Weekly Roundup - 25 April 2009

This is something I've been meaning to do on a weekly basis but seems the last time I did it was a month ago. As I've been learning more and more this year, I'm taking it easier and doing things as best I can. There's no point in working myself into a spin because I can't update the blog or post somethings. the most amazing thing is that when I'm on the bike I have a million idea's and when I sit down in front of the ivory keyboard the mind is blank, clean slate. not sure how to take notes when on a ride but the the day they come up with a machine that plug's directly into the brain I'll be set with the creative juices to fill pages and pages.

This was last weeks graph, my third building block so next week will be an easier week in terms of intensity. You can see on the training days where the focus is more on quality than on quantity. We have our intensity levels up where the distance covered during these two session's pale in comparison to the others. Generally the session is about two hours and last week we had pukers and killers to make sure we remembered where our stomach's were situated.

Interactive Giro

Spent the morning just vegging in the sun and enjoying the sun. Sunbathing with Bob Roll's second book on his crazy adventures. His writing style lack's that rounded edge but it makes the stories so much more interesting and reminded me of Soiled Chamois and his turkey ballz. This led me to one of my favorite pastimes, no not hopping on the bike, that would be THE favorite, but in the top ten list is browsing through YouTube looking for video's. My current searching is finding some interesting historical clips from past Giro's. I've found some real keepers and made a list.
Had a big lunch as usual on a Saturday but still wanted to get a ride in this afternoon. However between the big meal and the lazy Saturday I was in sloth mode. I lay down for a little nap but luckily Mirit woke me up and I slipped into some Lycra and did my last ride of this heavy week. Did some serious training this week and my legs were loaded. Bobke did a training camp with Lance Armstrong during his recovery from cancer and covers it in one of the chapters of Bobke II. The way he manages to paint the visual pictures of the training camp is amazing and these images joined me as I wound my way north on the quite roads. I was really just keeping myself at a base training pace and enjoying the afternoon air. Some four wheelers were messing around and beaming past me but I just shook my head and kept the pedals going. You'll have boneheads everywhere but they can't spoil the feeling of saddletime.

The virgin ride on my new stead

Today went out for my first ride on the new road bike. Had a bit of a dodgy start but luckily Erez was on hand with his technical skills. As we were going up the first climb I shifted to the lowest gear but the limiter was not set properly and the chain landed into the spokes and bent the derailleur hanger slightly. So straightened it and Erez clicked here and screwed there and I was left with a ridable bike as long as I didn't want the second gear. The chain would simply skip second and go straight to third or not move up if I was going in the opposite direction.

After the little climb it was a crazy bit of downhill that I just sat on the brakes. I had done about three kilometers before the descent so I was far from comfortable on a road bike let alone a brand new one. I went down slower than I climbed it on the way up. Road rash kept blipping through my mind so I kept on the side of caution. Once down we went along on some rolling roads and I really enjoyed the ride although our pace was not as high as I thought. My favourite part was the climb back up. I followed Oren to the first few corners and then just stood up and started pumping. I have to say that the feeling of just standing up like that gave me the feeling that I had been looking out for watching the cycling races that come on teli.

You see the riders sitting and then all of the sudden they explode and shoot up. Well that's what I felt like. I was holding back most of the day, firstly because I was getting used to the bike and second because we were not pushing it. After yesterday's session of pain though I was still feeling tender, I discovered that the key to a fast recovery is stretching. Whenever I don't stretch my legs always complain. So managed about three and a half hours in the saddle so this is great. My new way of measuring performance is to watch my hours on the bike instead of kilometers. These junk miles are just not the way to go for someone with a nine to five job. The photo's as you may have figured out are of the shed and not the ride. I'm slowly turning the shed into my bike area where I have already spent many hours since moving to the new house. I need to put paneling on the right wall and then build something to hang the tools on and maybe put some drawers under the table. Any suggestions would be welcome.