Can't believe that it has been a month since I last wrote anything worth posting, well I guess that is a personal perspective since who knows whether anyone really reads this. I got taken out by a rock on Tuesday, was going for my morning 3 hour interval training ride and I apparently tried to run over a very large round cobble that was sitting in the bike lane. I know just about every bump in the road on the way to the American River bike trail and so I made the mistake of looking down and wham, I tried to ride over the rock and it didn't like it and spit me out into the road, sliding on my brand new Garmin-Transitions team kit. It really sucks to ruin $300 worth of clothing in one simple crash. I don't ever remember tearing up wool shorts and jerseys like this. Oh well at least I had won these, I would have been even more upset if I had personally spent my hard earned money on them.
Last Saturday I did a ride up in the foothills with nearly 4000' of climbing with some portions up to 20 percent grade. Was just around 60 miles, really gives me an appreciation for what the pros do on a grand tour with day after day of climbing and mileage that far exceeds that of mine. I tweaked my rear wheel, a Fulcrum 5, during the ride. I don't know my own strength, on a 15 percent pitch I stood up and sproing, a ferrule on the rim pulled out, not much, but enough to throw the wheel out of true and make me weary of descending to fast, although I did get up around 45-50 mph (70-80 kph for those of you metric types) on some of the straighter portions. Nearly did a Beloki around one corner, but managed to keep myself upright. I guess that is one benefit of being 200 pounds, I go downhill fast, but I would trade that for being 140 pounds and going uphill quicker.
Speaking of weight, I record everything I eat, and usually conservatively, that is over estimating the size of the portions. But I continue to have difficulty losing any more weight, I seem to have hit a plateau that doesn't seem to want to let be get below 200 pounds. I have ridden about 9.5 hours since Monday and will do about 1.5 hours easy tomorrow and then about 5 hours on Saturday, and I try to not eat junk calories. I am just hoping that I don't have too hard a time on the Gran Fondo in October, I have yet to do over 6,000 feet of climbing or over 100 miles this year and certainly not together. I am starting to get worried about making it, especially with all the breaks that I will have between now and October. I do think I am getting fitter, my resting pulse is now down around 50 bpm and is running lower than previously noted for any RPE level.
Maybe tomorrow I will post picks of my road rash, it is looking much better. I also need to post a picture of me in my Davis Bike Club Racing Team kit, although looking at a picture of me in spandex may cause the reader to be rendered temporarily blind.
Maybe if I get stuck going to Albuquerque I can get my company to pay to buy a bike box and ship my bike to Albuquerque for the time I will be there. I will call it my high altitude training camp! I could try and climb to Sandia Peak, but the last time I made it up that 13 mile long monster I was much, much lighter, although I have seem some pretty substantial people pedaling their way to the top. Well I had better hit the hay as I have a company training tomorrow and would like to stay awake during it. Cheers!
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