Kentucky , February 08

The past few days have been really nice. I got out of the deep-freeze and headed to my "old Kentucky home" with some good friends. South-central Kentucky has some of the finest cycling roads I have ever ridden and is truly a hidden gem. The scenery isn't too bad either.

I headed down early Friday morning and managed to get in forty miles Friday afternoon. One of the things I like best about KY is the abundance of roads. I have been riding in and around the Berea area for nearly ten years and I find new roads each time. I have been exploring some of the non-numbered "lanes." Here is what they look like. You'll notice the quality of the asphalt and the lack of motorized vehicles.





Dave, Napper, Randy, Sally and Jeff came along. This was Napper, Randy and Sally's first trip to KY. Fun was had by all.





We logged nearly 160 miles in four days, including some rippin' fast descents. Jeff tries to catch Napper to no avail.

Kick Wax, 252, and Kentucky

I skied the North American VASA last weekend. Being my first ski race in two years I went for the 27K classic. It was 32 degrees with three inches of fresh snow at the start, which made getting the kick was right virtually impossible. After scrambling around before the start, I ran out of time and went with what I had. I had min imal kick for 2K then spent the rest of the race shuffling along. It was fun anyway and was a good (albeit) long workout.

Tuesday saw me in the lab again. My sustainable wattage is up from 215 to 252. I am really pleased with this. My goal is 300 for the end of March. As I figured, this increase made the intervals fairly tough. We did 20 minutes of one-leg drills, then 40 minutes of AR-Vo2Max intervals. My legs were super tight from the ski race and it took me quite a while to get going. The new wattage levels feel just right. Hard, but not muscle damaging hard.

I leave this evening for Kentucky to get four days of outside, above freezing miles in. I am stoked to ride the LeMond outside.

Life (and watts) are good.

Fit test 2 went very well. My sustainable wattage for the first test was a lowly 215; this evening, I averaged 250 for the 10 mile TT. I felt horrible for the first 4 miles then I settled in and the legs really came around. I think that the focused intervals have really helped as well as a little muscle memory. This will bump all of my zones up and make for a tough February. Bring it on. I have to keep up with Jerome and Bouma the Puma in April.

I picked up some Bontrager Race wheels tonight (thanks Glenn). Sunday I will pick up the new LeMond and a spare Rig frame at the MMBA banquet. The bank account suffers, but the toy chest rejoices.

Next week will be about building up the LeMond and getting ready for KY.

Fit Test 2 and the VASA

The training has been progressing well. I feel like there are noticable power gains from the first fit test last month. I have been training at the top of each wattage zone during my interval workouts and have felt comfortable. Tomorrow will be the true test though. The computer won't lie. My goal is a 15 watt gain in my sustainable wattage output. I believe that this is realistic and I am super-motivated to make that number. This will bump the wattage in all my zones and set up February to be a tough training month. I have hit a plateau with my wieght and I am looking for a break-through on that front as well.

I ordered my new road bike yesterday and am super stoked on that. '08 LeMond Buenos Aires (pictures to come). Next week we'll be in KY for a mini-camp and I look forward to breaking her in a bit.

I leave Friday morning for the North American VASA. I am going to race the 27K Classic race. This will be my first nordic race in two years and I am looking forward to it.