Lots of Training

Not much is new except lots of training, training, and more training. I finally got out to the local group ride this weekend, the Birmingham Bike League. It is a great Saturday ride throughout the winter months with designated attack zones, usually 2-3, set within the ride. This past weekend with the warm weather finally back, 40-50 riders showed up to join the fun. After a solid hard week of training my plan was to simply try not to get shelled out the back in the attack zones so I wouldn't have to bust my butt to catch back on in the neutral zones. Luckily there were quite a few others just out to ride steady and I always had a wheel in front of me to draft off of. The last attack zone was straight up the last hill of the ride just to make sure your legs were really done. The ride ended up being just over 3hrs with 4,200 vertical feet of climbing. I needed 4hrs so I had to tack on an extra 45mins solo at the end.

Sunday was hill repeats on the mountain bike with a short aerobic run off the bike. Since I am here training at the site of one of the Xterra Cup races this year I took the opportunity to do the repeats up the main hill on the race course. Full of rocks, roots, and even water crossings, it was a great day out on the bike working on the technical skills I so desperately need. It's so exciting to be able to train outside on great mountain biking terrain instead of at home on the trainer. After the brick I decided to jump in the lake as a substitute ice bath. It seemed like a good idea, much better than filling the bath tub with ice and sitting in it. Well when I got out some of the local riders mentionned that while it was still cold enough to not be a problem, the spot I had chosen was frequently visited by copperhead and water moccasin snakes. Yikes, maybe the bathtub is a better option after all.

This coming weekend I am toying with the idea of riding the 'Snake Creek Gap Time Trial'. It is a 34mile mountain bike race in Nortwest Georgia that is supposed to be pretty epic. It's described as over 90% single track full of rocks, roots, and rattlers!!! Just what I need, more opportunities to run into snakes. Hopefully since it is such a popular race there will be plenty of riders in front of me to clear the trail. Until then....