Two Wheel Blogs

I just got back from another ride with Boz. My phone beeped at just the perfect time. I was just putting the finishing touches on a pot of chili and starting to get my head around a ride plan for today. He was meeting a couple of other guys for some flat loops in the wind. About the same as yesterday, only a bit longer this time. Perfect, exactly the kind of workout I can use today.

I had scheduled this week, the one ending today, as an easy week. A rest and test week. Now that I have all my files downloaded and my plan updated I find that I'm pretty much exactly where I want to be right now. The rest and test week saw more than a 50 point drop in TSS while CTL held steady.

One of the great rewards for riding my bike this time of year is watching CTL build.

Hey, bear with me for a minute. Seriously, there aren't really all that many other things this time of year to get excited about in your training, are there? Sure, you can do any number of indoor racing events - roller races or computrainer competitions - but once the hangover wears off does anyone remember? Or care? Do you? And what are you left with, spent fitness and residual fatigue and soreness. Nice. Like I said, there aren't that many other things to get excited about.

This doesn't feel much like a Friday. The past several days have left me feeling like the end of a long weekend of racing. So much so that I started off 2009 with a day off.

No doubt it had more to do with the holidays than anything else. I tried to maintain the training as much as possible through the two week holiday season. The first week went well, in that training volume and intensity didn't fall off much.

I logged my workout tonight. Nothing out of the ordinary really. Just one more tiny building block to greater success, however I choose to define success.

Before I did my save and exit, I happened to look at one of the charts I created a year or so ago. It's a cumulative chart of duration, time, and work from season start to season end. I'm coming to the end of my 4th year, so the chart's begun to look somewhat meaningful.

The last two years weren't much to crow about. What with my back problems, all the bars were shorter than those in my first year. This year is different however.

This year my back has been mostly under control. I've been able to train without interruption. I've been able to train with some intensity.

Sunday morning. Once again I'm up before the crack of dawn suiting up in full timetrial kit and readying my TT bike as carefully as if this were the biggest race of the year. The objective isn't a big race though. For me it's something every bit as important. I'm prepping for another aerodynamic drag testing session.

The location is the local "wind tunnel", Centaur Road. It's about a kilometer long and just about as flat as a road can be. Even better, as you can see from the photo, it's almost completely surrounded, top and sides, by thick foliage. Centaur's about as close as you can get to an enclosed tunnel. Only the ends are open to let in the wind. And early in the morning before the sun comes up there isn't much wind this time of year.

Unit happened to be in town today. He was playing the role of chauffeur. Or airport shuttle driver, whichever you prefer. Lucky for me, he had the presence of mind to bring his bike.

He called me up and asked me to put together something fun. "How's about a coffee shop ride?" I asked.

"Sounds fine to me. How far is it to the coffee shop?"

"Depends on how much time you have."

"I got a couple of hours, I suppose."

"Then it's about 37 miles."

"Sounds good. See you in a little while"

180+ TSS later, that coffee really tasted good.