Weekly update, almost to April

 The race season has officially kicked off. Not mine, but the Melting Mann was a week ago already and the schedule doesn't seem to slow down until Iceman.

For me, Barry Roubaix is just less than 2 weeks out. First though, I want to go over my last week of riding.

Last Tuesday I was just going to drive home after work. For some reason my bike decided to turn and deliver me to Yankee Springs. It was chilly, but once I got moving it wasn't bad. Knowing it was Yellow direction...and temps being in the low 40's wasn't giving me much motivation. I just went out and rode anyway. I don't really like this direction because it feels like you just climb and climb and climb. By the time I get to the real climbs I am already worn out and end up having to walk a bit. 

This ride was no different. I found a comfortable pace and cruised my way back into the pines. This is where it feels like the Yellow direction instantly get tougher. There are so many punchy and rooty climbs that I just do my best to get through. I love the pines, but I am still learning how to navigate through here in the Yellow direction. I survived, and pushed onward toward the massive switchback climbs. 

Here I didn't make it, and I had to walk. There is a nasty little area that I just can't figure out. So I stopped and took stock of where the best line looked to be. I was taking mental notes of the first nasty spot I had to walk. Note......take it on the right side....and build speed before you get there......you can do it next time! I kept climbing until I got to the next trouble area. Probably half way up the climb is another step up style root cluster that I just haven't been able to navigate. I stopped and analyzed the area for what appears to be the best line. Sure, you can try that next time. I pressed on and eventually reached the top of the hill. 

.....now that I think about it....this climb is before the pines. duh. So after this climb there is the quick descent into the pines and then that area of difficulty. 

Overall it was a solid ride and I am feeling a bit stronger every ride. I am getting more comfortable with Mudhorn and that is helping. Learning to trust those 29" tires and having faith in the traction is key to helping me get faster. One ride at a time, we will become one.

Saturday Tom and I headed out to Barry-Roubaix for a training ride. It was kinda rainy, but only for a few minutes. Temps were warmer so that helped make it a better ride. We headed out of town and joined into a group of West Michigan Coyotes for a bit. Then we passed them, knowing those damn kids would kill us on the 3 sisters. lol. They did, no doubt. We made the turn to the 3 sisters and started up the first climb. Not terrible. We cleared it and started rolling to the 2nd. This was is a bit tougher, but we cleared it and watched the Coyotes go flying away from us. Then the Third sister was upon us. I settled in and just cranked away until I reached the top. I cleared it....for the first time in a long time. A few miles in, and I was already in a good mood for clearing the sisters. 

Next up was the Dairy climb. You might know it as Hubble Hills. It is a series of climbs that ends with a bit of a tougher one towards the end. I was surprised at how decent I felt as I reached the top. My zwifting is paying off I guess. From this hill it is a decent ride all the way to the pavement of Gun Lake Road. This is paved, but has a long climb in it. We just plugged away and finally reached the top. Then you get a nice pay off and get to fly down the descent. 

Eventually we arrived at Sager Road. I hear Tom mumble "this is gonna suck"....as we make the left hander into the seasonal road. Up and over the first hill I was feeling pretty solid. That is...until I made a bad line choice and ended up in a pile of sand. No damage done, I got up and kept going. Only Tom saw it, so just a bit of pride damaging done. lol. We kicked off Sager and pushed onward. Eventually I started to get a squeak, which ended up being sand in my rotors. Just an irritant. Handled, we moved on.

Some rain started to fall as we were just in our rhythm. Thankfully the roads were tight enough that the rain didn't turn them into peanut butter. The rain sucked, but didn't ruin the ride. The miles just ticked away and eventually we started to feel the distance. The cemetery climb felt awful. The wall was terrible. any little incline felt tough. We kept going.

Finally the gravel gave way to pavement and we were on the home stretch. Done and dusted. Overall it was a great ride. Not really the average speed I wanted, but there are always factors (not excuses) as to why it was down. It rained. It was windy. I fell over (crashed). We had some traffic...believe it or not. But it was a great day to be out and get some miles in.

My biggest takeaway is this.....I never had to walk a hill. I really don't know when the last time was that I didn't have to walk a Sister, or part of Sager, or the Wall. But I made all of the climbs. So did Tom. It felt good to get around the 36 mile course without putting a foot down. Well, I put my body down...but that is another story. I got up and got right back on, didn't have to walk up a hill. 

And though it wasn't a great avg speed, it was enough for a PR on the route. So, feeling like it could have been better and still setting a record is a weird combo. Normally when I feel like it could have been faster I am way off of record setting pace. So I am feeling a bit more confident now too. I am still nervous about the 64 miler coming in a few weeks, but I am learning more every day. My nutrition seemed to be sufficient for that long ride, and I have plans on what to do when I add an hour or two more to the day. 

This week I have a few rides at Yankee planned and another gravel ride on the weekend. Probably will try to hit Barry again and see if any fitness was gained in a week. 

Until then.....keep moving forward! 

Spring has spring

 As is typical, I haven't posed in nearly 3 weeks again. So, I won't be giving a 3 week update, but maybe a week or two.

