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Sunday, January 28, 2018

Cruising around Holland

What was supposed to be a group ride was cancelled due to icy conditions on Riley trails. Instead, the 4 that missed the message headed out towards Lake Michigan.


After a short ride to the beach we hiked over the dune to see an icy and glacier filled Lake Michigan. We took a turn south and rode for about a mile down the beach. The sand was fairly solid close to the water and there were some tracks from other riders. 


Once we hit an area where it would have been more hiking than biking we turned around. Because of the way the ice dunes were, we were fairly sheltered by the wind, but it was there. Temps were in the low 40's but the wind was making it just a bit cool.


We rode around 2 miles to the south before hitting "private property" areas with their water fences. Once again we turned around. The pic above shows some deer prints. They were stretching down the beach for at least a mile. They meandered up away from the water and back down to the water. Anywhere from 2 to 4 sets could be seen at a time. 

After the beach we had to hike back over the dune. The loose sand made the hike brutal. Once we made it over the dune we rode back to Riley. Matt was on a rental fatty and still wanted to ride more, so we headed out on the paved trails. We rode away from the beach before turning south. Feeling pretty good about being outside, we kept rolling south until we hit Douglas Ave and made the turn to Holland State Park. There were lots of people parked and looking at the Lake. 


The channel leading to Lake Macatawa was full of ice bergs. The icebergs were floating all around the lake too. Looked pretty cool.

Matt and I headed back north and arrived back at Riley Trails. 17.4 miles overall. Speed doesn't matter, but the ride was awesome. Felt really good to be outside instead of hiding in the basement. 

Friday, January 19, 2018

Do work

RIP Big Black. This post is for you....DO WORK

January is moving by rather quickly. Already we flew past the middle of the month and are rapidly approaching the end of the month. In the past, I have been touching 300 miles in the Month of January. Most of those miles were on the trainer. This year, I have already surpassed my totals for January of 2017. The totals are not outstanding, or overpowering, but they are what I would deem as solid.

Solid because of the circumstances. I lost 3 days. Not just in training, but of my life. I had some type of crud that pushed my temperature over 103 degree and gave me strange phantom pains in my entire body. So on the 4th day I mustered a trainer session. Then another short session before having what I can only explain as vertigo the following weekend. This caused me to lose another 2 full days and then another 2 days before I actually felt good enough to train again. Basically I lost a full week, so January is looking ok.

I did a group ride on Zwift with Matt, which was interesting. We met and started riding together. He destroyed me on a long climb. I could see him, but he was adding distance in what seemed like every second. As odd as a virtual ride is, a virtual group ride is even stranger. I say strange because it is exactly like real life. I would get dropped on the climb and catch up on the descent. Real. Strange. The ride was good though and chasing Matt made the hour go by faster than expected.

I had a couple of other sessions on Zwift making my legs feel better each ride. They are nowhere near "back" but they are at least welcoming an hour on the trainer. One ride I was at 18mph average speed for the first 30 minutes. The issue, I have zero endurance and couldn't hold it. Ended up under 16 mph for the ride. That last half hour was awful. The next ride I paced and was around 17 mph at 30 minutes and finished at 16.8 for the duration. Moral of the story, pacing is much smarter for me than going all out. 

That reminds me of my first year in Sport class. I can ride "tempo" for a long time, but I cannot ride "fast" for a long period of time. I set goals of consistent lap times and not worrying about placement. My first XC race I was within a few minutes on lap times. I saw people that had stupid fast first laps and then 10 or 12 minutes slower second laps. That was exactly how I felt on the trainer session the night before....fast for a short distance....and trashed for the remainder of the ride. Ride smarter....

Last night was something totally different. I saw Grand Rapids Bicycle Company was doing a no-drop ride at Yankee. I figured it would be a 5-7 mile ride on fattys and that would be perfect. An hour or so of riding out in the dark on the snow at Yankee. Well, I was wrong. We started off with the group of 4 riders on the main trail. Little did I know, we were riding the entire 11 mile loop. Not a bad deal in itself, but Yankee is difficult for me when the trails are dry, let alone on a 38 pound tank in the snow. Thankfully the trail was in amazing shape. 
Stolen without permission from Matt Acker's facebook

As you can see from the picture above (that was taken during the day today), the trail is sweet. The odd thing is, I have never ridden Yankee in the dark, let alone snow. I have ridden a Turkey Burner on "snow" but never a full blown fatty ride at Yankee. Because the trail was so awesome it made riding in the dark easier. As the other three guys would disappear I would still see an eerie glow of their lights. Then you would see them coming towards you, before disappearing again. The snow made it almost light out. The darkness didn't bother me because it would be hard for something to sneak up on you in the crunchy snow. 

The ride was hard, but I did the whole loop with the encouragement from Chris and the other two guys (who I don't know). I just plodded away a mile at a time. That damn long switchback climb (that sucks in the summer) was even worse in the snow. I just have zero climbing power in my legs right now, so I just got off and pushed. Not going to lie, I was off the bike more than I wanted to be....but it is January and I am heavy. I was out there in the dark and cold and snow.....riding my bike and having a blast....once it was over. lol. I survived. 

I am off to a good start on my journey of 2018. I know it is a marathon and not a sprint. I know it is ok to rest. I know it is ok to have setbacks. I know that the only way to get to where I want to be is to keep moving forward. So that is what I will do....


Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Happy New Year!

Ok, so...WHOOPS! It has been a minute since I blogged. So, let me see.....

Not much has been going on. I won't waste time, I will just give a snap shot.

Thanksgiving.....food.
Christmas......food.
New tires for Albert.
New Years Day......ride. Solid 6 miles in sub zero temps.
Trainer set up.
Gym.
Trainer
Trainer

Sickness.....for a few days. ugh.

So 2018 started off good. I headed to Fort Custer and rode Albert in the snow for real. It was cold and a lot of fun. Then I had a nice trainer ride to get re-acclimated. Hit the gym, was feeling good. Then trainer again the next night. But then the wheels came off. Took Friday off as rest and got stupid sick over the weekend. So plan to jump on the bike again tonight. 

Plan it to head into race season by getting my ass kicked....and finishing the year competing. 

It happens one pedal stroke at a time.