On The Road Again

For the next month or so, I’ll be working at a different location. Why is this important? Well, I do this every so often, and usually it puts a damper on my lunchtime training. This time however, it’s different. I know I mentioned da udda day that I was giving up the X-Bike. While it was a decision I made on purpose, this time I have no choice since I’m so far away from it. Good riddance, I say.


What do I do now? Well, at this “new location”, I’m able to get more real bicycle time in. I am close to a couple of trails, and there is also a business park nearby that has plenty of roadie action going on. Wow, that means I actually have a choice. No more riding in place for an hour every day. I can go outside and pedal, while the scenery passes me by. That’s what cycling is all about (for me anyway.) While I have no real “training plan” (do I ever?), I do have a rough outline to follow.


Every day I’m here that has nice weather (i.e. no rain/snow), I will ride my bike. Which one, you ask? Well, that depends on what I bring to work that day. I will switch them up at will; willingly of course. Yesterday I started out riding the road bike, since we had rain on Monday. The next time the trails are dry, I’ll bust out the mountain bike. I imagine that I will ride on trails more than I ride on the road while I’m here. I’d like to save the major roadie stuff for charity rides and after-work summertime hammerfests. Delicious.


So, like I said, yesterday I brought the road bike with me. The plan was to slowly spin until the legs warmed up, and then let ‘er rip. The business park loop is nice, since I will never be more than 1.5 miles from my starting point. That way I can blow up or have some kind of mechanical issue, and not be stranded. It’s a win win, I tell ya. Anyway, I was hoping that my legs had recovered from the hell-fest I did a few days ago. After the first two miles, I realized that they had. Much to my delight, I had plenty of power to mash up the climbs, and spin fast on the descents. I was settling back into the roadie groove, whatever the hell that is.


I was a little worried though, and not about my legs. I still have this fear of spoke-breaking, and it haunts me with every stroke of the pedal. I’ve had the damn wheel repaired twice, and I’m hoping I don’t need to get to three. I’m not sure when I’ll ever get over that silly fear, but I wish I would soon. I have a big road ride next month (more on that later), and I’d like to stay off the sag wagon.



Since I neglected to bring any type of timekeeping device with me on the ride, I ended up cutting my ride a little shorter than I normally would. I was planning on twenty miles, and I ended up a hair over fifteen. I thought it was time to get my ass back to work, but I actually could have done the full twenty. Next time I’ll wear a watch.



So, I guess it’s safe to say that things are starting to shape up around here. After a grueling race series, it’s nice to do some quality miles on the road bike. I could never give up mountain biking to ride soley on the road, but it is a great training aid. I need all the help I can get. I have a lot of stuff in the works this season. I’ll waste your time with that tomorrow.