I’m leaving for the Death Ride tomorrow.  I plan to spend Friday acclimating (may go for a short ride up and down one of the passes), and also find out when the first pass stickers will be handed out.  Based on that, I plan to start riding earlier, as early as 3am if leaving that [...]

Let me start by saying that I loathe lactate intervals.  I like riding because it’s very Zen.  When I ride, I let my mind drift, and wander aimlessly until I achieve a Zen emptiness that’s much like meditation.  It’s very relaxing. Lactate intervals, on the other hand, are anything but Zen, especially towards the end.  [...]

These turn out to be either fun or excruciating, depending on my mood and energy level at the time.  Basically, it’s ride flat out for some number of minutes, then peel back to Zone 2 (the cycling equivalent of walking pace) for a rest period, then ride flat out for some more minutes.  If you’re [...]

Got my new training schedule from Lorri a few days ago, and we’re now going for speed rather than distance.  She’s cut my hours/week back to 7.5 (from about 13-15), eliminated the resistance training, and is having me do shorter, more intense workouts rather than long endurance rides.  So, yesterday I did gear-up drills on [...]

Woke up on Sunday morning feeling good, not at all stiff from yesterday’s ride.  Not too surprising since it had been a relatively short ride, less than fifty miles, but I had been a bit worried about soreness from yesterday’s brutal climbs.  I was pretty exhausted, having just woken up at 4:30am, but a hot [...]