Wednesday, March 18, 2009


Time

Is short, but things is good. What means death for the writing means good things for the riding. Soon enough I'll be writing frenetic, gasping race reports. Too soon really. 2 1/2 weeks to the first event of the season, The EFTA King of Burlingame Off road Time Trial. I've never done this event, but it seems like a great way to start the season. You're racing against yourself, no fear of getting dropped by the group. It's The Race of The Painful Truth (About your fitness).

In other fascinating news, I've stepped up my commuting/training. This I accomplish by incrementally increasing the distance and or the difficulty of the route. Here, I'll outline it, so if you care to, you can be as tired and grumpy as me at work and unable to blog effectively at home:

  • I love this bullet point list function, don't you? So neat.

  • Monday - Easy, active recovery, spin the 45 minutes to and from work through Arlington/Belmont/Waltham/Newton in my 39 X 19/21 (don't cheat, no pressure to the pedals). 1:30 total.

  • Tuesday - Depends how I'm feeling. Feelin' good? I ride hills on the Fix-Ed gear. I add one climb every week and do all climbs to and from work. All stuff that's just off my standard commute route in Arlington and Belmont. 2:00 total.

  • Wednesday - Tempo commute, if I'm not too hammered from Tuesday. If I'm draggin' I do endurance, trying to keep my cadence high. At this point I'm heading out into Lexington, then over through Lincoln, Weston, and Wellesley. If you've got an hour and fifteen minutes to kill, the ride from Somerville to Newton can be beautiful and downright relaxing.

  • Thursday - I have the day off from work so I try to go big this time of year. I'm a late baser. It's a long season, I don't like to start too hard and getting your hours in outside during New England winter or trying to do it on a trainer inside is often an exercise in frustration and misery. Waiting for the better weather to do long rides is advisable. I try for 3 + hours, shooting for 4 + if possible. After a few weeks of these rides at endurance pace, I like to add blocks of Tempo. Riding fast over long distances feels good. Covering ground is satisfying. I have a bunch of routes for these rides, but I tend to favor heading west toward Harvard and Littleton.

  • Friday - Same as Monday, or completely off. Usually not, I have to get to work and I hate public transport. I don't get sick a lot, there's a reason.

  • Saturday - I'm working at The Shop. I try to get in at least an hour on either end of the day. Hopefully soon I'll be leading NEMBA Explorer kids rides in the AM. Check IBC's event calendar for info after April 1st. Those'll be a great workout. I am going to run those little buggers 'til they puke! Kidding.

  • Sunday - For the past little bit it's been a repeat of Thursday. Of course last Sunday we got out for the Otis ride. I'd be psyched if I could get out for an MTB epic every Sunday. I'm so much happier when I get to ride on dirt. The road is just a tool. It helps get me up to speed for the dirt with less impact than mountain biking every day. If I had my druthers I would ride road only for recovery and spend the rest of my pedaling life on trail. Sorry roadies, it's true. The choice between riding road and riding mountain, for me, is like offering a kid the choice between going to the Dentist or going to Six Flags.

Between this and the ipod loading post I have shared far too many super-secret training details. I'm going to go swallow a cyanide pill now before they get to me.

It's not about the bike. It's about the Waffle Sandwich.
Forget the Cyanide pill, I might just eat ten of these things instead.

4 comments:

kevin said...

from now on, when you need to bite your glove to take pictures, can you bite the pinky finger instead of the index finger?

i'm more comfortable picturing you as dr. evil, instead of the hot chick trying to seduce me.

Cathy said...

Au contraire - I discovered tonight that it IS about the bike!

And that looks like food I could consume to avoid bonking... Think it would be ok in my jersey pocket for a race? ;)

rick is! said...

so informative. now you're totally screwed if somone who lives next door to you and works next door reads this and steal your ideas!

jeff said...

don't be such a racer dork and come-up to tuckerman's that wknd. big posse, big mtn, big beers, big boarding, kicking-off w/big bikes. i'll be riding to mt washington from waitsfield fri morn - you should ride from boston and have andy drive you home. boo-ya!