Long Hours

In the Office Chair
I've been reminded that I am a pro-designer not a pro-cyclist lately. One week I barely trained due to 15-17 hour work days. Good thing I kept bike commuting, otherwise I wouldn't have been training. Plus the roads are pretty clear at 1 am and 5 am.

But I was so sleep deprived I forgot how cross-brakes don't stop for sh*t and I crashed on a downhill in Indian Hill. It was right in front of a family reunion in a park! Hilarious. Perhaps out of pride, I always pop back up and wave at people and try not to lick my wounds in front of others.

Rekindling a Little Romance
Bridget and I have been training a lot more together lately! She used to be the only person I would ride with. But we have been so busy the past two years and on different schedules we rarely train with each other. I know she was unhappy with her form going into Cohutta (but still got 10th!) so we have been training a lot more together and I have been putting the hurt on her!

We had two really nice Velo Dates. One was a sleep-deprived Friday night (where I crashed) where we rode up to a pizza place called The Works in Loveland. How do you get pizza grease out of spandex? The second was a little sunset picnic on the Purple People Bridge followed by a hill climb competition up to Devou! Lovely.

In the Saddle
Some of my weekend rides have been shortened due to rain or poor planning and my weeknights rides have been a little shorter due to work. But here and there I have had some fun epic rides on the weekend.

One was a semi-hilly century with my teammates Joe, Rachel, Geri, Gerz and Mott. It is incredible how quickly 6 hours flies by when you have great company! We rode up to Loveland and then down in Kentucky on Amsterdam and Route 8. They finally killed me on the final hill! A total wall!

Another ride that got botched was Bjet's and my first attempt at riding in Shawnee State Park. There has been so much rain lately that I didn't want to tear up trails. We got out there too late to ride the long hours I wanted, and the locals we first met were hostile and the roads weren't marked along 52! Some people out there don't respect the beauty of the place they live in — litter constantly along the roads. We did some "American Flyer"-esque dog sprints! Then we came upon this chicken farm with all their chickens all over the road. Add to that a pack or 6 loose dogs flying at us! We had to gun it as chickens were flying everywhere and dogs were on our heels! I was surprised some farmer in a straw hat, no shirt and denim overalls didn't come running out with a shotgun!

Last weekend was my last chance of putting some hardcore training into my legs. Friday night got rained out. We tried to ride but I didn't feel like forcing myself to ride in the drizzle and thunder. Saturday I turned the screws on myself and rode every hardcore hill I could think of between Indian Hill, Loveland, and Batavia. I put in about 6 hours and 96 miles. Then Sunday I did it all over again. Bridget never rode a century! So we did a very similar route minus a couple climbs and added on a few more miles. I was hurting, but it was great to have a powertap with heart rate monitor to observe how I far I can push myself once the "elastic has snapped." Plus watching Nibali and Basso in the Giro that morning stoked my fire! How do they do that?!

I will be riding over 1000 miles this month! I think my work is down. Time to rest up and get ready for the big event.