Friday, May 14, 2010

Road warrior

Roadies are simply different than triathletes. And I was reminded of that earlier this evening after participating in the Friday evening hammer session in the valley.

From a training perspective, it was a solid hit out.

From a cycling perspective, it's not something that I will seek to repeat.

It's been several years since I've cycled consistently with a group, and one in which I had a 'feel' for the other riders.

As much as I appreciated the push, I prefer cycling on my own which I've become accustomed to the last two years in particular. And I like my trainer too.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Hedged


While technically not a sport, attacking and whacking a hedge back into some semblance of order is a workout nonetheless. Perhaps it will help me during the swim, somewhere.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

TT dust

I headed out for a spin today and intended initially to simply check out the time trial course that I had used last summer.

The road is in worse shape than a year ago and the hilarious part was that there now is a sign in bright orange: Pavement broken. Ah, I don't think that helps much.

As I rolled to the starting point for the 20km - about 10km out and then the same back - I thought that I would put in a bit of effort and see what happens. I can't resist analyzing a few numbers, no matter how relevant, or not.

I clocked 17.20 for the first 10km, I opted to leave my speedo at home and so I also wasn't watching my cadence. I rode steady, dodged a few holes - some new and some I remembered.

At the turnaround, I thought, OK, I'm going to work going back because, as it is generally uphill, I'll need to put in some effort and who knows, maybe I'll negative split.

I didn't catch my exact time as I was shifting my eyes fast from my watch to the road because shortly after finishing one effort last year I crashed through a massive hole right in the middle of the road that I hadn't seen because it was in the shade.

It was a decent effort in the end, and also a reminder that it's a good thing that my race is a month away. I'm on the right track but need a bit more work to sharpen up.