Fifty Fifty

Today went out for a ride I like to call the fifty fifty. Half the time spent in Zone 2 and the other half doing Tempo. this is really great because not only do you work on the base a bit but trying to keep up a tempo ride for an hour always makes for interesting riding. For the first time this year I went up to the top of Nahal Kziv, I didn't actually go along the valley floor but rather used the climb to keep the heart rate up while spinning away like crazy.

I don't have a cadence monitor on the bike so I use the highly scientific method of counting the revolutions in six seconds and then multiply by ten. This generally gives me an idea of where I'm at. Today i tried to keep the RPM's between 90 and 110. I read an articel the other day I think it was on Velonews about the effects of cadence. I'm not a power rider with a slow cadence even though I'm a bit heavier. I prefer an easier gear and then just spin along. I'm trying to find the sweet spot and today seemed to pay off. I was not going slowly up the hill and stayed in tempo most of the way. I also saw that my heart rate recevoery was much quicker, on every little flatish section I had to up the pace or switch to a higher gear to be able to keep the heart rate up there in the zone.

My timing was perfect and managed to fit the two hours in just before sunset. This made for great conditions with that warm glow coming from the setting sun. The weather is also changing and I'm feeling the effects of the changing season's with some heat waves and the stuffy nose. I'm almost convinced that I have European blood in me now as the onset of the Israeli Summer does me no good. I prefer the cooler conditions even though back home in South Africa the temp's climbed pretty high, I even stayed in one of the warmest places in SA. So as we start to bake over here I have good memories of the beautiful winter and spring.

On a final note I've been looking for an entry level road bike. I was pretty close the other day to getting something and even had myself fitted to the bike, a bit prematurely at the end of the day. That fell through and all I was left with was a piece of paper with some measurements on them. Luckily the guy that did the bike fit said he'd be willing to help me out with the new bike. So I've lined up a Bianchi no-name oldish racing bike. I have to admit that the colour scheme is a bit '80's but for the price its recession proof.

Training Camp Day 3 & 4

The second part of my training camp weekend was done mainly on the road bike. I went out on Friday morning for an easy zone 2 ride with the threatening clouds hanging overhead. I went out to Nahal Kziv. This time of the year the water is flowing and you venture in with the knowledge that you will have some seriously cold and soggy feet by the end of the ride. Opting out of the soaking I turned around at the start of the climb into the valley and headed towards Rosh Hanikra. Basically cutting straight across the banana fields and onto the coast. From here it was north and then turning around at the border, probably the closest I'd ever get to entering Lebanon.

My legs were feeling the kilometers by this stage so once I got home a can of tuna went down the gut before heading to the ancient town of Acco for some fresh humus. Said (pronounced Sah'id) is famous in Israel for him humus so we tucked into our bowl of with some freshly made pita, everyone packed like sardines as you enjoy the meal at the same table with complete strangers picking olives and pickles from a shared bowl. Probably not to everyone's liking but once you've experienced it it makes dining out seem tame.

The afternoon I had some of my natural luck come into play. My first ride on the open road was effected by a puncture. not just any type of puncture but rather a tired shredding screw type puncture that ended my ride prematurely and leaving me stranded on the side of the road waiting for Mirit to come to my rescue. Up until that point though i had been loving it. The iPod playing some great podcasts while the kilometers melted away under my big chain ring. Ended up putting in 60kms and may even have broken that century had I not been stopped in my tracks.

Saturday was the last ride and I managed to do this with the group of some Spider riders. Uriel, Oren, Eliran and Erez. We chugged along at a nice pace but nothing like what i was pushing the day before. Probably better that way but I felt a bit dissapointed that the guys weren't pushing a bit harder. Its like getting a new Ferrari and then going for the leisurely Sunday ride with some VW Beatles. I did manage to gain the theoretic polka dot of the day by out gunning Oren. I basically sat on his wheel as he spun the compact gears very easily, I had to work hard but by the time we were almost at the top i used the power and went for the dash. The feeling on the road is absolutely amazing and can see myself spending some serious time in the saddle getting out and enjoying the open roads.

I hope this makes up for my missed attempt at last months century. I feel great even though I am a bit tight from the hours spent in the saddle. I don't have much of a choice but to do the actual full century next week, leaving it again till the last minute.

Double Whammy

Yesterday
Distance: 54.7km
Duration: 02:46:16
Calories: 2434
Terrain: Service Roads

Today
Distance: 89.7km
Duration: 04:55:30
Calories: 3868
Terrain: Service Roads with single track between

June Mileage: 584km

Twice the blabber in one post, you can consider yourselves lucky. Went for a ride in the afternoon yesterday, get some mileage in these legs of mine after the technical course during the middle of the week. I ended up spending quite some time on the saddle but there was not much excitement going down as the trail was all service roads making it a slog all the way. Did go through one of my favorite places though, Nahal Kziv. Beautiful valley where you can still find some water a green during this time of the year. Everything is tinder at the moment and you sort of expect a fire to break out just from the heat of the day. We're getting close to the forty degree celsius now and the air is hummid as hell, thats basically 104 fahrenheit. We havn't even gotten close to August when things really get uncofortable. The nice thing about leaving in th eafternooon heat is that it gets cooler as you go along, not much but every bit counts.
This morning rolled out the door for my big ride of the week and I swear the temperature was the same as the afternoon. Spent almost five hours pedalling away up to Misgav, my group training area. Erez was taking some work collegues for a farewell ride and asked me to join to help keep the engineers under control, they have a tendancy to turn forrests into brindges and there would be none of that today. I was planning on riding there for my weekly ride so I would join the group and then see how the legs felt. Did some great single track up and down the mountain which I feel is already like my back garden. Stumbled home with almost 90km on the odometer and was stoked. The legs are tender now but I'll go for a easy spn just to get the boold moving aroudn and a complete rest on Sunday. Have a fantastic weekend.