One Month or 4 weeks in, 14 spins INDOORS

Consistency is all I have to say.. 4 other recruits, Molly, Pat, Fil, and Frank have been putting their time in with Molly and Fil being the most consistent members. Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays have been committed sessions with the sufarama and one legged drills becoming less and less painful and having me considering cranking up my tension on my Tacx trainer.

14 sessions of garage spinning and one night ride in for the "off season" and my thoughts about 2011 are starting to change....why...let me tell you....The past three years I have been ramping up my personal goals in the 8 hour and 24 hour Chico series. I've enjoyed this time and all I've learned from it to date. The problem is.........the courses, although well put together for endurance events are, well...kind of lacking in the technical throw your ass over the back of your seat kind of fun I'm looking for. Hardwood and Albion have GREAT single track and I've come to realize that the last three years I HAVEN'T BEEN RIDING IT!!!!!!! This comes from the fact that I live in Kingston....the trails are sparse. Collins bay is great....the farm...a good staple...but anything worth blogging about is a good 2 hours plus drive away.

As much as I'd love to say I'll get out to Hardwood, Durham, Albion, Copeland(yet to experience it), Kingdom Trails etc next season outside of the racing circuit....would be a stretch. This due to the fact there will be a 2009 Ebbtide 192 SE waiting to be broken in this summer, SPRING if I had my way, at the cottage. This translates into some "crosstrainining" inclusive of wakeboarding and mellow putting around the lake.....can't wait.

In reality this is how it's going down.....Tommy, Fil and myself are going to South Carolina in March/April for a solid 7 days of 100 k daily road/mountain riding....If the winter training stays like it has started and SC is a success for training, Mansfield's SPring 8 should be successful as well......this will only lead to the feeding of the obsession....should be an interesting winter/spring/SUMMER! Now for some chamomile tea and catching the last bit of my eldest daughter's new movie obsession...Mr. Frost....nighty night...another concern....my post work craving for beer has almost become obsolete.....curious......

Tried and True

We finally got the regulars together for a spin in "the studio" tonight. Molly has demonstrated an uncanny consistency and motivation to keep this spinning up over the past few weeks almost RELIGIOUSLY. Fil has a schedule that will most likely keep us guessing on his attendance for solid Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday sessions. If tonight was a predictor of what the sessions are going to be like.......we may have to ingest more calories to ensure we don't wither away like a biafrin.

I've decided to get back to capturing stats....more for comparison purposes and will also look into other tracking methods for visuals. Will have to keep track of last anaerobic threshold test and ensure this is done every 6-8 weeks to "reset" training heart rates for lactate threshold as the need to build aerobic base for South Carolina will soon be the priority. Figured I'd take a couple pics of the "studio" at the request of Monsieur Hanrahan....see below :)

Bought a cheap 20 dollar TV from Kijiji and using my daughter's portable DVD to power up some Spinerval sessions. Surround sound complements of Bose powered by a retro sony receiver that has the usual static when attempting to adjust volume.....just right.

Figured I should get a pic of the crew in mid session of tempo intervals......Molly looks possessed....Fil is a few pedal strokes from lactating out of his ears:

Here's the stats from a "Zoot Challenge" 9.5 out of 10 difficulty Spinervals video:

48 min of "training time"
max HR 188
avg 149...beauty considering my threshold has been calculated at 150...sweet
In zone: 23 min
above 19 min
avg Cadence 100
Max Cadence 161....that's right.....the drills are working ;)

Plan....finish my nice glass o vino, get the kiddies to bed, and chill inclusive of tomorrow and then hammer it up again, most likely with Pat to the tune of something aerobic..Molly is in New Mexico and Fil has a scheduling conflict or something or other...he may need to get these priorities in check ;)

free range chicken

That's what I felt like tonight when fil asked if we were going to get a night ride in.....I was surprised with my hesitation and my new found comfort zone in the GA'rage. It might have to do with the fact that being cold and wet doesn't come into the equation..Nonetheless, a ride we had. More like an ecotouring pre-ride of a race course kind of ride due to conditions....slick and chilly. Felt good to spin a bike that was jostling underneath me vs the Tacx speedmatic that serves to beg to be broken with high cadence (>150 rpm) intervals. I feel the Coach who calls himself "Troy" taunting me during every session. Looking forward to tomorrow's session. Fil is in and Molly also indicates she's in for a rip........looks like the perfect opportunity to intro them to Zoot Challenge......hello quads of fury...prepare for battle.

Time to hit the hay......minor side effect to night riding.....12:21 am and still not that tired.....

like freshly calibrated timing

The Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday spins have now been consistent for two straight weeks and am now able to add a 4 pm ice time on Fridays....this should be a manageable winter especially when the conditions dictate keeping my xc skiis in the car permanently for a quick pre or post work at Little Cataraqui.

Plan for week is night ride tomorrow, weather permitting, and spin Tue/Thursday with hockey Friday....doesn't get much better until I add this....The regular spins are now etched in stone as I have three other's joining me, in other words, no room for slackness. Time to rest/recover, finish this glass of wine and get these kids to bed. Anticipating a blissful restful nights sleep ;)

New recruit

It's happened.....a new recruit to the "spin studio" for some garage spinning to the sounds of brutal 70's spandex music and the likes of Coach troy with his shit eating grin and comments about cadence and wattage....actually loving it.

Regular obsessed freak of nature, Fil is off in Bahamas visiting his wifey who is also getting a medical degree.....quickly found and captured a young girlie to join crew while fil is away and has now secured a sweat puddle contest spot for future Tues, Thur and Sunday spins. A little Uphill grind intro for Molly complete and looking forward to a new addition to the "studio".

Thursday slated for some "recovery and technique" to assist molly with her overly flamboyant goodlife spin cycle technique and then back to business until the snow flies and I convert an old school peugot from road bike to "hybrid" for some winter riding until enough snow to get out the reciprocal kicking planks...a.k.a classic xc skiis. Gatineau...is that you taunting me to carve my initials with yellow writing...I take your challenge :)