Week #8 And it continues but now I can ride in the snow!

So the snow just won't let up. We had a good old blizzard on Saturday and it took me about 4 hours to shovel everything out.
I got a fat tire bike this week and took it for a short spin through the park on Friday before we got dumped on again. Lots of fun except I need to swap out the tires - need more traction. I don't plan on doing a ton of training on it but I will definitely see myself getting in some gravel miles on it this year. I ended up twisting my calf wrong on the ride through the park after I had to unclip quickly. On Saturday I woke up and couldn't hardly walk. I ended up taking the day off, my second one of the year so far.
Things felt fine today so I spent 5 hours on the trainer - 5th ride of the year over 5 hours. This hopefully will end soon. It has to warm up someday and melt all this snow.
Next weekend we are off to Alto Pass, IL for The Dirty South Roubaix 100K. Should be a good time even though the weather may be a little cold and wet.

Week #7 Old Man Winter needs to STOP!

This is not been the best winter to train in Nebraska. Unfortunately, I have had to spend a lot of time on the trainer. Today was another 5 hours for 115 (Zwift) miles. This week was 312 miles and about 15 1/2 hours of riding. I hope I can get between 1,350 to 1,400 miles in for the month. I did just get in over 2,100 miles for the year today. That puts me in at averaging right at 300 miles per week. Right where I want to be!
The next race up is Dirty South Roubaix on March 2nd then Land Run on March 16th. This weekend there was snow in southern Illinois, but hopefully things will clear up in a couple weeks. Who knows what will be in store at Land Run. I plan on taking a second bike to Land Run just in case.

Week #6 - Recovery Week? (383 miles)

My legs seemed to be recovered from a couple weeks of racing. It would have been nice to get outside this week, but the weather just isn't cooperating. I guess it is a good thing that Zwift exists, but doesn't mean I really enjoy it. On Saturday, I had scheduled to do 5-6 hours, so it had be be on the trainer. Luckily, Kris Hartner was able to join me for the first 3 hours on Zwift. The good thing about riding inside is you don't have to think about much except to keep spinning. Doing 6 hours on the trainer becomes more a mental challenge verses a physical challenge. I try to break it up by one hour at a time. Once you get your eating and drinking routine down, it actually makes the time go faster. Also if you keep telling yourself about how hard some races are or going to be (Dirty Kanza / Iowa Wind and Rock) you know that you have to keep at it. Most of the time I don't really care how many miles I am getting in on the trainer because I try to just concentrate on time. I know that I can't ride 140 miles at 23mph out on gravel!

Week #5 Oklahoma Gravel Growler

The Oklahoma Gravel Growler was a very nice little race in Shawnee, OK. With a field of around 250 participants, there was still a solid field. The Panaracer boys made racing happen right after the neutral rollout. Since we had a tailwind the first half of the race, the pace was strong. I kept having a little time getting my legs going plus we were pushing 30 mph on the flats at times. Once we got close to an hour into the race, I began to feel more comfortable. I pulled up to Alison Tetrick and we had the lead group insight. Unfortunately at 25 miles I flatted. Luckily my teammate, Roger Williams, stopped for me as I had to put a tube in and began the long day of chasing. Roger helped me get back to some of the groups, then I went off solo. At halfway into the race we turned back south = into the wind. This helped me since I was able to pull back most of the field. After quite a few miles into the race I had pulled up to the third group. We could see Alison and Brandon but couldn't close them in. About 4 miles from the finish all of my matches were burned up. The group started to make a few moves but my legs were shot. I finished up 10th. A little disappointed, but happy that I was able to reel in most of the field. Next race is March 2nd so I have some time to get miles in. Now Mother Nature has to cooperate and warm up!