Monday, June 25, 2012

BC Bike Race

It's only 4 days until I leave for Vancouver and 6 days until the gun goes off for the start of the BC Bike Race.  First, thank you to my family, friends, Pro Bike Supply and Cytosport for making the trip possible!  Over the last few days I've really wound down my training and started getting mentally ready for the race.  Not suprisingly I've started to overthink my fitness, how my legs feel each day, and all of the details that go into preparing for 7 days of racing with only 1 suitcase of supplies.  Over the weekend I realized just how much I was going down the path of worrying about my performance and my experience. 

After a little time in God's word today it was clear that I need to drop the entitlement.  Just because I worked hard and paid a lot for this trip doesn't mean that I should be guaranteed anything.  Instead I am realizing that it's a greatful heart and mindset that will allow me to get the most out of this experience.  I'm so blessed to have the health and opportunity to go race in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  My goal is to seek God's presence and enjoy every minute of it.  That won't be easy to do during the 2nd half of the week when I'm totally exhausted, but I've trained hard and am ready to race for a podium spot if it's in God's will for me.  Hopefully I can spread his good news some while I'm at it, even if only a little.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Easy Day

It wasn't a very exciting day in the life of a pro cyclist today.  I just worked all day and got a couple chores done around the house this evening.  I did get a recovery spin in as my commute to work though and a few minutes of stretching.  To be honest though I felt like I was going to bonk on my ride home and it's only a 6 mile ride!  Sure I got in some really solid back to back training on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  But I should still be able to ride 6 miles without feeling so bad!  Psalm 127:2 says, "God wants His loved ones to get their proper rest" (TLB).   It's time to rest!


Sunday, June 3, 2012

Day 7 - 7 Sisters!

It's been a great week and I'm thankful for another strong day on the bike today!  I'm really lucky to have such crazy roads to train on close to home.  Hitting park Ave in Laguna after 20hrs and 30k feet on the bike this week was not easy, but it felt relatively good!  6,000ft total for the day.  

Most weeks the totals aren't the important measure of training.  But this week my goal was volume and in the end I hit 21:30 ride time and 32,000ft of climbing.  The joy and contentment of finishing a hard workout is hard to describe.  Time for a nap...

BC Bike Race Base Day 7 - 7 Sisters Laguna 



Saturday, June 2, 2012

Base Week

My base week continues to go well.  I'm glad to be healthy again and having a really good time riding my bike.  Leaving at 7:30 for work and getting home from my rides at 7:30 in the evening makes for long days, but I was able to get it done all week.  It's been almost all endurance paced riding, just with a lot of climbing, and my legs are responding well.  Yesterday (Friday) evening it took me a while to get warmed up but in the middle of my ride I was able to put in a some intensity with a solid 45min tempo effort up the climb to Old Camp.  Today I wasn't real fresh, but still had felt good climbing Holy Jim.

For the week I'm at 18.5 hours and about 26,000ft of climbing.  Finishing it off tomorrow with the 7 Sisters climbs in Laguna should be an awesome way to end a great week.

BC Base Day 4 - Blackstar Motorway loop

BC Base Day 5 Old Camp from home with Tempo

BC base Day 6 Holy Jim, Upper HJ, Trabuco


Base week - a beautiful Memorial Day with my love, 4 days of work, and lots of time on the bike!

Salt Creek Beach 

This beautiful road is actually in Tustin... 

Day 3 on the bike, still fresh! 

One of my favorite new snacks 

 California wildlife

 Blackstar Canyon actually looking scenic in the evening

 Up above Corona

 Looking down on the little boxes

 Hazy summer afternoons

 a desk

 More mountain biking

 California pets?