OMBC at East Fork

The race went off with a bang with Nicole from IN and the Amandas leading the pain train. I did my best to hang in there but after we past the MTB trailhead I had to back off a bit. I was at max there and could feel even my fingers filling up with lactic acid.
Amanda "Superfly" Sproat was leading heading into the trail and I never saw her again. I passed Christina on Phase 1 who was fumbling with some mechanical issues. Some mechanicals made it a bummer race for her.

My legs were showing me no love at all today. I didn't have that "spark" nor the ability to ride fast at all. I did manage to finish in the money 4/7 (2 "pros" in my class...so 2nd place expert really) so that was good. My sweet hubby James was able to cheer me on and do bottles for me. My pooch Button was able to tag along and cheer me on as well.

The good news is that James and I taped the Euro Cup finals and the Spain won! Woo Hoo!

OMBC at East Fork

The race went off with a bang with Nicole from IN and the Amandas leading the pain train. I did my best to hang in there but after we past the MTB trailhead I had to back off a bit. I was at max there and could feel even my fingers filling up with lactic acid.
Amanda "Superfly" Sproat was leading heading into the trail and I never saw her again. I passed Christina on Phase 1 who was fumbling with some mechanical issues. Some mechanicals made it a bummer race for her.

My legs were showing me no love at all today. I didn't have that "spark" nor the ability to ride fast at all. I did manage to finish in the money 4/7 (2 "pros" in my class...so 2nd place expert really) so that was good. My sweet hubby James was able to cheer me on and do bottles for me. My pooch Button was able to tag along and cheer me on as well.

The good news is that James and I taped the Euro Cup finals and the Spain won! Woo Hoo!

One of my favorite rides

Two years ago I worked in Frankfurt, Germany for a month. While I was there a colleague named Stefan aided me in purchasing a bike through something like Craig's List (like Auflistung von Marcus or something). We traveled by Strassenbahn or streetcar to pick up this bike, a "Mountain" brand rigged with the old-school lights powered by a sidewall generator!

One night after work a coworker named Mikale took me out for a 15 kilometer bike ride through the country roads outside of Frankfurt. It was really fun to ride through the apple orchards that I imagined produced the Apfelwein that I grew so fond of. We reached a small hilltop town named Kronberg. We walked the cobble stone streets, stepped into a beautiful old church and window-shopped stores with little German trinkets. Lastly we had dinner at the Kronberger Brauhaus, a small brewery and restaurant in Kronberg. I had a kind of breakfast for dinner: fleischekäse (something like a Bologna) with an egg, potatos and of course their beer.

I hope to go back someday soon and I will try to make this a weekly ritual!

Additional Century Ride Training tips

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 1-1.5 hour ride with hills
Wednesday: Rest or 1-hour easy recovery ride
Thursday: 1-1.5 hours with interval training
Friday: Rest or 30-minute easy recovery ride
Saturday: 1-2 hour ride with 30 minutes of hard effort
Sunday: 1-2 hour ride at steady pace (65% MHR)

More Training Tips
Gradually increase your milage as you get closer to the century, increasing no more than 10% at a time.
Plan a 50- or 60-mile ride at least two weeks before the century
Taper your mileage a week before the century. During that week you may even reduce your riding to one or two days of an easy five to ten-mile spin. Also, try to get plenty of sleep.



Perhaps I will try to cruise Route 8 this weekend...

Race for the Graves

I did the CORA (Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance) series kick-off this past sunday. It was just across the Ohio River in Burlington, KY at England Idlewild park.

I got to the race in plenty of time to warm-up. Ride a bit of the trail and chat with some friends. I was hoping for a better turnout for expert women but I think most of the ladies were at home with their Dads. My Dad was out in Denver expecting his first Grandbaby so I didn't feel bad cutting out for the day.
The start was pretty crazy because we started with the expert men but there wasn't enough trail to spread things out before the start. I stayed right behind a pack of expert guys for the first few minutes of the race. I was surprised to see the guys sliding out on the first few sections. I was out climbing a few of em. No joke, I'm lovin the 29er on those muddy steep climbs. It rules.

Anyhow, the rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I lead from the start. I felt bad for a lot of my friends as I saw Joe, Justin, Bill, & Bob all suffer bike/body mechanicals. I felt especially bad for Joe in his recent bad luck.
The actual race was pretty darn hard. A lot of the expert guys were finishing and looking like they were pretty toasted. Mitch was coughing up a lung. Marty cramped bad. They were broken. I was certainly lucky to have only had to do 2 laps.

It was a sweet, hard, fun, and best of all a LOCAL race. I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of the CORA series.

Race for the Graves

I did the CORA (Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance) series kick-off this past sunday. It was just across the Ohio River in Burlington, KY at England Idlewild park.

I got to the race in plenty of time to warm-up. Ride a bit of the trail and chat with some friends. I was hoping for a better turnout for expert women but I think most of the ladies were at home with their Dads. My Dad was out in Denver expecting his first Grandbaby so I didn't feel bad cutting out for the day.
The start was pretty crazy because we started with the expert men but there wasn't enough trail to spread things out before the start. I stayed right behind a pack of expert guys for the first few minutes of the race. I was surprised to see the guys sliding out on the first few sections. I was out climbing a few of em. No joke, I'm lovin the 29er on those muddy steep climbs. It rules.

Anyhow, the rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I lead from the start. I felt bad for a lot of my friends as I saw Joe, Justin, Bill, & Bob all suffer bike/body mechanicals. I felt especially bad for Joe in his recent bad luck.
The actual race was pretty darn hard. A lot of the expert guys were finishing and looking like they were pretty toasted. Mitch was coughing up a lung. Marty cramped bad. They were broken. I was certainly lucky to have only had to do 2 laps.

It was a sweet, hard, fun, and best of all a LOCAL race. I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of the CORA series.

Progress

So I got somewhat back on track with training and ended up riding 71 miles early on Father's Day. I rode on the Loveland Trail from Milford around mile marker 50 up to mile marker 15 and back. It was interesting to see Morrow, Oregonia and ride past Fort Ancient.

Here are my numbers for this ride:
71.5 mi; 4:11:00; 17.09 ave mph; 3,562 calories burned; heart rate 149; weight 160; no climbing.

My Loudenville ride:
56.9 mi; 4:20:00; 13.13 ave mph; 2,469 calories; heart rate NA; weight 160; aroudn 3000 ft climbing.

A ride from last year, to South Lebanon on 9/3/2007:
52.63 mi; 3:13:00; 16.36 ave mph; 2,895 calories; heart rate 149; weight 175; no climbing.