first six weeks base build in the books

96:51 hours
1550 miles
201 watts
5133 TSS
16.2 mph
7 bikes
53636 calories

My training stress ramp rate was about 4 points per week and judging by the way I felt this week that is about as much as I can safely handle at this point. It was 88.8 and ended at 113.5. I steadily built the long ride up to 7 hours and will continue on up to ten, but only adding on every other week. On the off weeks I'll do the five hour lake loop at my ultra-enduro race pace. Time for more on the bike strength work, speed skills, and sub-threshold intervals.

That pick of my dad and me is from 1968. Yeah, I've been riding bikes almost continuosly, in one form or another, for 40 years!

pump track mania

We went out to Clarksburg and rode on a pump track for three hours yesterday. I rode my twenty inch street bike and Terry's Santa Cruz Dirtjumper. I'm kinda partial to the street bike cuz if a manual goes bad it's easier to step off the back and let the bike go. It looks like it is totally a skills course but it is also a huge total body workout, especially if you do multiple laps. I rode so long that I bonked and had to find some sugar. Today I am feeling it big time. I was stiff and sore in new places and my legs pretty much burned all day. But, I've been having such a good time riding in the dirt that I climbed up Stage Coach on my Monday ride around the lake.

River Ride

I must admit I was feeling kinda grumpy this morning cuz I'm getting tired of repeating Steve's story over and over all day every day and I'm really kinda pissed that a certain Jackass put him in the gutter with no where to go but down. So I went out and silently shut down every attempt at a breakaway by said Jackass. I never accelerated hard, just grooved it up slowly, pulling the sprinters back into the mix. When the breakaways disolved and the pace slowed I went straight to the front and kept it rolling. It's a good way to get a hard workout. I averaged over 300 watts for 25 minutes in each direction. I got shuffled to the back a couple of times while recovering but was never in danger of getting shelled. I pushed the pace going into the sprints and averaged over 30mph for one minute on the front of both sprints, driving it up to 35 before pulling off. My legs felt heavy but with the junior gears I'm never in danger of getting bogged. Yep, 35 mph at 118 rpm at 600 watts for over 300 meters...Friday night cat 3/4 races are gonna be fun heeheehee.

another week in the books

So far, so good. Training is right on schedule. I did standing starts Wednesday morning and had a major breakthrough. All of a sudden I can crack 1000 watts in the 53x14 from 3mph, accelerating my 40 pound commuter to 28mph in ten seconds. Maybe there's a kilo in my future after all. Wednesday night I did a micro burst workout. 2x10:00 accelerating hard every thirty seconds. That's 40 seated sprints in 25 minutes. Ouch! Today I did 4x10:00 just below threshold and felt strong from start to finish. Time to turn the screw. I'm gonna go hard for one more week then shed some fatigue. I'm really looking forward to the Thanksgiving ride this year.

specificity

So the big race, the Davis 12/24, is May 2-3. The course is 168 miles and 8000 feet of the Davis Double route followed by an 18 mile flat loop around Winters. He or she who covers the most miles in 24 hours wins. He or she who rides 464 miles gets the course record. With this in mind I headed out for my long ride this morning and went around the lake from River Bend Park. This part of the ride is 90 miles with 3500 feet of climbing and includes two 20 minute climbs that I did at sub-threshold. After that I jumped right to the tt-bike and did 4x10:00 at 90% of threshold. Average speed was 23-24mph. This is a good start. If I get on the tt-bike after 10:00 hours (average speed 16.8) then average 21.2mph for 14 hours I will break the course record. Not much room for error but within my ability...if everything goes right. Luck be a lady.

Attack!!!

Saturday we had a big field of about twenty including Jesse Mendonca, Rob Evans, Daniel Holloway, Scott Zwizansky, Michael Hernandez, Steve Pelaez, Michael Hutchinson, Billy Innes, Shelley Olds, Meg Guarnier, and others I don't yet know in a very fast couple of A races at Hellyer for the Ride the World Cup fundraiser for the Proman ladies Shelley Olds and Meg Guarnier. For the first 8 minutes of the points race we averaged 29.4mph. I barely hung by the skin on my teeth but I'll be ready for them fools next summer. I can feel it in my bones.

Today I met my buddy Andy down at the confluence and he taught me a thing or two about ripping downhill and floating over rocks. I get to practice bunnyhopping, endos and manualing before our next session. I'm excited about riding on the dirt again.

