Bouncing Back
After a day off the bike on Monday, I was back to the tempo work on Tuesday. I felt great and could really feel the power come with the Wobble-Naught pedal stroke. It’s not the easiest task to hold that perfect form for 90 minutes with so much muscle tension, but it’s getting easier to control. My tempo is done at 70-75 rpms and just below lactate threshold….it hurts a little bit for long time. That 70-75 rpms makes for a lot of muscle tension and in the past I would do what felt like firing all the leg muscles all the time to get through these work outs. That certainly made me stronger, but not necessarily a better rider. This year I’m really focusing on the muscle coordination to only fire the muscles needed…fire them hard and then turn it off. This is obviously happening 70-75 times per minute, so it takes a huge amount of concentration. The result should be a much more effective pedal stroke under heavy load….aka climbing at Conyers.
The JackHammer:
Wednesday was another rigid SS ride on the JackHammer, this time with the dogs at Blankets Creek. I usually take them down to the lake bed so they can roam and not obstruct traffic on the trails. The lake bed is filling, so we could not roam as far as usually. Still Jackson managed to find a half dozen balls of various sizes that caught his fancy. I’d launch them as far into the water as possible and then continue riding. He’d retrieve them and then promptly chase me down. Riding the JackHammer on a lake bed is a challenge…rocks every where and no clear path. I’m sure my upper body is getting a good workout.
Thursday’s ride was not so good. I was supposed to be doing an 95 minutes of tempo, but I couldn’t keep the heart rate up there. My mind was all over the place too, which may be the real cause. I shut it down at an hour ten, which will have to suffice. I had a fitting to do in the afternoon and maybe subconsciously I knew I needed to save a little so I didn’t sound like the brain dead idiot I usually am after tempo rides.
Friday was rest in the form of three 55nine Performance fittings. I should have went for an easy ride, but Nam was at the ING Marathon Expo so I just played with the dogs & made dinner instead.
Today is going to rock! It’s Saturday, sunny & going to be 80! I’m heading to Conyers for some more time on the JackHammer. 6 laps on that carbon fork should make racing there on my full-sus Hei Hei seem like riding the Silver Comet. Tomorrow is even better though….heading up north to ride the second half of the Fools Gold 100 route. I need to assess the trail work situation. We are going wait until final approval from the National Forest folks before we do any major operations, but I want to know exactly what needs to be done before that.
Gotta go wear out the dogs, so I can go play. Later,
Eddie O