ALIEN ABDUCTION

     Alien Abduction.  The only reasonable explanation for why, after proclaiming last week that I would forego my usual Sunday ride due to road resurfacing, I once again found myself on the traditional 43 mile 360/620 loop.  And it wasn't just the route.  Regular readers know I hate riding in the wind.  Forecast called for 20-25mph with higher gusts.  Obviously I am a victim of a Galatian Mind Wipe, because not only wasn't I eschewing the ride, I actually looked forward to it.  The third sign came in the form of my right quadriceps beginning to twinge as I hit the farthest point from the car.  Apparently that was the injection site of whatever they used to wipe my mind.
     But let's start at the beginning.  My Sunday ride has a "wheels down" time of ten minutes before official sunrise.  This is light enough to see and be seen, especially with my LED taillight.  This morning I pushed off at 6:25am.  Conventional wisdom is that the wind will pick up as the sun comes up.  Unfortunately, the wind blew all night, so was about a "4-gear" strength from the get-go.  Let me explain 4-gear: shortly after starting, there is a turn when I usually will move to the big ring, drop into the aero bars, move one or two cogs lower, and increase speed.   This morning, when I made the turn, it was straight-on into the wind.  I had to stay in the middle ring and move Up a gear.  That equates to about a four gear difference.
     I had an hour into the wind, up hills, before I could turn and get it coming over my left shoulder.  Thirteen miles later I made the turn, ten minutes slower than last week.  Experience has proven I can't make up as much time as I lose.  Well, this ride isn't all about time.  With the wind pushing me along, I had a grand time.  It would have been even better if the quad hadn't started complaining.  Just a quick twinge, but enough to garner my attention.  I drank more electrolyte and backed off slightly, but the speed was still good.
     My next check point came at the top of the Steiner Ranch climb.  I had made up six of the ten lost minutes, and still had the wind with me, this time over my right shoulder.  I'm pretty sure I could have had a better time, but several miles from the end, the "loose gravel" sign gave me more than pause.  It was thick enough to be a slip hazard, so I moved to the convenient sidewalk (the one stretch on the route where there is one).  It still had gravel, but not bad, especially since I slowed down.
     All-in-all, a great Sunday ride, and finished before 9am.  I came home and watched the last 20k of the Giro, and as I complete this post, the Amgen Tour of California is coming on the TV.

FOLLOWING THE RULES

     Today, for the most part, I followed my own rule: When extending your base mileage, pick a day with good weather, no time constraints, and do not pursue PRs.  The rule that I wasn't precise on was: Under 65 degrees, cover the knees.  As explained in the past, this is a "soft" rule, and if the sun is out and a light wind, with good chance the temp will go up, then you can start at 60 degrees.  I started out wearing my wind jacket for the first hour, until I could get the wind off my chest, so to speak.
     The only mistake I made was in believing I would be done before the clouds rolled back in, thus I had the wrong lenses in my sunglasses.  Rather than late afternoon, the clouds came in mid-morning and were pretty thick by 1pm.  No rain, just no sun.

Not where I was; How I felt

     I also added some new road to my itinerary.  Chandler road has been extended to Taylor, so rather than turn north on CR 130, I continue on another four and a half miles to CR 366, a totally new experience.  My friend Barry put me on to this route.  He warned me that after crossing Hwy 29, CR 341 would have a short section of hard pack dirt.  Turned out to be about a mile that I took slowly.
     In adding this additional mileage and adjusting the route to different roads, I reached Corn Hill in 2 hrs, 45 minutes, or just a little shy of 40 miles.  That left me with 30 miles of return trip.  I had intended to divide the trip into hours, but forgot to hit the button for hour 4.  Hour two included the slow slog in the dirt, plus going uphill, against the mild wind.  Besides, my quads were complaining.  Hour 3 included continued uphill and a short lunch break in Corn Hill (4 minutes).  I had some slight wind aid on the way home, and even more wind at my back when I finally reached University and turned west.
     My overall speed, in the saddle, was a very nice 15.4mph.  Total time stopped, either for food/nature breaks or red lights, was 11 minutes.  My heart-rate was mostly below 110, although my chest strap started going wonky on me.  Each time I dropped onto my aero bars, the heart rate started rising by 10s-20s and quickly reached 240-260.  Totally bogus, but certainly throws my stats in the trash can.  My muscles had not been over-worked, and I didn't need to collapse in the chair.  Even more astounding, to me, was the amount of energy I still had at the end of the ride.  As a matter of fact, a quick protein shake, a quick shower, and I was off running errands that needed to be done before Marilane comes home tomorrow.  It has to be the diet.

