Getting Ready

In the words of Snoop Dog "I stays ready so I don't have to get ready".  What am I getting ready for?  For starters, the last race of the season, Hampton Bay Days.  I really want to do well in this race.  Then I am really looking forward to CX season this year.

Last Thursday when I got off work, Earl was lingering off the coast and threatening to ruin a perfectly good weekend and five day break for me.  So I made sure I got out on the bike for a good tempo paced ride Thursday afternoon.  It was already windy but I was feeling so good that I hardly noticed it.

On Friday, as the rain and wind fell but the storm stayed off the coast, my teammate and I had planned an indoor ride at HybriFit so we didn't have to mess with the conditions.  In reality by the time we rode it would have been fine to ride outside.  Anyway we did an hour workout centered around anaerobic capacity.

On Saturday I decided to partake in a group ride.  I don't do many group rides because I can't control the pace, effort or other people's mistakes.  Once in awhile its nice to get out, see some people and mix it up a little, especially when its been a little while since the last race.  After two loops with the Saturday morning Virginia Beach ride, I rode home to ride an hour with 10 year up-and-comings Carter and Dane.

On Sunday, Zach and John met me at Red Mill for an hour and half tempo paced ride in Pungo.  After warming up we did a three man pace line with 30 second pulls for 20 minutes.  On the return trip it was another pace line for 20 minutes but this time you had to sprint from the back to the front.  It was fun, hard and nice to ride in a small group.

Monday morning was our team's traditional holiday CX ride.  Jon, Mike, Tim, Jennifer, Zach, Zach's Mom (not part of our team but well welcomed for the ride) and I met at First Landing State Park for some cx riding.  We rode easy out, picked up the pace on the back half a little more.  Easy back, then did a hard 3-mile pace line interval.  It was a strong will survive interval, in which most of us did not.

Today is a rest day for me and I am feeling good about the rest of the season.