a party, rest days, and back at it.

Saturday February 14th:
I was supposed to ride 2 hours at 138-160, but instead visited my grandfather in Antigo, WI for his 85th birthday party. It was totally worth it and I had a blast. I saw a cousin who I haven't seen in three years or so, and my grandfather is one of my favorite people in the world.

Sunday was a scheduled rest day. Oh, unless your name was Fabian Cancellara, then it was GO TIME!

Monday I had a LONG day at work, but the 45 minutes at 138-160 BPM felt good. I stretched and did 100 sit-ups. Something is happening with my stomach that has never happened before: it's looking toned.

Tuesday, Fabruary 17th:
2 hours at 145 avg. and a high-cadence workout.
My legs felt good, my head was in it, and I stayed hydrated.

Food: french toast, American fries (yeah, I know, I know), coffee, Penne Rose with Feta, Oatmeal squares, chocolate soy milk. Tons of water.



I had a health screening for my insurance today and didn't realize they were going to draw blood. For those of you who wonder about blood donation and cycling: read this article. Now if I could find out if my planned tatto will give me any problems.



Regarding ATOC stage 3: WTF happened with Cav and Gorgeous George? For as good of a job as Cervelo did of leading out Thor, High-Road did an equally poor job.



I'm ordering Avid Matchmakers for my Procaliber. If it were possible, I'd get a G2 SID WC with pop-lock. If one exists, I know where to look.

a recovery week is a hard week for the brain

So riding this week wasn't too intense:
Monday: 45 minutes at 150 BPM and 100 sit-ups with stretching
Tuesday: 1 hour at 150 bpm and stretching.
Wednesday: REST DAY! I had a beer.
Thursday: Rest day! no beer, but video games and a haircut.

But I've been thinking seriously about a few things:
1. Conditions don't matter.
-For a long time I've let the weather set my mentality for a race, which is bad. World Cup DH racer Sam Hill taught me that course conditions don't matter. He got 2nd in Champery after half of the field ran the course on dry conditions and he raced it in a downpour.
If he can kill it when he's on worse conditions than others, I have no excuse for my performance when we're all on the same course conditions. Granted, I don't respond well to cold weather, but I have some ideas for working on that. Longer, slower warmups and better clothing layers.

Also, I need to play to my strengths. I enjoy training on the MTB more than on the road, so I'm going to up the percentage of my training I do offroad. The rigid Superfly was fun, but I'd feel pretty beaten up after two laps. I've gotten my handling back to where it once was, so I'm switching to a Gary Fisher Procaliber. The suspension will help me descend and I'll get better traction on climbs, which is where I am hoping to kill it this year.