Last Weekend Was Cold!

I was up in Asheville for 4 days last week. Adam and I headed up Wed. after work to attend a bicycle fit class on Thursday and Friday. It was a good class and we learned alot. It was very cold however and we nearly froze to death Thursday night at Bent Creek. When Robert, Adam, and I made it to the top of Green's Lick trail my computer read 10 degrees and both my waterbottles were frozen. After a slow, freezing descent resulted in frozen tears and eyelashes we called it a night.

More class on friday, then riding after work. As it was 1 degree on the bank sign when we woke up we decided to ride indoors that night. Robert made some phone calls and got us in to use the computrainers at Asheville Velo Sports. That was fun and quickly got out of hand. We were suppose to have a nice easy spin. However, when all 3 of us got rolling, we could see each others power, speed, and position on the screen. Within 1 minute of starting it was on. I looked up and I was already at over 400 watts for the first few minutes. I tried to chill out but it was hard as everyone was trying to ride the others into the ground. What a room of idiots. Anyways, after 1/2 hr I was averaging 265 watts and decided that I had to knock it down to under 200 ASAP. That was the general consensus of everyone as we declared an uneasy truce for the rest of the ride. After dinner at Marco's Pizza we hit the sack.

Sat- got in a great 4 1/2 hr. road ride. Warmer weather and a good group with some sense made the time fly by. Legs were light and cadence high. Could have probably ridden 2 more hrs.

Sun- Another good ride at Bent Creek. Got in about 3 hrs. and rode every trail there. Saw some cool stuff-literally. Lake Powhatan was frozen solid. After some strategic rock throwing and probing we inched out on it hanging from a bridge (just in case). After we had proven that it was indeed frozen solid we walked around some and Adam even rode out on the ice on his bike. Crazy.

After that we were exhausted and headed home to warmer weather. The cold weather followed us here and it was freezing by morning. Rode home in snow flurries Tues. night. Snow at the beach. Nice. Hope it returns to the normal 60 degree winter weather soon!

DH

5 days

It's been five days now. No caffeine, carbonation, or refined sugar. I think I'm starting to get over the hump. The headaches and body pain have started to subside. I still feel as if my head is in a fog but that should clear up soon. I keep telling myself that this is a good thing. I also tell myself that this is stupid and I'll crack soon and be back to 5-6 diet cokes a day and 4-5 cookies. But right now I'm holding strong- cold turkey style. Actually, I'm working on mental toughness right now. Someone ( who will be savagely beaten ) has placed a tupperware container of Bananna nut Chocolate chip muffins on the counter near me and has been taunting me. Reminds me of the old days of Cane Creek with Wes taunting me with Oatmeal Cream pies. I could really eat one of those right now. Last time some of those were involved, it turned into a bet over me being able to eat a dozen of them. The large ones, not the 25 cent gas station variety but the costco variety. I ate em' all but had one of the worst sugar high/crashes of my life within 3 minutes of completing the challenge. Looking back- I think I almost died. Look how far off subject I am now. I should probably get a diet coke so I can focus. Oh wait. I don't drink those anymore. The plan is to dump the caffeine so that when I am racing and I drink a coke I get a bigger boost. I have become so use to caffeine now that I can no longer tell that I have had some unless I have a triple esspresso or something. I have lost five lbs. this week after cutting the sugar. That is not too bad to be without.
Anyways- I'll keep everyone updated on this struggle as I progress.
DH

75 degrees and sunny!

Beautiful day out today. It was a nice change from the fog and wet conditions this past weekend gave us. Got out for 80 miles on the road bike today- nice loop, low traffic, and good legs. Got in an hour of tempo that felt like only 30 mins. When I got home and downloaded my ride I had set 3 new peak power marks. That's 4 in the last 3 days! So yeah- fitness is coming along nicely with 6 weeks left until racing starts. Gonna kick it off as usual in FL with the 12 Hrs. of Santos. Last 3 races there ( 12 Hrs. of Razorback included ) have netted me a 3rd, 4th, and 6th in the solo race. I really want to improve on that. I'm a month ahead of my usual fitness level this time of year so everything should go well. This year's race should be tough, hopefully with a deeper field than 2008. Doesn't really matter though- those races are tough enough if no one shows up- it's still 12 hrs! Can't wait. Good trails, great weather, and great people always make that weekend one of the best of the year.
Before that trip however, I have a trip to Asheville to make on the 15th-20th of Jan. I'm going to a bicycle fitting seminar to learn more about that. Should be good- I'm really starting to get into the subtleties of that. Then I'll ride the latest and greatest bikes from Fisher and Trek for 3 more days in the area before returning home to the land of zero elevation and bad pavement.
Yeah, FL. Santos. Bring it on.
Later-
DH