Pump Up The Volume

In anticipation of my first mountain bike race, last month I spent a fair amount of time working on skills.  I needed to develop them—I still do—but it almost felt like I wasn’t really riding.  Generally, I ride better as I ride more.  The sluggish pace with which I was building my mileage total was, for me, cause for alarm.  During the week of the Greenbush race I rode only 61 miles, including the race itself.

But with the race behind me, I’m back to what I really do best: chewing up miles.  I covered 229 miles with 5 rides in the last 7 days.  Monday’s time trial was the high-intensity portion of a 50-mile ride.  Tuesday was a planned rest day.  On Wednesday I did an easy 25 miles before my softball game.  (The right quadriceps, injured on May 11, held up fine and my team improved to 4-1.)  Thursday unintentionally turned into another rest day as a combination of factors kept me off the bike.  On Friday I put in a solid 50-miler on the Eisenbahn State Trail, riding to Eden and back for the second time this year.  On Saturday I did the Washington County Bicycle Club ride and today, with a smaller group, I went back to Port Washington for the second day in a row.

The new week will start with rest on Monday, then on Tuesday I will make a more intense effort than this weekend’s rides required.  On Wednesday I plan a short-but-intense lunchtime ride to break up my workday; I have a 6 p.m. softball game that will prevent me from riding after work.  Thursday?  We’ll see.  It might be time to reintroduce a spirited West Bend-based group ride on Thursday evenings … more on that soon.

I’m still trying to find the right schedule to accommodate endurance rides, high-intensity efforts, and skill-building days on the mountain bike trails.  And I’m still undecided on my next competition goal.  The WORS race at Wausau is now just a week away and that seems too soon.  I’m tempted to make the June 19 Wisport race at Fort Atkinson the focus of my training during the next two weeks.  I did the inaugural Ride the Rock in 2007 but haven’t been back since.

Tonight I unwound by watching the Critérium du Dauphiné and the TD Bank International Championship on Versus.  (Unfortunately I didn’t realize that earlier in the afternoon Versus showed highlights from last weekend’s US championships, won by Dave Zabriskie and Matthew Busche.)  Versus will have same-day coverage from the Dauphiné throughout the coming week, plus Tour de Suisse coverage next Saturday and Sunday.