Great Riding & Great Motivation - TdF '11 Has Started!

No better motivation each summer to train, than the start of the Tour de France! This Tour is already shaping up to be a very interesting after just two stages. I also feel I have my best Fantasy Team in all the years they have had the Fantasy Challenge. Yes, they have a Fantasy League for the TdF!

Training continues to go well and I am now searching out all the hills in Central pa. My new Garmin is the greatest invention in the world. It makes logging all workouts so easy and gives me so much pertinent information such as elevation, grade of hills, heart rate, cadence and total elevation gain throughout a ride. I also joined Strava.com where I am involved with the King of the Mountain Contest. I currently am the KOM on nearly every categorized hill in Central PA. I have become the biggest tech and training information junkie...lol.

This past week was an amazing week of training. With the Garmin, I can actually do true workouts as I can better monitor them. I did end up back on the trainer for one day as it rained and thunder nearly all day here. It was tough to be back on the trainer after 4+ weeks on the road. This week was also my biggest week of climbing as it nearly totaled 10,500 feet giving me 24,955 feet of climbing in 3 weeks. New training totals:

Week - 8 rides/ 298 miles/ 14hours 46minutes/ 20.40mph
June - 31 rides/1,160 miles/ 55hours 44minutes/ 20.90mph
Year - 187 rides/ 6353 miles/ 294miles 37minutes/ 21.60mph

I am looking forward to the next 4 days of training as I am in the Poconos for the week. I am hoping to tackle some of the biggest hills around. It is going to be so much fun and it's my first true vacation in years. I am also searching schedules for my next race. I really need to race some more but just wish CAT 5 races were longer. Also, staring to plan the TdO '11 as my brother is hear on this vacation.

Keep training hard and smart!

The Epic Cycle continues!