Last training weekend! Friday was a fantastic ride, South 135 miles, 8.5 hours in the saddle, fierce headwinds at times, with 8250' of up, including the climb of Alpine Road in San Mateo County, which I'd heard of but never done before. I felt real strong, easy, and not at all tired or stressed out. A real confidence builder. I Came home and made my last few adjustments to the bike; wrapped a second layer of handlebar tape, put on my new tires, recalibrated the computer, washed and waxed the frame. Then up at 5 the next morning for a 50 mile, 3500 foot ride before going to shul for Ruthie Hollander's Bat Mitzvah. Sunday my plan was to ride 100 again, but my spirit was low (we were up late the night before enjoying Peter Rowan and David Bromberg), even though my legs felt good., so I went for a high cadence/low stress cruise to Fairfax, watched all the Sunday riders (hundreds) out for their weekend rides, then headed home. As soon as I got there, I got right to the TIVO and watched CSC hammer Cadel over and over again on Prato Nevoso. (Actually, though, if I had to pick someone now, other than Cadel, it would be Menchov over both Schleck and Sastre. He looked scary good yesterday. VandeVelde I think is a nice dream, but he didn't go with Lang at Hautacam or with Kohl yesterday; I don't see him being able to just depend on the time trial if he wants to win. My sense is that he is aiming for top 5, not for the win).
Then I went downstairs and packed up the bike to ship off. A very careful, loving process, and really the beginning of the ride; I begin to abandon my daily considerations and draw my focus inward. At this point, I do have to give myself over to the ride; worrying about what I did or didn't do in training doesn't matter, I can't train any more--I'll just have to be as good as I am. I'm strong enough, and fit enough--I may not be fast enough, but in the worst case I'll have to get sagged. Anne just laughs at me when I say this; she's heard it lot over the years, and I end up doing just fine. And I have never gotten into the van. Even my one DNF on Terrible Two, I rode the bike back to the start.
So this week is about chilling out, closing up the loose ends on my various work projects for the next 3 weeks, spending time with Anne & Sophie and dropping off all considerations except riding. They, by the way, are going to South America. And I'm choosing to ride my bike instead. Hmmm . . . . .
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2 comments:
Mark, I have read everything so far and nowhere doI see that you and Anne and Susan and I are going to the Giants game this Saturday night. What kind of record of your tranining is this? No wonder you don't have any responses except me yet. We are so PROUD to be part of your training regime. We are, almost, speechless.
mark and susan
Its true that I didn't include you, and that was an oversight; however, I did point out that this was to be a restful week!!
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