It's been a strange year of riding. Early in the year I decided to take the riding a bit more seriously and try to follow the advice given by Joe Friel in his book A Cyclist's Training Bible. I had a Power Tap wheel but wasn't really using it to improve my riding in a structured way. More importantly I wanted to understand how my body "worked" and learn how to improve my riding skills. I also had a list of rides that I wanted to finish.
I've had some fun this year riding the bike. I've also invested some time and energy understanding myself and how by body responds to the stresses imposed by bike rides. About half-way through the year I started feeling really tired and listless. I also noticed that PBP was the following year and thought it might be fun to ride it. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to sucessfully train myself to get to the event. It seemed like investing in a coach before spending thousands of dollars to travel to Paris was a good idea. Around July I started working with to see if (a) I wanted to work with a coach (b) make sure I didn't overtrain (c) Get me to Paris.
Mileage
I remember talking to a woman in a coffeeshop during the 2011 400K brevet. She said: "wow... how far are you guys riding? 26 miles or something." In her mind 26 miles was a long way to go. I ended up telling her that I was going quite a bit further, but stopped short of saying "275 miles." I'm not sure she could comprehend that.
Mileage is a simple statistic. When somebody asks "How far did you ride today", it's easy to answer them. But mileage only tells a small part of the story.
And really long distances like 275 miles are hard to comprehend. It's after all just a number. But that distance when stretched out on flat ground takes on a completely different meaning. In 2010 I rode a series of Brevets in Santa Cruz. The last was 600 Km = 380 miles long. That was the distance from my house to the ride start: up Interstate 5, over Tejon Pass, through the central valley, over the coastal foothills and into Santa Cruz. It's the distance I drove to the start. It still boggles my mind.
My house to ride start - View Larger Map
I relate to the world differently now. This is not the first time this has happened. When I first started riding the bike, I couldn't fathom riding it to work; it was just too far. In time I decided it might just be possible to ride to work. The first time I rode to work it was hard. Now I can do it daily.
Enough storytelling. On with the simple statistics. I rode the bike 188 days last year and covered a total distance of 7558 miles. Average weekly mileage was 145 miles. Most of the mileage was accumulated on my daily bike commute to work, but I also rode longer rides on the weekends. The really long brevets are the reason for the giant spikes in mileage on the weekly graph.
Goals
It's fun to meet a challenge. It adds some spice to life. There's was no reason to pick a goal that carried no risk of failure. But it's no fun picking a handful of goals that are wholy unachievable. Ummm.... I met one of the goals I set out for myself last year. Unlike last year, I'm a bit disappointed by not meeting the first goal. This was the second time I failed to complete the goal.The goals:
- Complete the King of the Mountians Challenge :(
- Complete a 200km, 300km, & 400 km brevet ( ummm ...the 600 km brevet scares me )
- Time trial or other similar performance goal ( Angeles Crest, Palomar... ?)
First Failure
Complete the King of the Mountains Challenge
was a failure. This was
the second time I failed to reach this goal. The first time I failed was because the rides were just a bit too
hard and I didn't know how to recover from them. I still didn't know how to properly recover from a big ride
until late in 2010. This time I failed because I didn't prepare enough for the first ride. Nonetheless, I'm
happy that I finished 96 difficult miles that included 10,000 ft. of climbing.
What I learned:
Preparation is important. I just plain didn't train enought for this ride. It was a bit out of my envelope. Don't skip food & water stops - especially when riding on the edge of my abilities. The stops can be very brief, but take advantage of the food and water provided.
Interlude
Around June I started feeling really tired and run down. Around that time I started riding longer 5-6 hour endurance rides. I was on the verge of moving to the "build" period of my training plan. I was also starting to install a new sprinkler system in the front yard. I remember going for a 5 hour ride Saturday afternoon and then working outside for 6 more hours. I worked in the yard in two "five hour shifts" digging out roots and trenching. It was just too much work and I got sick. I was just plain tired. My training came to a standstill. The 2010 mid year bike training review sums it up.
Around this time I was worried about the upcoming brevets and somehow found out that Paris-Brest-Paris was scheduled for 2011. I'd heard of PBP and for whatever reason got it in my head that riding PBP would be cool. I had a couple of problems. I didn't have the ability to ride such a long ride. I didn't know how to train without getting myself in trouble. I felt I needed help - especilly if I was going to invest thousands of dollars to put my bike on a plane to France. I started looking around for a coach
Sometime in July I started working with Michelle Grainger. I redefined my goals as:
- Commit to working with Michelle Grainger for two months. Umm, I'd like to work with her until I can reach my goal of riding a SR series in 2011. Realistically, I must admit the possibility that we might not get along, so that's why it's two months. Furthermore, she is not responsible for my results in that time period; it's more of a “get to know each other” time.
- Get to know what a brevet is like.I'm not sure what being on a bike that long is like. Will I like it? Can I keep pedaling for that long? I'm guessing one has to conserve power and pedal at a lower power output. That's not something that I'm used to doing – however, I did get a glimpse of that in my last successful three week bout of training and I liked it.
- Lose 1.5 lbs. a week until the end of January.This may not work out that way, but I will reduce my consumption by 1500 cal./day . If that means my body fat percentage falls but my weight remains the same, that's okay as well. I'll just have a harder time quantifying the results.
Success
Complete a 200km, 300km, & 400 km brevet ( ummm ...the 600 km brevet scares me )
was a goal that I was able to meet. I managed to finish the four brevets in the fall. I also decided that I liked riding brevets.
I rode the entire series in Santa Cruz. WOW!!! What a wonderful place to ride the bike. The scenery was stunning. The longer
rides ventured into the farm country of the Salinas valley. I have fond memories of biking through miles and miles
of strawberry fields down country roads with practically no cars. Great stuff. Tiring - but good.
More Learning
I decided that I like working with a coach was worthwhile. I learned the importance of recovery rides. I know have a better understanding of how recovery relates to training. There's a strong contrast between riding hard and riding easy. I used to ride the same intensity level all the time and get worn out. I also learned more about eating a better diet and timing my food intakes to meet my body's needs. Finally, I made some progress in my weight loss goals.