It's days like this that make me glad to ride my bike

Beautiful day today. Low 60's, cloudless, but 40 mph gusts. After 3 hrs. on 45 degree rain yesterday I was ready to roll out! Headed up 276 to the Blue Ridge Pkwy. Got my 3 intervals in on the steeper sections on the way up. The wind was not an issue and I felt great, easily turning over 3 taller gears than I normally use on this ride. Got to the top and the wind showed up! I guess when you are on a ridge 2500 feet above anything else you might get some wind every now and then. Snapped some overlook photos back toward Brevard ( couldn't see my house from there) and headed on up to Graveyard Fields. I figured if I made it there I would have a 28 mile, 3,300 foot climb done- plenty for my sorry climbin' self. Passed some ice and a quick check found the temp to be 49 deg. @ 5000 feet. Got up to Graveyard, ate a Clif bar and hightailed it back down to get home. Feeling good this week, hope to rest up, get 3-4 hrs. in on Sat, then rock the house in Athens on Sunday. Later- DH

Spring in the Mountains

I rode Tuesday- It was sunny and 80 degrees out. I remember thinking " I could probably go for a sleeveless jersey today". Woke up this morning and it was 25 degrees out and snow was covering everything. I thought spring had sprung and it would be warm from here on out. I was wrong- Old Man Winter got us with another sneak attack! I think I'll wait till tomorrow afternoon to get my long ride in, maybe it will be warmer then- probably back to 95 degrees out if these weather trends stay consistent. Later- DH

Rough Week

Finally feeling better now. I hate rest weeks- they always leave me feeling like garbage. I seem to do the best when I am putting in 18-20 hr. weeks consistently. I know I need to rest but man do I feel awful when I do- sore all the time, I eat bad, and I can't sleep. Anyways, been averaging 2 easy hours a day this week. Yesterday's ride had my legs feeling like poopsicle sticks. I tried to do a few sprints to open them up but that only made things worse. Sometimes I wonder if I should jest increase my hours every week without resting and see how long it takes to ride myself into oblivion.

Got to work yesterday- there are alot of changes going on lately- can't use the computers at work anymore so my updates may get slowed a bit. I think we may be getting house arrest ankle bracelets to wear at work too- got to keep track of everyone! I need a new job soon- any leads, please let me know.

Anyways- stressed out enough from work and from my rest week sluggishness I decided to get out on the SS today. Rode Caney Bottom and Butter Gap trails. Legs are coming around again so I had a great ride. Gonna try to get 3 hrs. in tomorrow and get back to 18 hrs next week. Only one more block of Base training left- them I get to go fast!

My FS frame will be in Monday or Tues. so I'll get to build that up- fired up about that. Other than that not much else going on here- headed to Athens for SERC #4 next weekend- that should be fun. Heritage park was a good course last time I raced there (2001). Later- DH

Tsali Race Report

I am too tired to write much now. Had to clean up too much clothing and equipment from the race. It was the most disgusting mud slop I've raced in in a long time. Also the best I've felt in a loong time. I'll give the weekend's details tomorrow but I will say that I got 5th and that qualifies me for Nationals- so that's a load off. Won some money too- good thing because I'll have to use it all to get my bike running again.....ah the vicious circle of racing. Later-DH