Call me Mr. Active Recovery
In preparation for this weekend's trail ride through the mountains of Arkansas I took my road bike out for a recovery ride this afternoon. I figure I'll get to know my Karate Monkey quite well by Sunday afternoon. Besides, can you really ride recovery on a 29er singlespeed?
So road bike it was. I rode so easily I barely broke a sweat. Can you register a negative PE? As I was leaving the house I realized it would probably be more trouble that it was worth to load up with water. For one thing it was cooler out today and for another I really and truly wanted to make sure I did indeed ride easily. So I didn't even bother to carry water with me.
Hey it was only a 75 minute ride. Check those stats - 183 watts. I think I cleared about 60 TSS points on the day. Call me Mr Active Recovery.
Incredible sights out there today. Even more so riding slowly and taking it all in. Thunderstorms all around but partly sunny along my route. The late afternoon sun's light on the bright green grass of spring and the flowering trees was a sight. My words, even a thousand of them, wouldn't do it justice. Too bad Mr. Active Recovery forgot to bring his camera along for the ride.
Excitement?
How's the excitement factor? Any apprehension or outright fear? Looks like you are very well prepared. It would be interesting to see what kind of a 40k TT you could pull off right now but that's obviously not possible. How would you estimate your fitness level currently, as good as ever?
not directed at me...
I know you are asking 2-old, but I would have to say that the answer will not be "as good as ever" for either one of us.
Speaking for myself, I am so woefully under trained for this event that I simply hope to finish. Given the weather that both 2-old and myself have been given to train in...neither of us have spent the time on the trails that we should have in order to be competitive in this event.
Makes Sense
Ah yes, that does make sense. Well if you wanted to do something similar when you have some good fitness, maybe the Iron Cross in October?? But it is probably not quite as hard and definitly more tailored for a CX bike these days.
Looking good on paper
On paper I'm very well prepared. FTP is as high as it's ever been and CTL is higher than it should be for a guy with a job that takes lots of hours and requires somewhat frequent travel.
I don't know if it's allergies, nerves or some kind of infection but I just have not been feeling right the last few days. It's the only thing that has me concerned at this point; and unfortunately it's preventing me from being very excited about Sunday. I have my fingers crossed I'll come around in time.
Hit the vit C!
If you think something is coming on, hit the vitamin C hard and you can stop it early. At least take a gram every 2 hours. If you really sense congestion, runny nose, than a gram every hour. What about vit D? Have you been taking any through the winter? You could call around some of the health food stores and see if they have any. 2k IU or 1k IU is pretty hard to find around here. I have to order mine.