Grey threatening skies + mild hangover + heavy workload = no riding.

rest day

It's tempting to get on the bike when the weather's beautiful in December even if it's Monday and Monday is a rest day. But all I have to do is remember that great feeling of truely tired legs this morning after a four day block of riding and know that resting today will make riding later this week that much better. I'm also feeling that general exhaustion that means "don't work out". So, it's get a little more work done and go to sleep a little more sober, and try to sleep an extra hour or so and then KILL KILL KILL it on the bike on Wednesday.

This is the time of the year when all the pros rehash the season and talk mostly about what went wrong. I already discussed one of the three outlaw races so I thought I'd summarize the other two from the perspective of a comfy chair on the last day in November. The Cote de Tolosa was the first competition of the year. It was in May and it was an open catagory mass start event of 50 miles with a mix of pavement dirt road and a mile or so of single track. I did it on the 'traut tourning rig fitted with cross tires. I had a real good day finishing in a group of three 11th-13th place out of about 30 riders. The winner was the collegiate road national champion and he finished almost an hour ahead of me. A real good day both fitness wise and bike handling wise. The second outlaw race was the Pozo la Pansa Pozo that I've already written about. The final out law race was the Black Mtn Hillclimb. Very few people turned out for this (I was both 3rd and last) An unusually hot day led to my usual miserable performance under hot conditions. I had to get off the bike for a few minutes near the top or I would have passed out. My time was several minutes slower than when I'd done it in training at a tempo pace a week or so beforehand. The last race of the season was the only official one. It was the Freemont Peak Hillclimb held outside of San Juan Bautista. I raced with the 55+ Cat 1-3 because the group was smaller (5 instead of the 10 or so in the Cat 4-5) and because I figured that the 1-3s wouldn't be going that much faster. I had a good day on the bike but still finished DFL - 5th out of 5 and by time slowest of all in my age catagory. I guess I could say that I'm one of the fasted 15 climbers in NorCal, but it's always discouraging to finish DFL. Most of my peripatetic racing life I've managed to be a mid pack finisher. Perhaps the only guys left racing at my age are the very serious atheletes. I thought that age based attrition would move me up and it had as the pack are smaller so my finishing places are better. Fifth is a good result after all, but the finishing order is getting worse. I hate being dead last. I guess my goal for next year which is what these reviews lead to is not to be DFL.

Yesterday was a typical nonriding day. It takes more than one thing to keep the fanatic away from the source of his mania. For me it takes at least three if not four factors to have me off the bike on a weekend day. Crappy weather almost always leads the bill and yesterday started grey and cold and turned wet and cold by noon. Sometimes the threat of rain is even worse than rain itself. Sort of a monster in the closet situation. You can't see it, but you know it's there. Lack of sleep is another prime mover. A course of super strong antibiotics that I'm taking at the moment have upset both my stomach and my always tennuous sleep patterns so I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit from an energy reserve point of view. Distractions from other hobbies also hinders, and there were two novels both within a hundred pages of my finishing that compelled me to spend the morning nailed to the couch with a book in front of my nose.

Back on the bike now after the annual harvest hiatus. Work pressures every September and October force me to take an extended break from serious cycling every year. This has been so since 1979 when I first began making wine. Since I didn't really start taking cycling that seriously until I began bike racing in 1985, I guess you could say that the annual break preceeded the organized training. It may be one of the reasons that cycling has stayed fresh for me. There's nothing like a long break to make you appreciate something. How does that old country song go? "How can I miss you when you won't go away?"
However, getting this somewhat creaky 60 year old body back in the groove after an eight week break is an art form. I've learned to take the first 6-8 weeks back on the bike very very easy. Even if I'm feeling good on a given day I don't give it the gas - no extended climbing, no hard efforts at all really. Just cruising with the intent of reawakening the muscles and reminding the connective tissue to toughen up. The hardest part is mental. I get off the bike at the end of summer in great shape normally. This year I did a hillclimb race just before harvest - so the form was there. When you get back on the bike the brain remembers being fit and fast, but the legs have forgotten what this even means. My quads for the first few weeks are going "WTF?" and my brain is saying back "Anyone home down there?" Oh, well it's the life I lead and also the life I love. It's a great time of year for fantasizing about the fitness to come and all the great days on the bike that springtime will bring.

Why is it that as soon as you think, "Man, it's been a long time since I've had a flat." you get one? Does not thinking about flats offer some sort of puncture protection? I was about half way into an easy hour and a half ride when that familiar rim with pavement feeling arrived. The bright spot was another rider coming by just as I was getting ready to put the wheel back in the dropouts and asking, "Have you got everything you need?". Really nice on his part. I should be better about this when I see other riders at the side of the road considering how nice this made me feel when he asked, even though I didn't need the help.

