Saturday 3/14/09

It was still a bit colder than I would have liked so it looks like we’ll still have to wait for warmer weather.  This week’s ride took us through the edges of several cities and up into areas where we’ve not been before, so that was great.  Our first hill, and not even a major one didn’t come up until about 3.3 miles and it was a very nice way to warm up before starting to tackle hills. There was one hill, which Coach Natasha said was similar to the switchbacks we’ll encounter in Tahoe, and that gave me my only real problem during the ride.  Coach Pam was riding with me most of the way up until the first rest stop and she noticed some marked improvement in my breathing and my riding since she last rode with me. 
The team coaches are great, and it’s really good to know they care about your improvement even when you haven’t seen or spoken to them in a week or two.  It really helps get me through the rough spots. 

I’m getting much stronger on the hills, and really starting to see some improvement in my riding overall.  I’m feeling more confident each week, and I’m looking forward to Tahoe.  I’ve been monitoring my heart rate and cadence on the rides of late, and notice my cadence going up and my heart rate going down, all good indications that my improvement is more than just a feeling.  I made good time on 45.9 miles today including two rest points to refuel and rehydrate. 
The weather warmed up a bit by the afternoon.  All in all, it was a good day’s ride and a challenging one as well.

Sunday 3/15/09

The Ides of March, and, of course, I fell at a stop sign being unable to unclip my right foot.  I wasn’t hurt;  I laughed a little, and tried to shake it off.  Coach Allison rode with me and some of my teammates this week and made several comments about my improvement and my pace. 

Several weeks back, I had an unfortunate incident with a Guard Rail that trashed my bicycle and could have been much worse.  Despite the damage to my bicycle, I was not hurt too badly, just some scratches on my right knee.  My bicycle was repaired and over the past few weeks my confidence has been coming back.  Coach Allison noticed that we were riding up the same street in reverse on the route sheet and asked me if I wanted to tackle the Guard Rail turn to get over it.  It was close to the end of the route and I agreed.  We let the rest of the team riding with us go on ahead and doubled back to make the dreaded Guard Rail turn. 
I made it successfully and got it out of my system.  Coach Allison noticed the hole that did me in the first time, and we also noted that the left hand turn was more than a 90 degree angle, so she was pretty pleased that I went back and conquered my fear and the turn successfully.  I was pretty pleased as well and glad she suggested we conquer the Guard Rail turn for posterity.  Once again on the route back to our starting point we had a good headwind, seems to be the norm on this one road so perhaps I should get used to it. I made really good time
on the 20 mile recovery ride today; my average speed was up from last week. 
I took several larger hills without downshifting into my granny gear and on a few small but steep hills, I simply decided to stand up and power over them.  This move, however, has left my hips feeling some muscle burn today, so, I guess, I will have to work on that a bit more. I rode of total of 66 miles this past weekend; I think that’s a record for me. 

Thanks for checking in on my progress, we’re on schedule for 70 miles next weekend and I’m praying for warm weather.