Naughty Number Nine

You might give it everything you've got and still be stopped.

With same-day TV coverage of the Ronde van Vlaanderen to entertain me, today I rode for two hours on the trainer to bring Week 8 of my 12-week training plan to an end.  By design this was a recovery week but I certainly didn’t need to recover as much as the weather and my travel schedule demanded.

It’s time to look forward, though, not back to what might have been.  Week 9 is the beginning of the “home stretch.”  Longer hours in the saddle and more challenging intervals await.  And there will be more to Week 9 than just training.  I have volunteer work to do for Team Pedal Moraine and I have to finalize preparations for Cheesehead Roubaix, including road painting.  And there’s still the not-inconsiderable task of finding the right mountain bike for the upcoming season.  I must make some progress on that front this week.  Add it all up and Week 9 will be busy ... uncomfortably busy if the weather doesn’t cooperate.