Countdown Week 9

Training Week 9 is complete.  We did more mileage than last week, but still haven’t gotten back up to our 311 miles we did in Week 12.   But Dennis Morris did tell us not to over train.   Maybe Ivan has the right idea – he says he’s just going to get in shape on the ride, and we’re going through all this pain for what?  Maybe we just like pain.  (No, we just like the pain killers, i.e. BEER).  Totals for this week:

Miles:  270.48

Riding time:  16.25 hours

Average Speed:  16.65 mph

Overall a 20% increase in mileage over Week 10 and did this taking 2 days off    After our initial “baptism” in the Arizona Monsoons, we managed to escape another encounter with Mother Nature.  We were prepared for it though – started carrying a towel and tarp, and of course, our rain jackets.  But these last three days we’ve been lucky.  Yesterday we had just finished up a 70 miler and were actually toying with the idea about putting in another 10 to make it 80 but decided to call it quits.  Good thing – about 30 minutes after we got back to the trailer all hell broke loose in the skies.  As I wrote this post, the rain was pummeling down and thunder and lightning was crackling all about us.  It was SO wonderful to be inside looking out at it!

MONSOON MADNESS

The monsoon season in the Arizona highlands was in full swing this week.  On Tuesday in particular….we headed out for a 60+ mile ride knowing full well there were thunderstorm cells out there.  Nexrad weather radar was showing them more to the east of us so we were hopeful, but 6 miles into the ride our hopes were dashed.  Fortunately we had stopped to put on our rain jackets just before this because we were chilly and heading for a downhill.  Well…it rained and rained and rained.  For a brief period on the first half of this ride the rain stopped and the sun came out and our jackets started to dry, but then the weather came back with a vengeance.  About 3 miles from our turn-around point/rest stop we had to abandon the bike and jump into a gully under some trees because the lightning was striking so close. We were actually down on all fours trying to be “small” as to not attract the lightning.  Too much fun….  At the Chevron station (our turnaround), we took shelter inside drinking hot coffee and tea while the skies torrentially unloaded for almost an hour.  The Chevron clerk felt sorry for us and gave us free refills.  Finally after over an hour the rain (and thunder and lightning) subsided enough for us to brave out into the elements again, just 32 miles to go to get back to camp.  We were wet and cold so we rode like hell to get warm.  Got rained on  more but didn’t have to jump into any more ditches to avoid getting electrified.    Maintained a 17.2 mile average for the 65 miles.

Today is only supposed to be 20% chance of rain but looking out, it seems very likely that "baby the rain will fall".  Hmmmm....may be time to move on somewhere drier....

Week 10 and counting down

We moved this week from our spot in the Coconino Forest off E. Frontier Road to another spot in the Morman Lake District of the Coconino, 5 miles south of Morman Lake.  This area is really nice; meadow with pines dispersed throughout.  Definitely more sun than before and farther away from town.  The nearest “store” is at Morman Lake Village, about 8 miles to the north, or at Clints Well, 20 miles to the south.  Rick is happy because we can get Lumberjack IPA at the Clints Well store.  The Internet service is less than stellar though…

The ride from our campsite to Clints Well is more hilly than before.  We did it Thursday, about 42 miles round trip to the store and back, and 1770 feet of climbing, most of which is on one LONG hill.   It really taxed our quads.   Then we went out again in the late afternoon for another 20, gluttons for punishment.   Friday we opted for driving the car down to the Morman Lake Village Road and riding down to the Chevron Station north of our old haunt.  Less hills and that Chevron Station has Lumberyard too.  Bought a 6 pack and a bag of chips and headed back up the road, only to be stopped by thunder, lightning, and rain for about 20 minutes. We hid out in some trees to let the lightning pass us by.  It was a good ride today, especially since we both were feeling our muscles at the beginning and we still managed to get 52 miles in with only 10 in the rain.  Oh, and Rick’s altimeter watch clocked this ride at 1870 feet of climbing, so it was actually more hills, just more spread out!

This week’s total was slightly less than last week’s:  225 miles total, 13 hours riding time, 17.24 average.  We are still recovering from the time trial with Dean Marvin and the century ride last week!

We will be off today and tomorrow, volunteering at the Northern Arizona Celtic Festival.  It will be good to let the muscles rest!

Week 11: Not as Many Miles BUT...

This week's mileage was not as high as expected or as easy. We took 3 days off with only one (Today) due to rain. It's feels ok to end a ride in rain which happened Monday in the last half mile uphill to the Xterra. It has always amazed me how wet you can get in 4 minutes. But in my mind it's hard to start a ride in the rain if you don't have too. Another good reason to not start a ride in the rain was yesterdays (Friday) ride with my old Albuquerque riding buddy Dean Marvin. Dean came up Thursday to escape the heat in Tucson and scout the race course for the Mormon Lake Road Race in late August.

