Arkansas Spring Training/Climbing

I'm going to Arkansas this coming weekend.  The guys from down here introduced me to these mountains.  I've been on the trip twice now, and climbed one of the Mountains 3 times. I love it.  This trip might be the highlight of my year.  Looks like we're gonna do it once in the spring and once in the fall, in October.  here are the rides.

MENA


Petit, Jean


Magazine

Being Sick

I've been sick over the Holidays.  It's kept me off my bike for about three weeks.  I really don't take good health for granted now. I think I'm going to try and ride my bike today.  The last time I rode was Christmas Eve 2012.  I hope it's not too rough getting back in shape.  I'm probably going to stick to my usual training plan of 6 to 10 hrs a week with high intensity in the middle and when I can.  This year I hope to add more 5hr rides on the weekends. As for getting back in shape I think I'm going to just see what I can do the first week.  Then try to do three days of big miles back to back.  Hopefully this will help me be able to handle the high intensity again soon.

   At least it's warm here today.  It's already 72.3 out side.  It's been raining a lot lately.  It rained a lot this morning but hasn't rained for a couple of hours.  Any way gotta start getting in shape.

Farm House Classic

Did the Farm House Classic this past weekend.  It was my first Gravel Experience.  It was 93 miles.  6:55 of pedal time.  6:48 from start to finish.

Farm House Classic Gravel Grinder by ty.trammell at Garmin Connect - Details


I was kind of just in survival mode after 60 miles.  The front shifter was broken so I was stuck in the big chain ring the whole time, 46 tooth.  I felt pretty good on the climbs surprisingly.  I think I did a good job fighting off dehydration and cramps.  I took some Sportlegs, and Salt Stick before the ride and some more after about 3hrs.  I think this really helped.  I never had a single cramp.  I also ate shot blocks for the first 70 miles till I ran out.  I had a Coke at 30, and 70 miles.  I also ate some beef jerky for protein.   Then I bought some gummy bears and orange slices to continue with something to eat for the last 30 miles.

I rode in the last 40 miles with Eric formally with Bike Shack.  It helped to have someone to ride with.  Very dirty.  Everything was filthy. 

Tour of Lawrence

The main thing I got out of these races, are training and tube selection.  I've read that about 10hrs a week is the cut off for training.  At least seeing good results.  If you get under that you need to do a lot of high intensity most likely with structured intervals.  I could tell the first part of spring I had pretty good recovery after a hard attack.  Now I don't have as many matches to burn.  I haven't done any intervals except for one week.  So proof is in the pudding. 
  As for the races I didn't do very good on the ckt race,  mainly because of the hill.  I think going back to my training.  I have lost any hill ability I had built up in early spring. Just don't have the power.  So I go around 27th at the ckt.
  The crit went a lot better.  It's pretty much a fat boy crit.  Basically no elevation to speak of.  I felt pretty good most of the time.  I went for a $50 prime.  It was close enough that they had to check the video and I lost.  Then I was sitting in 3rd position on Gracen Warrior's wheel going around the last corner to the finish.  Just getting ready to start putting the hammer down and my tube popped. and I went down.  I pretty much had 3rd guaranteed. 
  This is the second time this happened to me with latex tubes.  After talking to some other people I guess they are know for popping easy.  So won't be using them anymore. They have cost me two races now.

Tour of KC

I guess I should post about the Tour of KC.  It was pretty uneventful for me.  It gave me a confirmation on where my fitness is.  Not as good as late winter, early spring.  At Spring Fling I could throw down 2 or three hard sprints and recover for the final.  Not now, I've got about one hard effort and that's it. Hill climbing is out, need to work on that.  Feeling better after weekend racing.  Ready for Tour Lawrence.

New Bike

   I finally got my bike.  Been waiting for while.  Not really that long, but it seemed like forever after they shipped it to Britton's Bikes it TX.  It's a Focus Izalco Team 2.0

   This thing is awesome.  I think I fell in love with it with in one block of pushing the pedals.  It felt like I was on a rail and it just wanted to go fast.  So after I established that it was stiff and loved to go fast I wanted to put ride comfort to the test.  I quickly started finding some pretty nasty assault to my surprise, and satisfaction it was quite comfortable.  I rode it last night at the Thursday Night Worlds.  Felt pretty good really.  Towards the end my gears started skipping.  So I tuned it up today.   I'm going to put 90 to 100 miles on it Saturday, so I'll see how it handles on the long haul. 

  Other than that it is a Dream to ride, a site to look at, and I love it. 

 

Raceing, and a New Bike

   Well I haven't had time to post lately.  I don't really have much to say either.  I did the Joseph Sheehan Race.  I'm also getting a new bike.  I guess that's a  lot.

  The Race was fun.  It was cold as most already know.   I road up front too much again.  I guess I kept hoping a break would get away and I could get in it.  Charlie was up front a lot too.  We traded pulls for a while with some guys.  I think we could've pulled off the front if anyone would've done any real work.  There was a guy that took off the front right at the beginning and lasted till the last couple of miles.  I tried to take off once I got a half to a mile away before they decided to get me.  I cramped up at the 1k to go mark and it was over.

We had a lot of guys out from the team though and Quiet Brian got 2nd.  His first Cat 4 race.   Charlie got 6th.  So good job guys. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/83227914

New bike.  I'm getting a new bike.  It's pretty awesome.  It's by far the nicest bike I've ever had.  Can't wait to get it.  Should be here 5/10 or so.  It's a Focus Izalco Team 2.0  All SRAM Red.  Pretty sweet!

http://www.focus-bikes.com/us/en_us/bikes/bikes-2011/category/racing-bikes-4/model/izalco-team-20-1.html