Saturday, April 26, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
600K Brevet - Exhaustion beats Suffering Every Time
DNF'd on the 600K AZ Brevet over the weekend.
22.5 hours in the saddle brought another CA2 rider and I into Bisbee (230 miles and 12,000 ft of climbing) at 3:40AM. I don't know for sure but the SSW winds gusting to 30+mph probably forced half of the riders to miss the cutoff times at control points well before 100 miles.
Had I continued on I would have had to get only 2 hours sleep and then pushed straight into a growing (25-30 mph) wind for another 145 miles. I've been exhausted after a cycling event before but this one is among the top five. It was a smart move to pack it in.
In terms of `suffering' it was a 3 out of 10. In terms of what it would have taken out of me to finish (exhaustion) it would have been a 12 out of 10. In my book, at this time, the exhaustion would not have been worth it, i.e., wise.
22.5 hours in the saddle brought another CA2 rider and I into Bisbee (230 miles and 12,000 ft of climbing) at 3:40AM. I don't know for sure but the SSW winds gusting to 30+mph probably forced half of the riders to miss the cutoff times at control points well before 100 miles.
Had I continued on I would have had to get only 2 hours sleep and then pushed straight into a growing (25-30 mph) wind for another 145 miles. I've been exhausted after a cycling event before but this one is among the top five. It was a smart move to pack it in.
In terms of `suffering' it was a 3 out of 10. In terms of what it would have taken out of me to finish (exhaustion) it would have been a 12 out of 10. In my book, at this time, the exhaustion would not have been worth it, i.e., wise.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Quality v Junk
Yesterday I had planned to ride 55 miles with 5,200 feet of climbing.
That's a lot of climbing.
I didn't do it.
About 10 miles into the training I found myself loathing the thought of spending 6 or more hours on the bike, by myself.
A week earlier I had served as a `domestique / crew' for a good friend who was attempting to do 200 miles in 12 hours. We started riding at 6:30am on good road, cool temps and almost no wind. By 8:AM the wind was howling. Sand, dust, tumbleweeds flying across the road and into our face.
I saw it my duty to serve as a windbreak for her. First `paceline' style. Then `echelon' style. After 6 hours of on again off again riding, getting water, fluid, food, etc. I decided to `pack it in' and leapfrog her from my car.
I managed to cover 97 miles during that 6 hours. For all practical purposes it was both fast tempo and interval training the entire time. Though I was pretty beat by the end I felt really great about the `quality' of the training.
My `domestique' experience pulled the rug out from under my excuses for avoiding `quality' training.
So, yesterday I decided to cut my training ride short by doing a fast 35 miles with 3,600 ft of climbing: 3:00:00. 35 minutes faster than I usually do that route. It wasn't as `painful' as I had expected.
GETTING INTO A JUNK MILES RUT:
Laziness (and a few aspects of my temperament) has had me doing long hours and distances on the bike for the past few years. Here are some of the weak excuses I made for doing `junk' miles:
These are the real reasons I do junk miles:
TRAINING FOR QUALITY:
WHAT TO EXPECT:
That's a lot of climbing.
I didn't do it.
About 10 miles into the training I found myself loathing the thought of spending 6 or more hours on the bike, by myself.
A week earlier I had served as a `domestique / crew' for a good friend who was attempting to do 200 miles in 12 hours. We started riding at 6:30am on good road, cool temps and almost no wind. By 8:AM the wind was howling. Sand, dust, tumbleweeds flying across the road and into our face.
I saw it my duty to serve as a windbreak for her. First `paceline' style. Then `echelon' style. After 6 hours of on again off again riding, getting water, fluid, food, etc. I decided to `pack it in' and leapfrog her from my car.
I managed to cover 97 miles during that 6 hours. For all practical purposes it was both fast tempo and interval training the entire time. Though I was pretty beat by the end I felt really great about the `quality' of the training.
My `domestique' experience pulled the rug out from under my excuses for avoiding `quality' training.
So, yesterday I decided to cut my training ride short by doing a fast 35 miles with 3,600 ft of climbing: 3:00:00. 35 minutes faster than I usually do that route. It wasn't as `painful' as I had expected.
GETTING INTO A JUNK MILES RUT:
Laziness (and a few aspects of my temperament) has had me doing long hours and distances on the bike for the past few years. Here are some of the weak excuses I made for doing `junk' miles:
- the desert is mystical, beautiful and I love the solitude;
- if I exert too much energy on the hills I'll `blow up' and bonk;
- the 15 or 20 lbs of weight I'm carrying needs to come off before I do any serious training;
- my friends, associates and neighbors know me as a long-distance junkie and that appeals to my ego;
- I'm afraid that I push to hard at my age I'll injure myself.
These are the real reasons I do junk miles:
- laziness.
- avoidance: anxiety about having to decide to invest myself in other things that may frustrate me, not be satisfying, at which I may be average;
- worry that I'll not find anything I `like' and will be knocking around doing pointless `busy' work;
- ego;
- ego;
- ego.
TRAINING FOR QUALITY:
- Every other day I'll train.
- My training will be `smart,' intense and not go on and on for hours and hours.
- I know I rebel against following a strict calendar plan (e.g., Tuesday, intervals, 60 minutes, etc; Wednesday, 90 minutes of tempo, etc). So I won't set myself for predictable failure;
- Intensity over long Zone 1 and Zone 2 slogging.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
- Less (and better) time on the bike will confront me with more time on my hands;
- I will invest more time in social interaction with friends, coworkers and acquaintances;
- I will no longer be `special,' i.e., that guy who is a long-distance junkie;
- I will experience failure more often as I work to improve my times;
- Failure scares me and I `catastrophize' that I will be ... not fast. (No! I fear that other's will be faster than me and I'll be average).
- ego;
- ego;
- ego.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Blood Alley: RAAM Time Station # 10 (Tuba City, AZ)
Despite numerous incidents of RAAM cyclists getting hit by cars and trucks on AZ 160 near Tuba City (RAAM Time Station # 10) the RAAM Race owners (Fred and Rick Boethling) continue to ignore the urgent need to change this section of the RAAM route.
Family Killed in Traffic Accident near Tuba City AZ
Family Killed in Traffic Accident near Tuba City AZ
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