Riding a bike through it is another story.
Last night I reluctantly dragged myself to my friend Cathy's house in Bedford for cross practice. I'm gonna be totally honesty here. It took a SERIOUSLY BIG SPATULA to lift my sorry ass up and out the door from work to go ride in the dark and cold. ICK. Like I stated in my last post, I felt out of the loop missing 2 weekends of cross racing and I felt FLAT ( and lets add FAT to that) and UNMOTIVATED.
Once getting there and I got started with the workout,I quickly learned it was worth the effort. First we did backyard grass cornering skills.Then 4 ~3min interval sprints down the bike path focusing on speed. Next up 20+ minute/5 lap mock race on a fast 1.24 mile course w/ sub 5minute laps - focus on speed, skills and race tactics - maintain "loose power" through the sand sections.
The sand sections? Maintain what? The sand section was a beach area surrounding a small pond. By the time we got to the 5 lap section of the workout, my light died. Pity. I'll have to go home now as I stood there fiddling with my dead battery. With five other people there I decided it would be best to not wuss out completely and modified what I would do.
Instead, of completing the laps, first I played around in this fun little park in the moonlight
Post ride, Cath and Mike fired up the grill and hosted us for a great dinner. Awesome!
6 comments:
Glad the spatula worked and you ended up having a good night and a good dinner and got some new skills. I need to get me one of those giant spatulas!
I need sand skills. Please tell the 'really' good tips :)
Last time I rode in loose sand I turned 'arse up'ards' as my ol' nan used to say! Head first over the bars.
Obviously the first thing I did was get up and act like I meant to do it... no-one was watching!
Oh and can you lend me the spatula too?
OKay now that sounds like fun! I have to try that cross bike you always ramble about...and that park and a grill out... PERFECT!
Glad you are enjoying your season and thanks for letting me know how hard it will be to come back to sport after sitting on my bum as it grows... In fact, I am taking off season to another level... ha ha ha
The best tip I ever got when racing mountain bikes was "momentum is your friend", along with something like 'your front brake isn't'. I always keep that in mind when I approach something loose or sandy knowing that if I carry a little speed that i'll probably be okay but if I touch my brakes, well.....not so okay!
sounds like you are having fun!
Good thing you came out, or I would have had to bust you! You and hubby were troopers to hang in even after your lights died.
Riding the sand is a good skill to have - too bad there isn't any at Lowell this weekend ;). Remember - it's the SAME skill as riding through the mud.
Good job, and we still need to get you that info on the lights.
Love the spatula visual. :) I think that's a common occurrence for us triathlete-athletic types... WOW - I am super impressed with Cross riders! You rock! The skills sessions sound tough but really fun!!
Post a Comment