Week #35 Recovery Week!

 

Week #34 - 439 miles

Well it took a few days to get my legs back but I feel like I have pretty much recovered from the Long Voyage. I was able to get in an easy 102 miles on Saturday with the folks around Weeping Water. Hopefully the next couple weeks I can get some solid miles in before Cannonball 550. I need to keep the fitness up but not overdo it. I will try to pack fairly light for it also, so that means only a couple more bags on the bike than I had for the Long Voyage. If Joe come along it will be nice to have someone to ride with. I hope that he will be able to make it through the second night. My main goal is to finish but I also want to minimize the stops to around 5 hours if possible. The course should be out in a few days so it will be interesting to see how hard it looks.

Week #34 Gravel Worlds Long Voyage

 

Week #33 - 552 miles

My second Long Voyage is done and it was hard. The first few miles started out at a casual pace then it was full gas. At 81 miles we stopped to refill bottles and broke the group up a bit. The mud section, broken aerobars, and a tire that bubbled inside were the only real issues that I had. Jeff Wills and I rode most of the course together but he was so strong on the flats and down hills that he pulled away from me over the last 40 miles. I do appreciate him letting me sit on his wheel for a large portion of the race. I tried to pull some but seriously I was just hanging on for dear life most of the time. I really tried to minimize the time off the bike, so around 20 minutes total. Super happy to get 6th overall and 2nd masters on a very fast day. Next up will be Cannonball 550 at the end of September. Really excited for this!

Week #33 A little recovery time

 

Week #32 - 404 miles

Went back to the Sandhills for a couple days to go to the county fair and relax a bit. It was nice to get a couple easy days in before the Long Voyage next week. After 8 weeks of 500+ mile weeks, I think I was ready for it. Now that I have been over almost all of the course, it will probably be a really hard race. The roads are in pretty good shape and it looks like there isn't going to be much wind. There is a slight chance of rain, but let's hope it is dry. A little rain on Tuesday would really help out and maybe settle the dust a little bit. The main thing is that I have to stick to the game plan and ride my own race. I know that I don't have to go out really hard and I will be able to reel people back in the later parts of the day. I have to remember that in about a month I have Cannonball 550 and I don't need to leave everything out there next weekend. 

WEEK #32 GRAVEL WORLDS LONG VOYAGE - 2 weeks out

 

Week #31 - 550 miles

We are two weeks out from the Long Voyage and I hope my preparation is ready. I have put in more miles than ever, going over 15,000 for the year this week. I also got over 135,000 miles on Strava the other day. Even though I didn't do a really long ride since IWAR, I have more 100+ milers (56 of them) to date. My main goal is to finish and not go out too fast. Hopefully the course will be dry but that will make it really fast. I want to try to work on my stops and make them as quick as possible. The goal is less than 15 minutes of stop time during the race. The hills at the end are going to be tough but I have rode them quite a few times. This should be really good prep for Cannonball 550 in September. I am really looking forward to challenging myself to that adventure.