INTO THE WIND

     The forecast for today was for the mid-40s in the morning, and a NW wind 5-10mph (according to the channel I listened to last night), increasing to 15-20 in the afternoon.  So I had a pleasant surprise when I woke up to see 52° on the thermometer.  My Sunday ride usually has a wheels-down time of 10 minutes before sunrise.  That has me leaving the house, today, at 6:10am.  That has me dragging out of bed around 4:30am in order to start the day with medication that requires an hour before a meal.  So, it was more like 4:45am, drink 16 ounces of water with the pill, and heat additional water for coffee.  BTW, both my cardiologist and my yoga instructor advocate at least 16 ounces of water to start your day.  Then I checked Facebook and the news and bicycling news while I drank the coffee. 
     I fudged a bit on breakfast, eating at 5:30am.  As I rinsed the dishes I noticed the thermometer had taken a nose-dive.  Dang!  46°.  Not a problem, just added arm warmers and long-fingered gloves to my attire.  The gloves are because the first 30 minutes are in the shade/shadows and has dips that will drop the temp about 10 degrees.  One last check of the weather, to be sure I hadn't missed a front coming through.  This time I went online, and read the fine print.  Seems like the wind will be out of the NE in the morning, shifting to NW in the afternoon.  Double Dang!  It took longer than usual to get the rest of the morning routine completed, so my ride began about a half hour later than planned.  This was good, in that I had more sunshine to take the chill out of the air.
     The first 50 minutes were into the south, so the mild wind came at my back.  When I made the right turn off of Loop 360 onto Bee Cave Road, I had 5 minutes "in my pocket."  Even though my direction was west and northwest, it seemed like I had the wind on my right shoulder.  Speed dropped, and I knew I'd be giving those 5 minutes back before getting to Bee Cave.  Once there, I made a right turn and had the wind in my face.  Another right turn onto 620, and I still had the wind against me.  All the way back to the car, with few short exceptions, I had the wind slowing me down.
     Fortunately, even though slowing me down, it felt refreshing and with multiple layers, I was in no discomfort.  Knowing there wasn't a PR in the cards, I relaxed and enjoyed the morning.  By 10am I had completed the ride. returned home, showered, had a protein shake, and turned on the computer to catch the last of the Giro (Team Time Trial today).

GOOD SENSATIONS!

     Pro cyclists sometimes describe their legs as "having good sensations."  This means more than just feeling good, and includes all parts working as they should, given the level of preparation that has gone into them.  Sometimes, despite great practice, your legs don't respond well when called upon.
     This morning, for the first time this year, my legs had good sensations.  That doesn't mean I set any PR times, or, truthfully, did I even come close.  Even though I earned Silver in the State 10k Time Trial, my time was mediocre.  I suspect, given how early in the season it came, the other riders were in the same boat.  At Old Settlers Park, my practice course, my best time in the 5k is 8:06.  It occurred in October, 2011 as a run-up to winning a gold medal at Gruene.  My best practice time this year, before State, was 8:42.  Coincidentally, had I been 36 seconds faster at State, I would have won by one second.
     I had a good Sunday ride, 42 miles, and had the best time this year.  I had a good Monday ride, 63 miles, not setting any time records, given the wind in my face for 2hrs 17 minutes.  But nevertheless, was not wiped out.  The planned ride for this morning was a leg-loosener in the neighborhood.  However, the thermometer showed 65° and zero wind while I had breakfast.  Light fog was in the forecast, but none at our house.  I had been whining about lack of tt practice weather since January, so decided to give it a go, even with the legs feeling tight and weak.

