John’s Ramblings

It’s raining again in the northwest. We were able to get a couple of dry rides in this past weekend, a newcomers’ ride on Saturday and a cruise of the valley on Sunday with Terri. I was actually on the hook to do the Cascade Spawning Cycle ride in Seattle, but begged off at the last minute because I didn’t feel like facing city traffic and the parking woes around Myrtle Edwards Park. Once we had made the call to cancel our Seattle appearance, I found a tire on my car going flat, a nail head clearly visible in the tread. We would have been hard-pressed to make the start line / start time even if we had headed north.

Monday I went back to the gym for some weight training, and 90 minutes worth of spin class. Spin was surprisingly HARD. I guess I expected it to be way easier given the fact that I’ve almost doubled my road mileage from a year ago. What I didn’t take into account was that you get way more breaks on the road than you do in spin. It was 90 minutes of concentrated effort, no downhill sections and no wind to cool and dry you off. My body told me on Tuesday that I need to keep up with aerobic workouts of some sort while I’m in the middle of outdoor riding season.

Tonight I’ll head back to the gym for another round. I’m working on a 6 day training schedule for myself that will have options for indoor (either at home or at the gym) and outdoor (on the road) training on any given day. The schedule includes weights, abdominal work, as well as the pedaling stuff. Because I’ve been invited to be a part of a team on 43Things.com to bicycle through the winter, I have to keep myself riding outdoors as well. One long weekend ride and one or two weekday nights are a likely target, at least to start.

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