I was riding up Pisgah road yesterday when I happened upon some workers cutting trees next to the road. They had blocked one lane, so there was a man standing in the road with one of those stop/slow signs. He saw me and said, “you’d better hurry up if you’re gonna catch the guy that just went through here!” I laughed and agreed with him, though didn’t think much of it once I went along my way into the Latting Rd area that prettymuch everyone rides through on their way out of Cordova and into good riding territory. There are a couple of ways through the neighborhood- I took the slightly shorter route. As I approached the intersection where the shorter/longer routes come back together, a rider in a Healthnet jacket passed by. He was going my way, so I figured I’d catch up to him & say hello.

What is your first thought when you see someone in a piece of pro team kit? (you people from California or other “nice” places don’t answer that) I was thinking the same thing- it’s just the usual recreational dude who was a either a Healthnet fan or happened to get a good deal from PBK. However, as I appraoched him, I could tell that my first impression was incorrect- he looked fit and had the pedal stroke and steadiness of someone who has lived small bits of life on two wheels.

I pulled up beside him. We talked for a while- turns out, his name is Rusty, and he used to ride for Healthnet several years ago, got burnt out, quit, and today- yes TODAY- was his first time back on a bike since then. Seems he & his wife were in Costa Rica the day before (nice!) when they saw some people riding. It inspired him to get his bike back out & try it again. I told him about the weekend group rides in the area, and he expressed some interest in going to the Trinity ride this morning.

Did he show up? I don’t know- I am tapering for VOS, and had another chiro appt. this morning, so I’m going to ride on my own in a little while. Hopefully he went, enjoyed himself and is inspired to keep it up!

When you think about it, it’s pretty crazy that we crossed paths at that moment. All the little things you do before/during a ride that only take a few seconds… seconds that could have potentially placed me just ahead or “just” behind far enough. Goosebumps :)

Not a whole lot of interesting stuff going on right now. I dedicated a good portion of my weekend to training/recovery with a side of Superbowl party.

Saturday was power testing day. That was tough, of course, and I followed it with another two hours or so of aerobic-intensity high-cadence riding (well, cadence >90rpms… which is high for me). I think that the cadence work was harder on me than the power tests. I felt exhausted when I got back home, though it wouldn’t have been so bad if my back & neck hadn’t started to hurt during the last hour of my ride. I had my Specialized Ruby saddle on my bike and was painfully reminded that I’d taken it off because it’s too darn flexible. Shifting around and trying to avoid the discomfort in my butt/low back caused by the saddle really irritated my neck. So, when I got home, I took to the whirlpool tub and felt somewhat better. The remainder of the evening was pretty low-key… some homemade pizza, a small glass of Boulevard “Long Strange Tripel” Ale (Ryan drank most of it… I just wanted to get a taste), and general relaxation.

Sunday morning, Ryan and I did our usual ride- Cordova to the Outdoors Store on Union, where we meet with a group and ride to Shelby Forest, then back. My legs felt like hell from the previous day’s ride. I was pretty surprised considering last Sunday my legs felt pretty awesome following Southern X. Even so, we rode in faster than usual. Once we met up with the group it was apparent that they’re catching wind of race season… as noted by the “spirited” pace. I obliged for part of the way- chasing down a couple of attacks and taking a hard pull or two, but then ended up splitting off from the group just before the “every man for himself” point in order to ride my own tempo up to the rest stop (not an easy tempo by any means… just not a pop & drop tempo!)
After the stop, somehow Ryan and I got separated from the group. We turned onto Watkins (~5 mile rolling 4-lane stretch of road) and looked back, only to find that the group was nowhere in sight. We figured they’d catch on, so we kept on going… only to look back a minute later & see that they were pretty far back. I knew that based on the guys in the group that they’d be chasing us down, so I told Ryan to pull me, and when they caught on, I’d counter. It didn’t quite work that way, because they ended up not catching up to us until near the “sprint point” at the end of the road, and they started to blow by us rather than take a wheel… it still worked out wonderfully, though. I’d been sitting in while they’d been chasing at a faster pace, so I grabbed the last wheel of the echelon, took a couple of breaths, then launched into the sprint. There was a bit of commotion as I passed the group, but (unlike other times I sprint with the guys) no one came around me before the unofficial “finish line.” Yay for strategy and group ride glory!!!! Bike racing is all about learning to kick people when they’re down…
Once we split from the group, the ride back was just as hard as the ride in. We kept the pace going most of the way back (I also “won” my second sprint of the day when we reached the Germantown city limits sign). I wasn’t as achy after the ride (saddle change!), but my neck was (still is) feeling not-so-hot.

