Thursday, July 31, 2008

Such is life

Big plans to get back into my blogging and give more regular updates seem to have been badly timed. Just as I was getting ahead at work one of my collegues has decided to move on to greener pastures. This would normally not be a problem but seeing as they've decided not to replace him because of the worlds current financial pickle I've been told I would need to pick up his work. The last few days i have been getting in my morning ride but then work has held me glued to the chair until late so no time to sit and write about it.
End of the week though and everyone needs to slow down and get into weekend mode. This week I finished up a course for getting my technical skills a bit more advanced. I learnt tons and the main thing I've found I need to concentrate on is vision, basically to keep my line of site a few more meters up the trials esspecially when I get on a technical climb and then also getting my arms up. Because i don't have a road bike I do my volume rides on the mountain bike. This has led me into a praying mantis position on the handlebars because of all the fire roads and roads that lead to through the fields are pretty smooth. This narrow setup does not work so well on the more technical stuff and need to keep my elbows up as they naturally tend to lock up as they lower down. As I get better at it I can also use my arms as an added shock absorber in this wider position. If you ever watch a downhill race you can see what I'm talking about. However as a XC race my handlebars aren't nearly as wide and here again I prefer the narower approach.
The two team practises we had this week have really been tough. Tons of intervals sitting, standing, high cadence and big gears. I've also been cutting down on the food to get my weight down so the energy levels are obiousvly affect by this but I don't need to starve myself to much longer to get down to my target of about 72kg.
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