only July we are almost at the mid way point of the season.
Staring at the list of what's to come seems to e getting a little smaller and with the options of a no go a couple of the shorter races it means that the season is just flying by. 30 years ago a day seems like an eternity, 30 weeks ago the 2009 season had just ended and it seemed like an eternity before the next season began. Mix that in with the snow that was coming and it seemed like it would be forever before being on the trails again. 30 days ago it was recovering from yet another race.
Having this small break from racing is much needed at this point of the season but it's really stunning on how fast it goes by. I cringe a little when I think that it won't be long until I'm waxing skis instead of cleaning chains. Shoveling snow instead of cutting grass. I need to work on my best Tom Sawyer lines to try and persuade Pete to come help me move firewood this fall. It's fun Pete, all the kids are doing it. It will be cross bikes instead of mountain bikes. Yes, my one or two cross races of the season will be done yet again.
I'll admit that I sometimes look forward to that month of October and November when there is no training, just random rides. Of course when it's that time of the year I'm already getting excited for the next year of racing. It's just one crazy circle of Deja Vu. Looking ahead seems to be just thoughts of what I'm doing currently, may as well enjoy it. Time flies, might as well have fun.
Staring at the list of what's to come seems to e getting a little smaller and with the options of a no go a couple of the shorter races it means that the season is just flying by. 30 years ago a day seems like an eternity, 30 weeks ago the 2009 season had just ended and it seemed like an eternity before the next season began. Mix that in with the snow that was coming and it seemed like it would be forever before being on the trails again. 30 days ago it was recovering from yet another race.
Having this small break from racing is much needed at this point of the season but it's really stunning on how fast it goes by. I cringe a little when I think that it won't be long until I'm waxing skis instead of cleaning chains. Shoveling snow instead of cutting grass. I need to work on my best Tom Sawyer lines to try and persuade Pete to come help me move firewood this fall. It's fun Pete, all the kids are doing it. It will be cross bikes instead of mountain bikes. Yes, my one or two cross races of the season will be done yet again.
I'll admit that I sometimes look forward to that month of October and November when there is no training, just random rides. Of course when it's that time of the year I'm already getting excited for the next year of racing. It's just one crazy circle of Deja Vu. Looking ahead seems to be just thoughts of what I'm doing currently, may as well enjoy it. Time flies, might as well have fun.
Friday, July 2, 2010
In the basement
That's where the heart rate seems to be. Made my way up to the north of called cottage country. Yes I know I live in cottage country but this is more cottage country than even my place. In this land of relaxation and serenity is a small place called Buckwallow. There is no serenity here, unless you love technical. There is no relaxation here unless you love big ass rocks and roots. Of course I like both, lots. With the next Ontario Cup coming up quickly and having a random day off during the middle of the week it made sense to get a little play time up there.
Buckwallow is not a place that you go if you are considering riding a flowing mix of trails that blend together flawlessly. Nope not at this place, what it does is give you a short section of certain death if you make a technical error followed by a break of double track. I was kinda in this mood to just play on the bike and that's just what it was. Mike didn't have the course marked so it was a bunch of random turns into what ever trails we came across. There were lots of doubling back and reriding of the same trail, just some fun. It had to stay that way for me as my heart rate would barely hit zone 1 and when I stopped even when it hit it's highest of 160 it dropped like it had an anchor on it.
Another fun thing about Buckwallow though is the lack of hills. In my weakened frail state the absence of hills was a good thing. A couple hours of being rattled around on car sized rocks before calling it. My current thoughts on the upcoming o-cup still lean towards taking the race of and continue my way along recovery road. The countdown to the Summer 8 hour is less than I would have liked, it is what it is and the coach and I will get it figured out with hopefully fast legs showing up race day.
Weekend is looking up, some time only on the road bike will be done. Need to stare at the two computers strapped on the handlebars for the next little while showing some major self control. I also need to work on those tan lines. To much time in the woods leads paleness. Can't have that.
Buckwallow is not a place that you go if you are considering riding a flowing mix of trails that blend together flawlessly. Nope not at this place, what it does is give you a short section of certain death if you make a technical error followed by a break of double track. I was kinda in this mood to just play on the bike and that's just what it was. Mike didn't have the course marked so it was a bunch of random turns into what ever trails we came across. There were lots of doubling back and reriding of the same trail, just some fun. It had to stay that way for me as my heart rate would barely hit zone 1 and when I stopped even when it hit it's highest of 160 it dropped like it had an anchor on it.
