I know I am slow on this but here is a quick recap of the last couple weeks goings on.
I went down to SD and Casa De Wernick for a big weekend in our IM Wisconsin build. I got down there on Thursday night and Charisa and I banged out a hearty trainer session in her backyard. Pretty sure she is still mad at me for making her ride the trainer.
Friday, we were joined by Team Walsh (aka Beth n' James) for a 6hr ride with some good climbs.
Saturday we were joined by Kevin, James, and my buddy Jason from up here who was in SD visiting. We revisited the old Henshaw loop and took a new (to me) route that tacked on some good climbing. It is now my standard Henshaw route. I like it alot. Charisa got a ticket on the way home and that was all that put a damper on the great ride. Surprisingly, and much to my joy, my run off the bike went very well.
Sunday was supposed to be the longest ride of the weekend. It started a bit rough when my heart threw a little temper tantrum and wouldn't pick up the pace, but I plied its willingness with a little caffeine from Peet's and it was back on line. That day it was Kevin, Charisa, Beth & I.
Soon it ended up being Kevin and I after the girls "missed" a turn. For a little while I was stoked as Kevin and I decided this was a golden opportunity to really turn this ride into a Monster. About 2hrs later, I was riding along felt a bump bump bump. Stopped and looked at my front tire. It had a small bulge in it. I rolled up to Kevin, and we both watched the bulge grow and then explode the tire. This is the strangest thing I have ever had happen to me on a bike. Fortunately it happened when it did and not 10min earlier when I was doing 40+mph down Palomar. Unfortunately, you can't ride a tire like this
I was about 40mi from Casa de Wernick. But luckily the male proprietor of CDW, Steven, obliged and came to my rescue. He even brought me food and drinks! I highly recommend this establishment if your ever in the area. At least I had some nice views during my wait for the meatwagon.
I was a little bummed that I didn't get to finish the Monster ride with Kevin, who much to his credit pushed on solo. But I still got in 100mi and 7,000ft of climbing so I wasn't too upset.
This weekend I again took Friday off and swam masters in the morning then got pummeled by Jason and Scott on a hilly ride in the Santa Monica Mtns. It felt good to rest up the rest of the day.
Saturday was a mean brick that ended up consisting of a masters session, a long bike and a run off with some race pace work. A solid 8hr day, but again the bike problem Devil paid me a visit and broke my rear shifter. So I rode from mile 80-120 with 2 gears, big ring or small and 15 in the rear. A rushed trip to Helen's Santa turned up fruitless. Again it seemed my Sunday MONSTER ride was doomed! Instead coach and I came up with a plan that was sure to provide equal punishment as the original plan had. So yesterday morning I racked my wounded horse onto the trainer and spent the next 3hrs banging out intervals as Coach Troy barked them out. After a quick transition to the road bike I headed for the hills and spent the next 3.5hrs doing my best Thomas Voeckler impressions.
I was fully COOKED after that day in the saddle!
The big weekend was capped off with a SOLID long run this morning that included some race pace efforts and went MUCH better than I was sure it would after the weekends binge. I am just hoping I can hold onto these good feelings until Ironman Wisconsin. Something tells me race day isn't going to feel quite so good, but I am hoping the pain will pay off.
Let's hope you got all your bike issues worked out. Better now than race day!! Nice work on all the training, you are definitely ready for a killer race in T-3 weeks!!
ReplyDeleteF-YEAH! doing work! so stoked to finally log some serious miles with you... WAY more in the near future. we have a good dymanic... i'll lead the climbs and you let me suck your wheel on anything flat... cool?
ReplyDeletei have a feeling you are going do some serious damage in wisconsin!
Wait, you got a road bike? Pictures!
ReplyDeletebetter to get the tire bad luck out of the way in training ;) Sounds like your build went great, stoked to see you rip it up at IM MOO!
ReplyDeleteYou are an animal!! Your training puts me in awe. And to think I was proud of my ONE 120 mile ride this past weekend. ;) So excited for you and IMMOO! You will be amazing I know!
ReplyDeleteI'm still glad you were not descending Palomar when the tire exploded!!
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