Century Day

This is all that I'm saying today, too tired to type more.....101.50 miles, 5 hours 30 minutes. 18.5 mph. Not too shabby for a solo ride.

A Little of This, A Little of That.....

Lots been going on lately, going to work every day of course, doing housework, riding my bike are at the top of the list. All have thus far presented no major challenges and any stress of the first two are muted by the release on the bike.
The biggest accomplishment on the bike this month has been the Drumlin Dominator that Dave and I did last Friday, 109 miles of fun on the Glacial-Drumlin trail from Waukesha to Cottage Grove and back. I have never done the full length of the trail before but it was great, with one exception where a section of the trail was under construction and it was very loose and bumpy, a bit like Paris-Roubaix....well, maybe not quite that bad. The length of the trail itself has all the amenities, there are bathrooms and water stops quite often and at the end of the trail in Cottage Grove there is a Subway only about a mile and a half away, along with other restaurants, including one right at the trail head. We chose Subway, it seemed healthiest, and it definitely tasted great. That day it was the best sub I'd ever had, it definitely hit the spot, and kept me going on the way back. We managed to do the 109 miles in just over 7 hours of ride time, not super great, but we took our time, and you have to remember that this is crushed gravel/packed dirt and we did it on trail and cyclocross bikes respectively. My ass hurt quite a bit that night and the next day, I managed to squeeze in an hour recovery ride on Saturday but stood up quite a bit. Sunday had me back in the saddle for 3 hours with not many issues. This week hasn't been so good though, Tuesday and Wednesday I was laid out with an underlying illness that just made me feel tired and gave me a sore throat, headache, etc., but I'm feeling better now and last night I managed 2.5 hours on the road bike. Tonight I'll be hitting up the bike again for 2.5 to 3 hours after work and then 3 hours again tomorrow. The big day will be Sunday when I do a 6 hour ride to try to get in another century this month, I really enjoy the long rides and the forecast is looking good. I used to do long rides and centuries as the norm for training in my past racing life, so that seems to be coming back now as to what I like to do again. Of course I'm getting proper rest as well, no worries there. Eventually this year I'm going to have to start my intervals and speedwork though as racing is on the horizon, Greenbush (a big maybe), the Whitewater RR, Omro RR, the Insane Terrain Challenge, and Race the Lake are the big events on my calendar for the remainder of the year so it's time to look at the base I have and decide if it's enough to move on to the next step. A couple of more weeks are in order for sure, but I can't take too much more time as those events are nearing pretty quickly.
Other than that, I'm still studying for my American College of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer certification, and will hopefully take the test in July at the earliest, August at the latest. Add that to my USAC Coaching cert which I'm already preparing to upgrade to a level 2 hopefully before the year is over as well, and I'll be feeling pretty good about my abilities to take on some coaching responsibility at some point this year or next year. I'm looking at a few other things as well, but those would be secondary after I complete the two primary objectives.
Just wanted to say that everyone should check out the Tour of America's Dairyland website as well, it's great that a Wisconsin promoter is putting on a race of this magnitude with nice, safe courses (Downer is iffy in that regards) and is even offering the chance to race the possible Olympic course at Blue Mounds, how cool is that? Check it out - http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/

Busy B

Well, it's been a while since I posted, sorry to my 3 readers for the delay. It's been a busy year thus far, seems like last year I was saying the same thing. It turned out to be a less than stellar year in '08 after work duties kept me off the bike right around this time and I suffered for the rest of the year with a lack of fitness and a big appetite for fast food and beer. This year I've not been quite as busy at work, so I'm happy for that and riding has been consistent, well, other than weather related ride cancellations. I've had a couple of long rides, a 75 miler and a 94 miler, the rest have been anywhere from 60 minutes to 3 and a half hours. My fitness is coming around, I've lost a few pounds around the waist and I actually have a biker tan now, so that must mean the riding has been good. Unfortunately it's not been good enough to get back in to the local WCA races in the next month or so since I'm not quite in racing shape, but getting there. I haven't done any intervals, speedwork, or hill work of any kind so racing is just not an option right now. I'm just enjoying the rides right now and once I think my base is good, then the intervals and hill work will start, probably in the next 3 to 4 weeks. I'm looking at the closest race being on June 26th, the Greenbush road race, which is part of the Tour of America's Dairyland. I'll have lots of riding in by then and will feel comfortable with that as my first race. Other than that I think I may only do two other races this year, the UW Whitewater RR on July 4th and the Omro RR on July 5th. No StupidWeek crits for me this year, I'm just completely turned off of that race right now. The locations are crap, the organization is crap, and last year there were racers whom couldn't cash their prize checks because they were bouncing. The only race I may do depending upon whom they allow to do it, would be the Lakefront road race, but from the sounds of it they aren't using the long course, it's the old short course, which is fine, so we'll see I guess. I don't want to give them my money but it would be nice to get in another race. My goal this year, which is somewhat of a transitional year to shore some things up, was to do at least 3 races. I'd already have my 3 races in by then, so I'll decide after I do those. Other than that, I've got quite a few centuries planned, I'm also doing the Insane Terrain Challenge with my dad in July, Google it, it's 121 miles with 12,400 feet of climbing, insane is right! I've also got my own double century/twelve hour ride planned for July 19th, a week after the Insane Terrain ride because I'll be in optimal shape. A couple of years ago I wanted to ride as long as I could and ended up with 180 miles, this year I'm shooting for 200 miles or 12 hours, whichever comes first. I've never done 200 miles so it'll be a first and a major accomplishment for me, can't wait.
Anyways, short term, it's supposed to rain tonight and I have to go to my mom's graduation, she finished up her nursing degree, so she'll be starting a new career as a nurse (obviously). I'll be riding tomorrow and Friday and Saturday is iffy right now, temps in the 50s and 50% chance of rain. Sunday is supposed to be nice, and for at least a 4 hour window of the day I'll be in Burlington for Mother's Day so I'll need to plan a ride in the morning or the late afternoon or evening. Well, that's enough for now, don't want to overwhelm you with too much....until next time....