Friday, May 30, 2008

Fiesta Beat Down

Hi All. Well last night I made the trip down to Fiesta Island for the Thursday night workout. As I mentioned in my last post, it was my first time doing this. I arrived just before 5pm, unloaded, geared up, found some teammates and began riding laps around the island to warm-up. Just before 6pm we rolled over to the parking lot in the center of the island and awaited the 6pm start time. I'd say around 100-150 riders showed up, and when you see the likes of Neil Shirley, Iggy Silva, and the full Ca Pools team you know you're in for some serious work! The first lap was mild, but after that the attacks began and all hell broke loose. I was able to sit in comfortably for the first thirty minutes of the hour-long ride, but noticed I was exposing myself to the wind far too much. Just after the thirty minute mark I decided to put in a big effort to get to the front of the group. It worked, but that was a HUGE mistake on my part! At that point my heart rate was high and the pace of the group only picked up. I was only able to hang on for two more laps before losing contact. I sat up and rode a couple of easy laps around the island to recover and then jumped back in for the last lap. Overall, a great workout and something I need to do more often. I figure if I can hang in with that group for the full hour, a Cat 4, 40-minute crit should feel easy after that. Talk to ya soon!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

New Bloggin

Well, I've done it. Joined the world of blogging that is. This is my first official blog, and we'll see where it goes from here. I've decided to keep this online diary so to speak, to help clear thoughts out of my head, track my progress on the bike, in school, etc. For the most part this blog will focus on the bike, training, racing, and life in general. Let's get started...............Today is day three of my attempted "vacation". So far, so good. No school until June 23rd, and work as been predictable, so this has allowed me to get some good miles on the bike. Got out Tuesday for 4 hours for some low-to-medium intensity riding trying not to push it to hard knowing that Wednesday I had plans to meet a teammate and do some high intensity work in the hills around Valley Center, Fallbrook, etc. Met up with the teammate Wednesday and we pushed it hard through the hills (another 4 hours) as planned. I was feeling the effort in the legs later in the day! Tonight (Thursday), I'm heading down to Fiesta Island for the Thursday night hammerfest. I've never done this before and am excited to see how I'll do. I figure if I sit in the entire hour I should be able to hang on. And if not, I'm more then happy to be humbled. It's a bit of a commute for me, but it's a great chance to see some teammates and further immerse myself in the SoCal racing scene. I have a question that maybe the one person who might read this blog can answer. This has been bothering me for quite awhile now. I've noticed on training rides throughout San Diego county that riders who ride along the Coast Highway are far less friendly then riders who ride out in the hills. Why is this? I try and make an effort to wave to every rider I see. I believe this is one of the aspects that makes cycling such a great sport. It's a tight-knit community. I'd say for every twenty waves I give on the coast, I may get two or three back. But the same amount of waves given inland will yield almost twenty for twenty! WTF!!! Here's my theory...........The riders who are riding on the coast are probably there becasue they are too weak to handle the hills inland. Just riding down the coast is a huge effort for them, therefore they are so focused on their 180bpm heart-rates, that they're experiencing tunnel vision, which doesn't allow them to see me waving from across the road. Just a thought. Next race, the Dana Point Grand Prix. Great race I've heard, never done it. Will be staying at my Aunt's house Saturday night in San Juan Capistrano seeing as how my race goes off at the lovley hour of 7:30am! OUCH! Details later, until then ride hard, and be safe