Two Wheel Blogs

First off, congrats Two Old. What a stud, wiping out and still holding a top ten finish. I've never wiped out on the road but I bet it totally sucks. I've went down 1,2, sometimes even 3 times during a mountain bike race, but that's totally different. Sucks to hear about your wheel but glad that's the only thing that took a beating.

Saturday I took off from Jeff City via the Katy Trail and had it planned to ride to Columbia to party with a couple friends who just turned 21. The first 20 miles of the Katy were great. The trail was still frozen enough that it didn't slow you down much. I wish I could post my pics but my phone decided to go kuput on me this week so I don't have them anymore. The last 10 miles on the trail were hell. The sun popped out and the trail became complete sludge. The type of sludge that drained every bit of energy you had, and made holding 10 mph a true feat. So at McBain I called it short and hit K to KK and rode into Columbia to grab some TB (taco bell) and putt around town for some more miles.

I stopped into Walts Bike and Fitness to google over all the nice road bikes I wish I could afford. There where were some sweet bikes, but one that I had to sit and stare at. It was Levi Leipenheimers team Trek road bike. This thing was one piece of craftsmanship. I believe about 10 grand worth of it.

So all in all I pulled out about 50 miles, and it turned into a beautiful day. The parting was great, the twins had a great time, and we all had our fair share of fun. I had planned on riding back Sunday, but I knew the Katy would be unridable and riding back on 63 didn't sound to fun. That and I was way to hungover... Damn devil water.

So fast forward to tonight, nothing too special but it was a trainer ride that made me throw my hands up like Rocky in the end and yell like a bafoon. It was another episode of 2x20's. I had to do a stress test earlier today at the doctors, which involved running, so my legs were already a bit sore. I haven't run in over a year, and I could tell. Jello. So the first 20 minute interval was tough, but not to bad. It was the second 20 minutes that put my body to the test. I was already tired, and I knew that it was going to hurt like hell pushing through the last 20 minutes.

I managed to make it threw the first 10 minutes okay, and that's where the fun started. The heart rate was pushing 170 and my breathing was getting harder and harder to do. By this time I had already had sweat pouring off me for over 30 minutes and everything was soaked. I put my mental coach to use, you know where you have to taunt yourself just to keep going. Five minutes to go and my legs are on fire, the tool box in front of me is starting to move. Four minutes to go, Metallica is screaming in my ear, probably the only thing keeping me going. Three minutes to go and I can barely keep my eyes open. The pain is excruciating. Two minutes to go, the light at the end of the tunnel is finally in view. One minute to go, it's almost done, the pain is so bad that it no longer matters. 30 Seconds, 20 seconds, 15, 10... cadence has been pushing over 100 for the last 30 seconds and now it's time to give it all. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Thank you baby lord jesus, it's finally over.

I love these rides, the kind where it hurts so bad that you know your doing something. You don't think you can do it, but you make yourself do it. You get done and you fell so good that you want to do it again. Okay, maybe that's a stretch but you almost get that second wind. My first interval averaged 32.5 mph, the second 32. This is a noticably higher speed than last weeks, and I know that my training is starting to really pay off. My chest hurt, but hopefully the cause of that will be figured out on Friday when I go back to the doc. The weather is supposed to be awesome this week, and my first race is this Sunday. I'm a bit worried about how it will go, and I have no intentions on doing all that great. We'll see how this heart thing works out during a hard paced race.