Another fun thing about Buckwallow though is the lack of hills. In my weakened frail state the absence of hills was a good thing. A couple hours of being rattled around on car sized rocks before calling it. My current thoughts on the upcoming o-cup still lean towards taking the race of and continue my way along recovery road. The countdown to the Summer 8 hour is less than I would have liked, it is what it is and the coach and I will get it figured out with hopefully fast legs showing up race day.
Weekend is looking up, some time only on the road bike will be done. Need to stare at the two computers strapped on the handlebars for the next little while showing some major self control. I also need to work on those tan lines. To much time in the woods leads paleness. Can't have that.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Just riding along
After yet another day in the grown up world of work the return to my fun job of riding bikes has begun, at a very slow pace. All day the wind was intense and had me really debating about riding the Big Chute Loop. It's not that I don't like riding in the wind, it's not my favourite thing in the world but it seemed to be strong enough to blow the toaster box of a work truck around a lot and I wondered what would happen if I went head first into it on a bike. I was very concerned that I would come to a stop very quickly. So I didn't go.
Instead I loaded up a dirt liking type bike and made my way to my big backyard with my favourite training partner. I figured in my weakened state that bringing the dog with me might be a good idea, if I died out there she could do her best Lassie impression and get to Ranger Bob just in time and would save my life with moments to spare. I know we're talking about the Molly Monster but I can hope can't I.
It took only 5 minutes for me to realize that I'd made the better decision to the ride destination and that my legs are cooked. Today that slightly out of shape dog of mine set the pace and she got to stop a few times and look back at me hinting, Keep Up!!! I was doing my bestest but was more just out to enjoy things. We made some random lefts and rights and let's just say I was actually shocked when I saw this.
I attempted to prove them wrong but when Molly got attacked by flies so we turned around.
More lefts and rights had me find yet another new trail that I'd never seen before. I saw a couple more but the energy level was fading so we started to head back towards the car. A grand total of an hour and 10 minutes and an extremely low average heart rate. It's not that I didn't try even though I some how managed to climb just over 300 feet in Copeland, yes only 300 feet. I didn't think I was going to be able to piece together that much flat trails in a row and avoid Mile High and the Wall but I did. I'm expecting a good week plus before the horsepower starts to return closer to normal, this will leave the thought of the next Ontario Cup up in the air even though I'm off to Buckwallow today to play around a little.
Sporting the jersey, reminded me why I felt weak. I find it comical that a 5"10, 153 lbs man fits into a small jersey. Time for some more coffee.
Happy Canada Day
Instead I loaded up a dirt liking type bike and made my way to my big backyard with my favourite training partner. I figured in my weakened state that bringing the dog with me might be a good idea, if I died out there she could do her best Lassie impression and get to Ranger Bob just in time and would save my life with moments to spare. I know we're talking about the Molly Monster but I can hope can't I.
It took only 5 minutes for me to realize that I'd made the better decision to the ride destination and that my legs are cooked. Today that slightly out of shape dog of mine set the pace and she got to stop a few times and look back at me hinting, Keep Up!!! I was doing my bestest but was more just out to enjoy things. We made some random lefts and rights and let's just say I was actually shocked when I saw this.
I attempted to prove them wrong but when Molly got attacked by flies so we turned around.
More lefts and rights had me find yet another new trail that I'd never seen before. I saw a couple more but the energy level was fading so we started to head back towards the car. A grand total of an hour and 10 minutes and an extremely low average heart rate. It's not that I didn't try even though I some how managed to climb just over 300 feet in Copeland, yes only 300 feet. I didn't think I was going to be able to piece together that much flat trails in a row and avoid Mile High and the Wall but I did. I'm expecting a good week plus before the horsepower starts to return closer to normal, this will leave the thought of the next Ontario Cup up in the air even though I'm off to Buckwallow today to play around a little.
Sporting the jersey, reminded me why I felt weak. I find it comical that a 5"10, 153 lbs man fits into a small jersey. Time for some more coffee.
Happy Canada Day
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