Training Update

What is the proper training for a two day, 192 mile ride? I've asked this over and over again to anyone that's done the big miles and each time I get different answer. They range from, if you can do 50, you're fine, up to, and my favorite, do the distance for your training, in other words go out next weekend and do 111, (total mileage for day one).

I'm very happy with my training and feel I'm on course, however I have been stuck in the 19 mph blues. For some reason I've not been able to go faster, or even slower then 19.1 mph avg. no matter what the distance on solo rides. Last Spring my times ranged from 19 in a half up to 21. I was in the groove. This year, no matter how I feel I end up with the same pace.

This past Saturday morning everything changed. I was planning on a double with my triathlon club; trifury.com. Every Saturday they have a 30.2 mile ride that is the highlight of my week. There we're a handful that were up for the double loop.

The ride started out fast but for once it didn't feel too fast. There was just shy of 30 of us and we were flying. First day of Summer, perfect weather, not sure what it was but the traditional going out fast to establish the different pace packs was in full gear. There was a group of us, maybe 15 at the front that weren't budging. It was constant poll position through the back country roads of suburbia. We were traveling close together in the mid to high 20's. My arms were covered in goose bumps, everyone was showing off and no on was backing down. It was the single best few miles of this year, period. Even in the moment I kept saying this is the coolest thing, this is so cool, this is so cool… this coming from someone that's been to 8 days of theme parks in Orlando over the past 6 months.

Eventually it thinned out and at the half way point one of the hard core riders; a nationally ranked female triathlete had a technical issue that caused a chasm in the ride. After a couple minutes, a group of about 6 of use when on. Yes, this means the amazing ride we had ahead of us will forever have an asterisks attached. So there we were, flying when, John I believe his name was, who pulling at the front almost the entire first half of the ride, pulled out ahead. Another guy a I followed suit. For the rest of the ride neither of us could relieve him at the front, he was going too fast. I tried for about a minute and I think he just got board of my pace, which was mostly around ~23. This happened until the end and the three of us pulled in the parking lot; WAY ahead of everyone else. Our average for 30 miles was 21.6 mph, maybe my fastest 30+ ever.

There was about 15 minutes of waiting to gather those that wanted to do the second loop. I believe there were 6 or 7 of us. As we flew through the course we joked how we were targeting a 16mph average. It was even more funny when the guy that mentioned the 16 mph pace was taking pulls at 23. We all had sick energy and every hill was a mini race onto itself… and this is where it got interesting.

One of those on the ride was Dave T. he was for years my running partner back at Lotus and the guy I look forward to seeing every Saturday morning. On his worse day, I could never beat him, track, 5k, marathon. Today however, was my day. I made sure not only that i was the first up every hill but that I was close to him. To add to it at the end, and this is something I learned from him, if you have the legs its ok to go out fast at the end. Yes this is universal in running circles but I had to apply it to the ride, so with about a mile left I took off up a hill and was the first one back. As we were parting after the ride he extended his hand and said “Nice Ride”. In the hundreds of hours of hours we spent running together this was my favorite moment of our friendship. Yes, he will always be a big brother kind of friend to me.

The second loop was completed at a 19.6 pace. Things are looking up.

This morning, I went out for my first solo ride since. I wanted to take it easy, think about forum and not push it. No matter how hard I tired to relax and take it easy the average speed kept raising. In the short 20 ride it whet from 19.6 to 20.2 at the finish, all with what felt little energy. To boot, after the ride my weight was down to 215, yes it was after the ride but still I haven't seen that number in a while.

If you're still reading and wondering why Im riding 192 miles, please check this out…. http://charity.planetlotus.org

I hope to get more frequent with my updates in the coming weeks. Until then.. please, take this away… if you have young kids, don't forget to go over the rules of the road!

Update: back down to planet earth!

Yesterday, i went out for the 6pm group ride in Newburyport. Being that since the fast Sat. morning ride I'm only a phone call away from being asked to join in the Tour de France I went out with the fast group; big mistake. I figured since there was a very competitive time trial event going on a few towns over the heavy hitters weren't there; nope, they're everywhere.

I was, by design, on the back of the pack until the 10 mile mark. We were slowly gaining speed. Not for a second did I think I would be dropped. I watched people one by one fell off the back, mostly on the smaller hills. The first real hill at the 10 mile mark was the death of me. I couldn't maintain their speed up the hill and after cresting it couldn't recover fast enough and lost the turn they made.

I was the only one dropped on the hill so I was all alone. I took a wrong turn, saw a splinter group then turned around. I didn't catch them in time to see their direction but saw another couple and road back with them; this was only the second time I did this route so I was completely lost. They were a nice couple, just way too slow. Just before returning to the bike show I took off for plumb island and exhausted what i had for the day at a pretty fast pace.

Back at the car i got into a conversation with the last guy that was dropped before me. Moments later a guy that came in early from the middle group joined us and said how they hooked up with a bunch of "sluts" from the fast group. Yes, he didn't know it but he was referring to me... and the other guy. Apparently a slut is someone like me that leaches off the back of the pack and never contributes, or as I like to put it, does everything they can to hang on. A fresh pack of about 5 riders came into the parking lot where he pointed and said “there are the sluts now”.

Note to self, next week, don't listen to the ego, go with the middle group.