27 Days Till First Race! Training is Rolling.

It is hard to believe that my first race on the bike is just 27 days away. With the weather improving and following the "classics" on the computer and Versus TV, motivation has never been higher! Watching these races will always get the competitive juices flowing. Today, Phillipe Gilbert completed a three wins in a row by winning the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race, out sprinting the Schleck brothers. Next month, the Giro d'Italia and Tour of California are on the calendar.

This week's training was enhanced by getting outside more often. With the season winding down and the end of the school year near, getting outside everyday is sometimes tough but soon getting outside everyday will not be a problem. I also need to get some more gear to ride in some nasty rainy days. The forecast is also looking better and will allow for more outside days.

In preparation for the 75 mile race, I have been choosing routes that have included some good hills. I will have to say that choosing a flat route around here is pretty much impossible other that riding an out and back on 11/15. I find myself, when mapping out routes, looking for as many hills as possible. This week one of my goals will be to get another 50 miler. Today, I rode a hilly 31 miler at 20.2mph and felt like I could have gone another hour or so at the same rate. The hill climbing has been relatively easy given the amount of time I have spent on the trainer. I guess the workouts have been working!

New training totals:
Week - 7 rides/ 231 miles/ 10hours 50minutes/21.50 mph
Month - 24 rides/ 819 miles/ 38hours 17minutes/ 21.60mph
Year - 114 rides/ 3799 miles/ 172hours 40minutes/ 22.10mph

This week was also nice as I was able to get a ride with some of staff/faculty at the school. We have a group called "Isle of Q" Cycling Club and many of us will be competing at the Mont Tour. They will be doing the 45 mile version of the race. It was a fun ride and awesome to have company. We will be unveiling our cool kits at the Mont Tour. My next project will be to find USA Cycling Races so I can move up from Cat 5 standing! I am still very excited for the ultimate goal on the bike: CYCLOCROSS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_W8AsilPMM

TdO '11 - Training has never been better!