Felt B2 

     Perhaps the excitement of loading the tt bike and/or getting to ride it had something to do my good times.  I did a 5k warm-up in a good cadence, and that felt pretty good; decent strength in the legs, no lactic acid build-up.  My first 5k at speed netted 8:30 and the second 8:24, although the wind had finally come up a bit.  There are two inclines on the outbound section and one on the way back, and the legs responded well on all three.  Now to give the legs a few days rest, and see if we can't knock another 14 seconds off my times.  Next week I'll be doing ladders, 5k,10k,5k and after that, 5k,15k,5k.
   
As a postscript, my formula for good riding is to cycle 800 miles per month, six months out of the year.  This month I finally got over 500, which may account for the legs being stronger.  Maybe I can get 800 in May.

BACK DOOR WHINING

     A longish way of getting to a short point.
     My gym workout consists of leg work and one lower back machine.  All work is done on machines, I don't do free weights.  In order: hack squats, calf raises, abductor/adductor, leg extensions, glutes, sitting leg press, then the lower back.  I skip the leg curl because there is a "catch" in my right knee when I use the machine. If a machine is in use, sometimes the order is transposed.  Last Saturday the weather wasn't conducive to bike riding, so early in the morning I traipsed off to Gold's and did my workout.  I felt good; so good that I hit new highs on three machines. Not new highs for this year, new highs for the last five years I've been coming here.  I'm getting older, but stronger.
     Now, the downside of getting new highs at the gym is the next day.  With the weather abated, I did my normal 42 mile, 360 Loop, Sunday Ride.  There are 23 climbs, 9 of which take some oomph to get up, on my Sunday ride.  After Saturday's workout, the legs had very little push.  It wasn't a disaster, just a little slow.  Actually, all of my Sunday rides this year have been average or slower, so this one turned out to be between 3-5 minutes slower than the others.  Unfortunately, that is about 20 minutes slower than my mid-summer times.  Still, since I didn't overtax my cardio system, I was ok with the time.
     Then came today.  With two hard days on my legs/hips/back already in the tank, I needed a recovery ride, something to loosen up the legs but not overly stress them out.  My 32 mile University ride seemed just the thing.  This is mainly an east-west ride, and the wind was mainly from the south, with just a bit of a westerly direction.  It exceeded breeze status.  Only a few times did I have to hold on tight to keep in a straight line, and it wasn't enough to blow me sideways.  You get the idea.
   
Anyhow, I deemed it a recovery ride, and concentrated on cadence and heart rate rather than speed.  For the ride, both with and against the wind, my cadence averaged 76, only two more than what I average on this ride, but my heart-rate came in at 106, 100 with the wind and 112 against, with a high of 136 on the only real hill.  Truly, I wasn't exerting myself.  But the really astounding stat is my overall time is the best this year.
     Oh, and the whining:  Where was this good stuff last week, when I couldn't hang with the guys at State?  As soon as this infernal wind lets up, I'll be out doing tt practice to see if I'm now really as quick as I think I am.