We train with heart rate monitors and try to stay in a certain range for base building. Occasionally we exceed the planned range up hill or to bridge up to a rider ahead. I know better but catching a 25 year old is so much fun. The other problem is a HRM that is giving us trouble. I have 2 monitors for my heart rate, one that I can see, and one that Lee D can see.  So she has both her and my heart rate on her bars to watch. It is her job to keep up with me or slow down her output as I do. This keeps the workload on the tandem equal. Yea I trust her to keep up, plus I've been riding a tandem so long I know when someone is slacking.

Now that you have a concept of our training, re-enter Mr. Marvin. For many years Dean and Lee (Dean's wife, stoker, etc; not my partner Lee D) and  I trained together and no matter what tried to hammer each other. Hammer in this instance is not smashing a finger, it is hurting or pushing your riding mates to make them stronger or trying to kill them. Well unfortunately for our training plan (nice low heart rates) old habits die hard for me. We rode hard to bridge up to Dean after almost every uphill blowing our training plan, but it was fun and it hurt and Lee D loved it. So for it to be raining this morning was probably a good thing since we did 50 miles in 2:35 or 19.4 average hanging with Dean. A little early for this speed over this terrain. Needed a rest day.

So we only did 229.3 miles this week
12.8 hours of riding
17.9 mph average for the week

So we had two firsts this week, the Century and our fastest average speed 19.4, in a 50 mile ride.

No Pain, No Gain (First Century in Years)

Normally I've just been posting just once a week now that we're into the training so as not to bore everyone with all the minute details.  BUT yesterday's training ride demands some recognition.  For the first time in 27 years for me, and 6 or 7 years for Rick, we have ridden a Century (100 miles).  Wahoo!!

We started out early in the day so as to complete our ride before the monsoons hit around 1 or 2 pm.   This was our "Lake Mary Road Century" - up and down Lake Mary Road, up and down Lake Mary Road, up and down....

First up and back was 50 miles at a 17.4 mph pace.  Felt strong.  Stopped at the car and had lunch, then headed out for another ???? miles (I was hoping for another 40, then do the last 10 going the other direction from the car).  However, for some reason (heat or fatigue?) my stupid neck started bothering me again so we had to cut the second up and back to just 31 miles, plus I had to stop twice to massage and stretch my aching neck.

So we got back to the car and decided to drive down to the Chevron station and get some beer and chips.  Rick figured that was it for the day - 81 miles, although I know he really wanted 100 (so did I!).  When we got back to our parking place before we turn down our forest road, I suggested we sit in the car and drink a beer or two, eat the chips and see how we felt; maybe we could get that additional 19 miles after.

Yay, beer!!  What a great painkiller and muscle relaxer.  After that, I felt like I could do the remaining miles. So we rode out to the county park and back and still needed 7 miles, so back up Lake Mary Road we go, stopping for ice cream at the Country Store.  That ice cream got me back the final 3.5 miles to the car and there we had it, 100.3 miles, ride time 5:45.

For those of you wondering about this Lake Mary Road, it's a wonderful smooth road with "rollers" and a few climbs, great shoulder and nice views of the lake, trees, mountains, meadows.  Here are some photos.

Countdown Week 12 - Addiction setting in

Week 12 and counting down....Well, I never would have expected this, BUT I think I/we are getting ADDICTED to riding the bike.  This week we rode 4 days in a row and had to talk ourselves into taking a day off!  We woke up day 5 and had to really convince ourselves that it would be better not to ride that day.  Otherwise our mileage would've increased too much for the week.  We have to be careful not to get up to the target mileage too soon.  This is crazy - I never would've expected this.  But it's okay because I am more certain everyday that we will do this ride and the way we're going now, we'll do it fairly strong.  Rick is starting to talk about throwing in a time trial in early September, just to add to the fun of it all (????!!!!!).  We'll see....

Guest riders this week:  Mark Garko from Plumosa Road/Quartzsite road with us one day.  He spends the summer up here at Flagstaff.  Also Dennis and Lindsey Morris stopped by on their way to San Diego and road with us 2 days.  One of these days was July 4/Rick's birthday and we did 59 miles for his age.  Everybody called to wish him Happy Birthday while the phone was in the bike bag.

Dennis says he thinks we're peaking too early.  He's pretty smart about these things since he's done so many long rides.  Rick says he'd rather be over trained physically so all we have to worry about is failure from a mental standpoint.

Bicycle maintenance this week:  Rick replaced the bearings in both rear wheels we carry; cleaned the chains, chain ring, cog sets.  He found some tires he didn't know he had.  We also fixed a flat for a nice lady stranded on our road (Diane Goodyear from Tucson; she wants to do El Tour de Tucson this year; we advised her she should carry a patch kit and learn how to change a flat!)

Total mileage for this week:  311.23, 18.15 hours riding time; 17.15 mph avg. speed
Longest ride:  61.5 miles
Fastest ride:  40 miles in 2:08, 18.75 mph avg.  (Our 40 mile ride has about 1400' of climbing in it.)


We're still working on our weight loss; however, as I write this we are contemplating going out in search of beer....gotta carbo-load for tomorrow!!