The Bike Transplant

So,
As I mentioned earlier post NM trip screwed up training. Now my trip to Phoenix last week has further screwed it up. I tried to get on the trail yesterday but the Friday storm has left tranquility in utter ruin….1 lap down and left hoping for motivation to ride….*sigh*

So,
Becky is going to do a Triathlon *crowd cheers* I can’t wait to be there to cheer her on. I know she can do it!

As such we started running this week. This was the first time I’ve run much in a couple years. Did 3 miles and it wasn’t as bad as I remember, I think the bike has helped my fitness alot. My plan is to try an xterra next year. But its not to take away from Beckys big effort. This will be her first real competitive activity since High School I think. That said, Tri’s are more about self discovery and competing with your self to achieve something that seemed unattainable than competition between individuals. That is until you get upto the pro ranks I think.

Anywho, Becky is getting really into the resources now for it…check her blog out here.

Becky when you read this, you should post a blog with some of those tri resources on your blog…:-)

Laters

So riding has been in full swing again after settling back into a schedule post-NM trip.

Two rides this week, introduced Pat and Ellen from the riding group to my favorite hill ride. I did it Monday night then again with them last night. Here’s a link to a map of the route.

Pats Garmin GPS registered 2,000 ft of climbing (meh not as much as I could get in NM but good by Nebraska Standards) and 33.5 miles. There are 2- 10% gradient hills.

On monday, ride time 1hr 55 mins, speed 17.8 mph avg, 34.1 mph max, hr 166 bpm average, 185 max.

Last night,ride time 1hr 51 mins, speed 18.5 mph avg, 35.0 mph max, hr 165 bpm average, 184 max.

Somehow we managed to go faster last night and I actually lowered my HR ever so slightly, so either fitness is getting better and my power output is increasing or i wasn’t properly hydrated on Monday which I don’t think was the case.

As a note Ellen is getting really strong, we attacked most of the hills at better than 20 mph and she was right with us.

Furthermore, I’m beggining to focus on acceleration and power for the next month, can anyone say intervals

Wow,
Ok since moving to Omaha, most of my mountain bike rides (really its just light trail riding in the Big O!) have been at two local trails, Swanson Park and Tranquility Park. Tranquility has been going through some major upgrades since last year to add new trail and to correct for poor drainage. I hadn’t had a real good opportunity to ride it until last night. All I can say is wow! that is a fun trail. Here’s a link for the trail map from THOR with my review and ride report after.

So, Josh and I met up at the Fort St. parking lot to head out from the north trail head. The major improvements are on the South Side of the trail out in the open hill areas between the tree farm extending down to Moylan Ice Complex and the tennis courts. The new trails slow you down for an extended period of switch backing up the hill. The descent down from the top is now much longer with fast switchbacks and a couple of sweet berms to hit at speed. The trail begs you to push hard from corner to corner and dive at speed into every apex.

Right now their is still a bit of grass covering the new trail sections which are sure to wear away as the summer goes on. As that happens the new lines will become more apparent and the course will surely get faster. That leads me to my only complaint and my performance. The new trail came in at 6.5 miles on my computer up from the previous 4.7. The new trail added between the north trail head the open areas on the hill is going to be a major player in the race in august. Instead of a short mile to get through the nursery…you now spend almost 3 miles before you reach the open area. Josh and I did the entire loop in 39 minutes at a light pace and I managed to pick up the pace a bit on the second lap and finish in 36 minutes. That said I wasn’t able to shave a lot of time even after pushing harder on the second lap. My lap times have increased significantly from 22 minutes up to 35+. That could be partially due to the really muddy sections in the woods which we rode slow for to prevent trail damage. But the part did seem to be related to the new trail which isn’t quite bedded in. the grass creates alot of resistance that I could feel beneath me. Every time I stopped pedaling on descents the bike began to slow.

Otherwise, I survived on one bottle and several gulps of Gatorade. Post ride nutrition included a handful of pretzels, banana and cliff bar. My average cadence was low at 72 but I think that was a result of some light pedaling on the first half of each lap in the woods. Legs felt great, had more legs than I used and could have pushed harder. Given this was a scouting and rec ride I decided to forgo pain in favor of a pace at which I could still talk.

Ride time, 1hour 15minutes, distance 13 miles, avg speed, 9.6mph, avg cadence: 72

So yesterday I picked up some new shorts from my favorite bike shop…Pearl Izumi Slice Ultrasensor Shorts. Up till this point I have only owned the microsensor shorts. These were definitely a step up. Turned out to be the most comfy bike shorts I have ever worn. I highly recommend them. Also the grey/black are currently on sale at the Bike Rack, don’t take my word for it though, go get a pair and try them yourself.