Heaven and Hell

Base miles is what I need! Riding the trainer and going to the gym are great in the winter months, but there is no substitute for a good fitness base. Not ready to turn up the intensity too much too soon, Gregory and I decide to do a easy but longer ride. Turns out its hard to do a easy ride when the wind is blowing 20 mph!
Leaving the house around 9:15 the temperature was already around 50. It was not long before the arm warmers and knee warmers had to come off. Some how Greg rode with his arm and knee warmers on all day, what a freak! We decided to go see the cows. Winding our way around Saint Brides Prison, then past Northwest River Park, we were able to catch a tailwind a lot of the way. I called these "free miles" when it seemed like there was no wind, but 25 mph was effortless. This was the "heaven" part of the ride. Knowing there would be hell to pay on the way back, we headed to Creeds. Homie Greg pulled up the Pungo Ferry Bridge at 20 mph. What a freak! Pulled into the store at Creeds for some Gatorade and a Powerbar. Greg comes out with a Snickers, 2 Slim Jim's, and a Coke! What a freak! Not staying long, we head back for the bridge. Freaky Greg drops me really hard on the bridge, and I work hard to catch back up. This the real start to the head winds. "The wind is my friend!" Super-Rick is fond of saying.
It seems as though we have mostly head and cross winds on the way back. Take it easy base miles was the theme, but you have to work in those winds. Any less effort and we would have been going backwards. Finally pull in the driveway with 55 miles in 3 hours ride time.
The ride was layed back and fun. We talked, and joked, and enjoyed ourselves. Riding with 1 other person is alot different than a big group. Its alot easier to hide from the wind in a big pack, and you might not pull at all. Today, we tried to split the pulls up 50/50.

Waller Mill Meltdown

55 miles of rolling hills in Williamsburg. Most of the JRVS/Casey Auto team lives on the peninsula and regularly do this ride from the Waller Mill parking lot. Looking for a change of pace, Greg and I head up Sunday morning. Rick, Steve, Dave and maybe 10 others show before 9 am. "Super-Rick" tries to find a phone booth to change into his "Super-Kit", but settles for the bathrooms. After emerging in his white gloves, we rolled out. Picking up another 6 or so people in the first few miles, we made a good sized pack of about 20.
We on the southside, although cursed with flat land, are definitely blessed with well paved roads. W'burg has hills, but the road surfaces leave much to be desired. I see now how spoiled I am with the riding in southern Chesapeake and Va. Bch. We have good roads here for the most part.
Being my first ride in W'burg on a roadbike, I was a little concerned how I would handle the hilly terrain. Turns out its not that much harder than flatland. In the flats you pedal constantly, because there are no hills to coast down, no recovery. The hills are harder to climb, but you can coast down the other side and recover!
I hung with the pack for the first 30 miles, rotating up and taking a pull, I felt good. Did I mention the wind was blowing 30 mph.? The pack hit a stretch of open fields and a crosswind started to split us up. I let a gap open and I was done. Greg waited for me and we pulled out the map. Did I mention we didn't know where we were? We traded pulls back in, consulting the map a few times.
It was different and alot of fun. Next time staying with the pack will be a priority. Not wanting to blow myself up actually made it worse by working harder out by myself. Lesson learned. When we going back?

Challenge withdrawn!

I hereby withdraw my challenge to Greg. The Jefferson Cup road race is the same date. This has priority over anything with running, and is a easy out for both of us. I am all about easy outs.
Now I have to get ready to ride and its 27 deg.! Meeting Rick, Dave, and Steve at Carols. This is my punishment for not riding yesterday. The radar showed rain very close and coming fast, and it was 47 deg. While 47 is quite balmy I will admit, the prospects of wet and 47 turned me off. I took the easy out and rode the trainer. Turned out sunny and warm, and everyone I encountered had to tell me how nice their ride was. How dare they enjoy themselves and tell me about it! I would rather hear how miserable you were from now on please.

Does this work?

Trying out my mobile blogging.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

New Challenge?

The running is just for winter cross training right? Well, Greg and I went to watch the duathalon at the VB sportsplex Sunday. Looked like my kind of pain. Run 3 miles, bike 20?, run 3 more. It was cold! The sleet and rain held off until the race just finished. The race was made that much more exciting by a friendly challenge. Dave and Chris' combined times against Rick and Simmet. Greg and I ran around(walked) and took pictures. Rick and Simmet were victorious, so the losers buy lunch. Looked like fun.

So I have challenged myself, and hereby also challenge Greg, to do the Duathalon coming up in March! This is in Surrey, about a hour and half from Chesapeake. Will we be ready? Better get running.

Running sucks!

Whose bright idea was this? It has been a long time since I did any running, but I wanted to do some type of cross training. Sunday, Sheri and I headed for the gym. She goes all year long, but my membership gets neglected with good riding weather. Warming up on the cross-trainer for 10 minutes, I was ready to switch to the treadmill. What speed? for how long? I started with the pace at a 10 minute mile. The first 3 or 4 minutes were torture! After working through the shin splints and various little pains, I settled in. The Quads started hurting about 10 minutes in, so I slowed it to a walk for 5 minutes. Feeling better than expected, 10 more minutes at a 10 minute mile pace should hurt really good. When my form got sloppy, I slowed. I could hardly stand! The lungs and heart felt good, but the legs felt like rubber. We finished with some stretching and Abdominal workouts.
The next day, walking was a little difficult. A easy spin on the trainer for a hour watching "Death Proof" seemed to help. Funny how different muscles feel sore on different days. I think I finally walked normal today. Hopefully I'll be back on the treadmill tomorrow. I would like to pick up the pace some, but we will see.

Black Ice

Leaving the house at 6:50am its 36 deg. I notice the streets are wet from the rain the day before. The drive to Bikebeat is uneventful, and we roll out at 7:30. The streets are still wet, signaling this will be a sloppy ride. Rick, Dave, and I meet up with Steve "is my back wheel still on?" Simmet in the first few miles. Greg "the squirrel mamer" was not to be found. We round the corner at Elbow Road and Salem and my rear wheel spins out! "What the? That was ice!" I called out. Rick had slipped too. Thinking this was a fluke, we pedaled on. A few miles later, in a shady corner, I start slipping sideways! At the same time Rick is behind me sliding. The above pic shows a car that was not in the ditch the first time we passed this point. Very cautiously we made it back to the shop with out any falls.
Congratulations to Carlos and Anja! Oliver was born on December 22nd. What a cute kid! Obviously got his moms looks.