I am going to use vacation for my excuse as to why January was not a great training month. The two weeks leading up to my vacation I didn't train because I was fighting some weird intestinal bug and made me not want to sit a on a bike. No more details required there. Then we were on vacation for a week. The last few days after vacation have been 'recovery'. Ah....goodbye January. Dangit.
Here we are a week into February already. I actually geared up and rode outside yesterday. Temps were right around 50 degrees and the sun was shining. I reached out to a few friends and made a plan to meet in Martin for a Dirty Donut. First off, the course is pretty flat. Secondly, close to home. I loaded up Albert and headed out to meet Lisa. It was a going to be a good day to get the legs moving and catch up, since he haven't seen each other much.
We headed out and I was happy with the gravel conditions. Roads were damp, but hard packed. We chatted as we rode the short course. Around 21 miles of gravel in warm temps in early February is exactly what we needed. The sections heading north were a bit tougher because it always feels like there is a headwind. Added to the 2 early northerly sections is that they seem like false flats. Just enough uphill to make you question whether you are pedaling hard or getting a flat tire.
The first stretch back to the East in the middle of the course is where the climbing is all put together. We surged ahead and cleared the punch climbs before turning North for what I think is the worst climb on the course. We both cleared the climb, which is a good sign of our fitness levels this time of year. Sometimes I have to get off and walk that stinking hill. After that we hit one soggy area of gravel. Its in a low lying area with swamp on both sides. It was enough to get us nasty, but not terrible enough to cause any issues.
We got back to the cars and chatted a bit more. Grateful to each other for being out on bikes. It was good for both of us to be out and moving. Exactly what we needed. Thank you sis for the company!
So, February is going better. Working on settling back into routines and changing focus to that Big MF'r on the schedule in June. I still don't have a mountain bike. I will absolutely not be riding Albert. He is way too fat when combined with my frame to attempt 100 miles together. Bike would literally kill me. I have a plan in place that I hope to take action on next month. Everything goes as planned and I will have a shiny new bike in my hands around the beginning of April. Things don't go as planned, I have a buddy that told me I could one of his bikes. So a contingency is in place. Friends....can't live without them.
Focus is on fitness, nutrition, and off the bike training. Need to work on core. It will be imperative that I build some semblance of core strength to be able to climb the 8000+ feet that the Manistee forest offers. I know climbing is my weakness. If I can improve between 10-25% on that single aspect it will make a massive difference. Add that core power increase to a reduced dump truck mass and my chances of finishing grow exponentially.
Mentally I need to remain strong. I waver, as we all do, with confidence and self doubt. I let stress sneak in and cause issues. Staying positive and consistently moving forward will be the combination I need to stay on track.
One wildcard at this moment is a mild injury. I say mild, because its surely isn't life threatening. It technically doesn't affect my riding much, at least right now. Stupid tennis elbow developed back in October. I went to doctor last week because it hasn't been getting any better. He called in a prescription for a patch that will promote healing. If it doesn't help in 3 weeks I go back to have an MRI. In a small percentage of cases.....a surgery will be required. I hope the healing patches help because I don't want to have a surgery on a bum elbow that would derail my 2024 riding season. I have some exercises I am going to add in, and I am going to keep doing what I am doing to rest the arm. Which seems funny to me, because its not like I am swinging a hammer or wrenching on a car all day. I sit at my desk...lol. Getting old is silly. Stay tuned here, but fingers crossed it heals enough that I can be on a bike for multiple hours with no issues. Elbow does get tight when on the trainer. So I make sure to change arm angles, wrist positions, and just move the arm around when riding.
Until then.....Keep moving forward.
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