Afterward was a Superbowl party. I had a little junk food, of course, and almost fell asleep during the game, but it was a good weekend wrap-up nonetheless. I’m pretty shot today. My legs feel like I rode harder than I did, and I’ve got to find a chiropractor to work on my neck before it becomes more than just an annoying ache. If any of my local readers know who is good, please share…

So last night at dinner, about half of the guys expressed interest in getting over to Petit Jean somewhat early in the morning so that they could get home in time for various reasons. The other half of us wanted to sleep in and let the temperatures get out of the 30s before we got started with our ride.

This morning (after a short hike), we started looking at how long it would take to drive to Petit Jean State Park, and, after realizing that it was nearly a 2 hour drive, decided that we’d just do some more riding around Magazine. At first we talked about an out & back to Paris, but after some searching on Google Maps, came up with a route that had us descending to Havana and circling the side of the mountain opposite of where we’d gone the day before and ending up at the bottom near Cove Lake. We were also well aware that our route could contain some gravel roads, but most of us felt pretty adventurous.

I was secretly hoping for gravel… and lots of it. I probably wasn’t the only one.

We headed out a little after 10:00. After a chilly descent, we hung a left before reaching Hwy 10 in Havana. My wishes came true, because not more than 1/2 a mile after leaving the main road, the pavement ended. Of course, within the next 1/2 mile, two people had flat tires. Jared had flat #1 (of an eventual 3), and Tim Moore had a torn sidewall. He decided that it was too risky to continue, booted the tire, and headed back accompanied by Steve Pavlovic, who was wary of taking the nicer of his bikes into such territory.
The six of us that remained (Ryan, Jared, Susan, Todd, Frogge, and myself) continued on. We had more fun than I think ANY of us have ever had on two wheels- the road climbed, descended, and even crossed a few small streams (Todd rode across while the rest of us dismounted and hopped rocks). Of course, there were several more flat tires, but hey, we were asking for it, right?!

Because we were starting to run short on supplies (mainly rubber and CO2), we decided to cut the ride a little short when we reached a fork in the road that would take us back to the main road. It was fun nonetheless. We rode about 16 miles until we reached the main road for a windy climb back up the Paris side of the mountain. Next time, we’ll come more prepared with tougher tires, a few more tubes, and a frame pump or two…

Here’s Ryan’s GPS tracing of the route:

Today was my third time in the last year to come to Mt. Magazine. It’s officially one of my most favorite places to “get away” to. Ryan and I are staying with a large group of other Memphis Velo guys in one of the cabins in the state park on top of the mountain. It’s GORGEOUS! After riding about 65 miles today, this was the view from our balcony…

Of course, being in a cabin with a bunch of guys can be pretty “entertaining” sometimes…

Looks like the arctic air mass that’s currently forcing me inside to cower under a blanket will get displaced by the weekend! What’s that mean? It means that I’ll be road-trippin’ over to Mt. Magazine (highest point in Arkansas) for some uphill action. If you search my blog pages back to May (hint: use the calendar-thingy), you can find some nicer-weather shots from around the summit that I took while up there for Tour of Arkansas. It’ll be a good warmup climb for Southern Cross. Here is a MapMyRide link of a training ride from last year where we started at the base near Paris, traversed Magazine (cold decent from Hell), then turned around in Havana and came back (click “view full” to get to an elevation profile):

We will probably hit up Petit Jean & possibly Nebo on Sunday & Monday. More updates to follow…

…did I do today?!?

So my training assignment for today was a 3 hour ride w/a 1hour interval… at 275watts. My SRM (hopefully) is in the mail today on its way back from being repaired, so I call up “massah” Rogut for directions, and he says that a HR of about 180bpms should just about do it.

FYI- this is between 85 and 90% of my max HR of 205.

Well, I did the damn thing… it was just slightly easier than I expected. I settled in right at 181bpms (with a few excursions up to 185ish when I’d hit a hill), and kept the cruise control on through a ~15mph headwind all the way down highway 196 from Galloway to Seward Road (with some additional sections of other roads… but 196 was the bulk of it).

Afterward, my neck was sore enough that it started to give me a headache. I’m guessing it’s from being in my drops for a little longer than what I’m used to. I felt pretty crappy once I got home & cleaned up- a sure-fire sign that I need to do this more often! Once I had a snack, some Advil, and a half hour nap, I got out of bed feeling much better (and hungrier). My legs are still wondering what just happened, though…

Luckily, tomorrow is “just” a 4-hour base ride