I missed almost a week of riding because I headed to Las Vegas to get married. :)  This was a nice getaway trip and we had a ton of fun!!! While we walked a ton, there was plenty of food and beverages to keep my attention. I didn't gain weight though, so that is a bonus!

That few days off turned quickly into a week. Whoops! So my March is currently running a bit behind schedule. Here is what I did last week.

Monday I headed to Yankee Springs to get some riding in. With temps in the 60's and hearing very favorable trail reports I couldn't resist. Not surprising, Yankee was in fantastic shape. I did the warm up look and headed down the main trail. I felt noticeably faster than my last ride out here. Looking at my Strava it had been almost a year exactly since my last ride there. Maybe it was just being out of the woods for so long, or being on the trainer for the winter. But the movement felt pretty good. Looking at the results told me a lot. Of the 31 segments I had four 2nd place times and 27 personal records. lol. Amazing what a bit of weight loss will do for you. Overall, was a good ride minus the climbs that I despise in the clock-wise (yellow) direction. They just feel relentless. The last 2 miles or so are my favorite and It did feel good to finish the main trail and then take another cruise around the short loop to cool down.

Friday was another great day to ride. Temps were in the 50's when I started that ride. The wind was making it a bit cooler, but it wasn't terrible for March. I did a warm up look and then headed out to the main trail. Today was the Red (counterclockwise) direction that the trail always used to have. I prefer this direction and it will be the race direction in April. I wanted to see where my times would stack up against last years Time Trial finishers. While I wasn't pushing super hard, I was riding a solid effort. Again, the speed felt faster than my previous rides out there. The miles ticked away. As I reached the guard rail climb I knew the hills were starting. I was able to make it up here pretty quick overall. I kept my speed through all of the next sections and was almost halfway through in what felt like a quick time. I pressed on, the climbing continued. I made every climb. I am still learning how to ride Mudhorn, so there is a lot of changes to my riding style. It is such a different feel than The DUFF had. Bigger wheels and higher ground clearance make it roll better. 

I was keeping an eye on my time until I got to about a mile to go. Then I just dug in and started to press more. Being able to put down power 12 miles in is helpful. I have struggled with endurance these past few years, at least keeping high power and speed into longer rides. This time I felt great, and was able to push it all of the way out of the woods. My lap time for the course was a personal record by over 2 minutes. The last time I was this fast was in 2015, and I was on a borrowed bike. lol. To even approach my PR felt amazing, but to smash it was an even better feeling. Knowing that my ultimate race goal time is within 5 minutes is even better.   I made all the climbs. I was able to get some calories in. I was feeling great. All good things.

The next day things changed a bit. Temps dropped into the 30's and it was really windy. Tom and I headed to Dirty Donut to do the 42 mile course. We didn't really know how bad it would be. lol. We did notice a head wind right away. The wind was blowing out of the Northwest so we basically had a headwind for 20 of the first 25 miles. Just a brutal drag that made it feel like we threw out an anchor. Add in that the spring gravel hasn't been touched and it made for a rough ride. Lots of potholes, washboard, and frozen ruts throughout the ride. The pavement sections were welcome changes. Even when we had a break from the wind, our legs were shown no mercy. The hills started. They are all pretty much in the middle part of the course and feel like they just keep coming. While not a lot of elevation, my legs started to feel the hard ride from Yankee. At 30 miles Tom was reaching his limit. We struggled for the next 12 miles back to the car. The sun dropped and the temperatures followed in toe. By the time we got done it was low 20's and really cold. Funny how you don't notice it when riding, but you slow down a second and immediately get cold. 

The week was a good ride, a great ride, and a survival ride. All good things and all positive riding towards my goals. The gravel ride hit a bit different though. I was guessing my average speed, just at a cruise....and we missed it by a full mph. Not terrible with the conditions....but I expected more. Then I slept like garbage. This added to a mental dip. By the middle of Sunday I was looking at the transfer deadline for Barry, pondering just bailing on LJ100, and second guessing what the fuck I am thinking.

Wavering. Teetering. Waffling.

My mindset has been pretty steady to this point, but that ride threw me for a loop. I didn't spiral. I was just looking at things logically and doubt slapped me across the cheek. Because I am a logical thinker I started to break down how miserable Barry Roubaix will be in a few weeks. I don't have my nutrition figured out, so what am I supposed to do? Then the thought of struggling for 40 miles piled into the idea of LJ being 100....and how I am not physically ready for that. Might be a better idea to bail out, get my money back and just build some endurance this year into next. 

But.....

....but I just didn't arrive at the immediate conclusion to dump entries. It was hours of thought. Worry. Not knowing how my body is going to react to things. Its all new. I mean, down over 65 pounds....the body will respond differently. These are legit concerns that can affect my health. Things I need to pay attention to. Barry is only a few weeks out, but I do want to test the nutrition side of things. What better way to do that than with 5000 friends? lol.

Right now no plans are changing. I am feeling better after the weekend and will continue to develop my plan. I can drop out of Barry until Friday. Maybe I will stay, maybe I will bail. I am leaning towards riding, but I need to work on my nutrition plan and have a better understanding of my needs before then. I will probably be able to do that in these next couple of weeks. Or not. It depends. ;)