Pozo La Panza Pozo Race

Put on the second in the Summer Outlaw series of bike races on Saturday. The turnout was small at nine riders, but everybody had fun. The weather cooperated by staying cooler than seasonal. As all of the male riders disappeared up the road on the first climb I knew I was going to be fighting for last place for my gender, and the one gal who raced looked real fit so I wasn't even assured of beating her. The motivation to go hard is always there no matter what the likely outcome and I ended up doing the course in 2 hrs and 45 min. a full half hour faster than my recon ride a few weeks ago. I had a bit of cramping in my left thigh between mile 20 and 27 and then got my ass kicked on the final steep dirt climb, but all in all a good day on the bike.
Sunday saw me out doing an easy 2 hours which started by getting stung on the top of the right kneecap by a honey bee. It's still red and swollen today, but didn't really swell up till a couple hours after the ride so I don't think I did any damage.
Riding to work today on the town bike today, I was asking myself, "Why don't I do this more often? It is such a nice way to start the day." No good answer so it looks like it's time for more bike commuting.

I think I'm finally beginning to understand rest days after more than 30 years of training for competitive cycling. Rest doesn't mean no riding it means no pushing hard and I mean none. Strictly little ring and easy pressure on the pedals. I went out for an hour and a half today and barely broke a sweat. This will wake up my legs for tomorrow's race without taking anything away from them. I also think that even at this low level the stimulation of the movement is good for the muscles, but more importantly for the joints - especially the knees.

Yesterday was the last day to ride hard before the Pozo La Panza Pozo race coming up in two days. I drove to my buddy Karl's place and we rode from there with his friend Ben, a seasoned rider and racer. Ben has just returned from more than a year of travel so I'd never riden with him before, but Karl's stories about him prepared me. Perfect riding conditions 75 and a light tail wind up the grade. I already knew that my legs were ready to go - I had that deep on the bone feeling all morning that says all systems go. The climb up the grade felt easy spinning a moderate gear sitting the whole time. Ben turned out to be a motor on the flat and it was all we could do to hold his wheel. It's almost always good to ride with someone new as their particular style will push you to do things you're not in the habit of doing. Ben really likes attacking at the bottom of hills and rollers to maintain momentum, something I used to do myself when I was younger. That was fun. He's also a very fast descender so holding his wheel on the downhills was a challenge. All in all a really fun ride marred only by Heidi flipping out 'cause she thought I was going to be back an hour or so earlier than I was. That anxiety fueled anger led to any number of subsidiary flip outs through the evening till it all finally calmed down around bedtime - slept like the dead.

Take it easy

Waking up this morning feeling tired, but also loose and painfree, was yet more proof that targetted rest or taking it easy is the best way to get strong and healthy. Yesterday my entire left side from the hip to the knee was sore and the tightness spread all the way to my ankle. As much as I wanted to stay on the program for the week and go hard and hilly I instead rode on the flats in a baby gear for just an hour or so. All day Advil as well as a longer stretching regime in the evening was the frosting to this recovery cake. I can actually feel my legs itching for a long hard ride today. Desire for the workout is the only way to actually improve and being healthy and rested are the engines of that desire.

Today's is a cautionary tale. Yesterday I was out on the Eisentraut time trial bike. Now I don't spend much time on this bike and it was the first day of the three day training cycle so I conciously took it easy. But I did go an hour and a half instead of the customary hour and I did stay seated and pushed the bigger gears that this bike has over the rollers. Today I am paying the piper. My left thigh is sore from hip to knee and I'm feeling pretty unmotivated to get on the bike today. Always best to take it a little easier when it's something new.

Weekend Riding

Sometimes the weekend delivers quality riding, sometimes quantity, sometimes neither, rarely both. This weekend was no exception with quality being the key word, and exceptional quality it was. A cool clear windy 8:00 am on Saturday starts by heading up Cuesta Grade on 101 N from SLO. Just before the climb began two strong riders blow past me with polite hellos - props to that. I hate riders who go by without a glance or a word, even in a race, much less in casual training. I'm not warmed up so I cool my jets and warm my knees for a few more slow minutes before the climbing begins. They start the climb a good 1/4 mile ahead of me. I purposely climb easily as a long one is on the schedule and I don't want to burn all my matches in the first hour. After a few minutes it seems I'm gaining on them and about half way up the climb I'm closing on them. I take it steady and am happy to catch them a mile or so from the top. We chat and finish the climb together and then ride together till I peel off for a coke and a water bottle top up. I'm feeling stoked at catching these guys without going into severe lactic overload and this realization gives me the motivation to go long - always hard on a solo ride. My legs reward me by feeling great all day both uphill and on the flats. The only bummer of the day was catching my wheel in a rut at high speed descending "the grade", and having the dubiouus pleasure of correcting a full rear wheel skid at 40mph.