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.

Week #31 Last big week before the Long Voyage - BIG July!

 

Week #30 - 612 miles

Well July turned out to be a big month. I got in 2,878 miles and averaged 92.8 miles per day. This is up 501 miles over July of last year. My big goal was 3,000 miles but I actually "rested" to much on the rest days of the Tour. Maybe next year! It is three weeks out until the Long Voyage. I feel like I am pretty prepared but still have to stick to my race plan. Since Cannonball 550 is the end of September, I want to be ready for that. In the next two weeks, I hope to finish riding the Long Voyage course. I am actually excited to ride that part because I haven't been down in the southern part of Nebraska. It is always good to find some new roads to explore.

Week #30 Tour de Plains GRVL Challenge DONE!

Week #29 - 589 miles

Well the Tour de Plains GRVL Challenge is in the books. Thanks to everyone who came out to ride and supported me along the way. This has been a really fun challenge and I hope to continue with it next year. I got really lucky with the weather for the most part of the 24 days. It was nice to go to different locations to get the rides in. Hopefully I was able to raise some money for the trails. We are really lucky in Lincoln to have such a cool trail system throughout the city and surrounding area. 

I was able to meet some big goals this month - 722 miles for one week and July will be my biggest month ever. I hope this will translate to a good Long Voyage in August and then carry on into September for Cannonball 550. Time now to recover a little!

 

Week #29 Two weeks down & one to go of the Tour de Plains GRVL Challenge

 

Week #29 - 689 miles

This was another big week of the Tour de Plains GRVL Challenge. Over 1,400 miles in the last two weeks but the legs are still hanging in there. We had a good group on Saturday roll out from Bike Masters over in Omaha. This was a big weekend with 122 miles on Saturday and then 126 miles today. Also a good amount of climbing both days. Today Tobin joined me for the first half but he had to head back since his legs just were not feeling it. Ended up reconing the last 88 miles of the Long Voyage and it is going to be hard. The last 60 miles are hilly (over 3,000 ft) and exposed to the sun. If it is hot, the course will be very tough after all those miles. With a rest day tomorrow, then only two days of 100+ miles to deal with. It has been really fun so far and hopefully we can get a good turnout on the final day.