Ardea herodias

Okay, so, slowly over the last two years I've become interested in the birds of the American River Parkway. This is a pic of one of my favorites, over by the Bog of Eternal Stench. I think it is a Great White Heron.

No biggie on the bike today...2:15/1200 kJ just riding along and practicing my ornithology. I'll go a little farther to the east tomorrow and see if we can't capture the Cathartes aura. They don't seem to come out in the full light though, unless they are scavenging some tasty carrion.

flatline

I am on a four day maintenance block of pure endurance. No intensity. I am slowly increasing the training load to accommodate more intensity than the last block without driving the stress balance to far negative. In simple terms I am riding more miles with less intensity this week and will ride the same miles next week with the intensity added back in. Sounds simple but at such a high training load it is tricky. The hard part for me personally is sticking to the plan. For example this morning when I got to the trail at Hazel I had almost convinced myself to repeat Monday's sweet spot intervals. Good thing the coach in me can finally override my idiot bike junky side. Can you say obsessive-compulsive? I think I've turned the corner. My obsession to win is driving my compulsion to do the right thing. Good thing I'm obsessed with winning a 24 hour race. Heeheehee. Watch out for the turkeys, they're a little nervous this time of year.

Sweet Spot Training

It has begun. Twelve weeks of structured sub-threshold work. Today I included 4x10:00 at 245-260 watts. These are difficult intervals to complete because you really must concentrate to keep the pressure on. If you ease up the watts drop fast. If you go too hard you will have a hard time recovering and completing subsequent intervals and workouts. Anyway the first three were perfect, but I struggled on the fourth. There is immediate room for improvement. I like that. It's easy to pick the low hanging berries.

badass referee

I am embarrassed to say I don't know this woman's name, but she works her ass off and is the most on-the-ball ref in our district. If we are gonna have track racing in Sactown then I wanna be like her. I guess I better get some new glasses and dammit I am terrible with a stopwatch. Oh well. I'll do my best.

Yesterday was a rippin River Ride. We had a bunch of ex-pros out driving it like the old days. There was Chris Bauman, Troy White, Mike Sayers, Chad Gerlach, and the usual cache of cantankerous Masters 1/2/3's and whippersnappers.

Today we did the usual hunt and gather then headed out to Disco Park for the Cap City Cross race. Our house guest Beth Welliver won the B race and our good buddy Sarah Maile layed the Sactown Smackdown on the A group.

Good times. Tomorrow is my weekly hammerfest around the lake and then downtown for the West Sac velodrome meeting.

snap, crackle, pop...And So It Begins

I cracked off a half dozen 1200 watt sprints on the way to work this morning. The legs feel great! The boss gave me keys and codes today...I guess I'll be making bikes for a while :-) How long has it been since Miss Mary split town to live near the velodrome in San Jose? I have to admit it was she who put the bug in my ear about how rad racing on the track is and that maybe I should give it a try. She turned me on to the subculture and encouraged me to lay the smackdown. And it was her that started me dreaming about getting a track built here in Sac. We have our first real meeting on Monday. The Mayor of West Sac is on board. Here we go!!!

shop class

I sure am enjoying work at the hippest shop in Norcal and can hardly wait to race on handmade bikes. I have a boss who truly appreciates what I bring to his business and he thanks me daily for the work I do. Today I got to play with steel and a chop saw and a big hammer.

Yesterday I did seated big gear stomps. 12x20 seconds in the 53x14 with complete recovery between efforts. Today I am still tired so I took it easy. The legs were burning and I was moving like a slug all day. I'll prolly do a few sprints on the way to work tomorrow.

Thursday quad measurement...58.8

bike drunk, Track License Upgrade!!!

There was no RiverRide Saturday, thanks to the rain (though I'm sure Wong and Blaise and two or three other crackheads were out there slurping road grime cuz they're too retarded to use fenders), so I took the opportunity to lift some weight, get on the stability ball, and ride the rollers...3 sets of 6x1 minute at high rpm. Fun, fun, fun! Yesterday was hunting and gathering at the Farmer's Market and only some minimal sprinting against Dilly on the BMX bike. Today was 90 miles in five hours, the last two in the rain. I burned up 3500 calories and am relegated to the couch for the evening. I've done 19 rides of three hours or more since my season ended July 27th. I haven't been this focused since the Winter of 2004-05. Oh yeah, I got my Cat 3 track upgrade in the mail today!!! That means no more sandbagging for points and now I can ride all the big events like AVC, Alpenrose Challenge, Masters States, etc. Good times.