STATE TIME TRIALS, 2013 EDITION

     The state finals are usually a little later in the year, thus my two training practices hadn't done much to hone my speed for the time trials.  That, and seeing who had signed up in my age group, gave me a lowered expectation of being state champion.  However, such accolades are merely adjunct to having fun racing, so I fully expected to enjoy myself.  The San Antonio venue at Texas Research Park is a great place to race.
     Saturday morning was the 10km time trial, necessitating leaving Round Rock at 5:30am.  I encountered a little mist and drizzle, but it was supposed to dissipate as the sun rose.  I had on tights and rain jacket as I warmed up, and my glasses fogged over after several minutes, but at least the road was dry and allowed taking the corners at speed.  As the start time approached I divested myself of extraneous clothing and made final preparations.  The course is one full loop and then half way around to turn around to the finish.  This year we had chip-timing.
     I felt good, breathing and heart-rate within normal racing range.  The back-side hill didn't give as much pain as usual, and I finished with a good spurt.  My Texas competitor, whom I had never beaten before, didn't fare as well and came out ten seconds slower.  So, my first race garnered a silver medal.  First place went to a visitor from Missouri.  I could take consolation in being the fastest Texan, but that still doesn't make me champion.  Oh, well.
     Sunday morning began with the 5km time trial, followed an hour later with the 40km road race.  Once again Missouri came in first, and I came in third.  My Texas competitor felt much better on Sunday and came in about ten seconds faster.  In both time trials, my time put me 13th fastest overall, out of 38.  I was quicker than seven of the younger riders.
     The 40km road race was mostly just for endurance training.  It is ten loops of serious racing, and I was hoping to hang in for six or seven loops.  Sometimes I'll do a little leading and put on a burst of speed to the front, but not today.  This time I followed, appreciating the draft.  On the sixth loop I dropped back a bit on the back-side hill, but was able to fight back on the downhill.  On the seventh loop, the younger group, which had started two minutes behind us, caught up and we tagged along with them.  Curiously, they took the back-side hill much slower than our group had been doing, thus I hung on until the next time up, when they accelerated and dropped three of us.  We formed our own little group for the next two loops, and more or less cruised into the finish.  With 200 yards to go, they jumped, and I didn't, thus my sixth place finish.  Stats: 1hour, 16 minutes, 34 seconds, averaging 19.6 mph for 25 miles.  My time was faster than 14 younger riders.  Another fun day in the saddle.

BREAKING RULES HAS CONSEQUENCES

     Many years ago I read an article about training (author no longer in memory) which opined that "under 65 degrees, cover the knees."  The gist of the reasoning was because the knee has very little fat to protect it from cold and wind, it is best to give it some warmth to keep it safe.  That became my mantra for when to wear tights.  But it isn't a "hard" 65, in that with a clear sky and little wind, I might drop back to 60°.
     Yesterday, the forecast was low 60's with an east wind of 5mph.  Perfect for my first time trial
practice this year.  However, as I went outside in the morning, the wind was already brisk and I reconsidered.  As I pondered, I received an email from Amy, announcing my friends would be riding at 2pm for a 30ish mile casual ride.  Excellent!  That allowed the temperature to climb from 50° to the projected high and get some more miles in my legs.
     The east wind this time of year is chilly, so I opted for a base layer, jersey, arm warmers, and a sleeveless wind vest (thanks, Ray, for the HHH vest).  Because this was a casual ride, I took the Camelbak, intending to divest clothing and stuff it away when the time came.  I flipped a coin on tights, mainly because both pair had been languishing in the dirty clothes basket for several days, and they only go into the basket after several wearings.  You get the picture.  At 63 degrees, I felt that was close enough to forego knee covering.
     We did an east-west ride, with the idea of suffering an hour into the wind and enjoying the ride back.  This became more of a "got it done" ride.  As planned, we went out into the wind (it wasn't all that bad, but enough to keep the flags unfurled).  But when it came time to loop back to the west, we lost the sun.  The clouds weren't thick, but enough to block out the sun, thus the perceived temperature dropped.  I never took off the vest, and my upper body was quite comfortable.  We took a little detour to include a nice downhill, and ended up with 33 miles.
     But last night and this morning my knees are whining to me that I should have dipped into the basket and taken care of them.  I have rules for a reason, and need to adhere more closely to their wisdom.