Training Log Archive: veinbuster

Pre dawn river ride. Today was an interesting test of handling skills. The wooded part of the northern trail was covered with snow that had melted and frozen a few times, and was frozen this morning. It was much easier to ride in the snowy parts than in the frozen trail of two riders from a previous day. The snow would break under my weight and give my tires something to grab. It was good to see two signs up on the fence across the trail since my last ride this way. There is no missing it now.

The steeper hills on the short single track section were very challenging with a frozen surface. Even the flatter parts demanding because of the wide variation in grip, with none of it really good. Good fun though and a compelling case for a fat bike.

The Aurora trail was a very different beast. They are going to need to think about the drainage because there are a number of sections of glare ice, some a good 20m long. Most of the trail is below grade and in the summer would pond until the water found its way into the ground. Now it just sits and freezes. I was getting around it pretty well and just as I was thinking: "at least I'm not on a track spec fixie like my first ride on the Calgary path with flight", I came to a stretch where trees blocked me from getting of the path - a meter from safety: kaboom. I got me right thigh out and caught the block of the impact evenly between my knee and hip bone just before my head's momentum gave it a good crack on the ice - thank goodness for good helmets or it would have been lights out for a few minutes. As it is, if my blood is thick enough I'll escape without a bruise big enough to have my winter riding privileges revoked.

I did take the next good exit to the road to head home. Within 100m of the seniors centre I met an old gentleman walking about an inch an hour trying to make it safely back from Tim Hortons.

C • Yikes!! 2

River walk with Mrs. She wanted to see some of the sights but was not interested in taking her bike out. Nor did she want to ride on the trainer again. We did stop for another hot chocolate test and did not find it inspiring. The best is still at home. Mrs. was pleased that the hour and half did not include the break time.

Day 3 soloflex.
I was hoping it would warm up a bit while I was on the weight bench because it looks beautiful on the horizon, but still -11C.

Dips and chin ups were quite strong today - enough for me touch the roof. That made them a bit harder because I had to control the pull up more carefully.

Day 2 free weights and 200 pushups (in 3 sets) + abs

Sufferfest: Angels - four high effort sessions, three on climbs. I did the climbs at 3%.

I picked this one because a new version is out tomorrow and I wanted to judge if it worth getting an update of the program. I seem to be heavily weighted to longish hard intervals, so perhaps not, but the one I have does have a very early interface.

My heart monitor did not give up today. I wiped the heart area dry in each recovery section which may have helped. I also minimized my position on the saddle, most notably shifting up front periodically.

Power: avg-165, max-291 sprinting at the end of the last climb.

Day 1 free weights + abs

Programmed the Canmore Fondo short route into the trainer. A transcription error in my distance scale had me shorten it from 60km to 49.1, with a corresponding increase in slopes. If anything it should mean the actual ride would be a bit easier since for me the climb grade is the most significant feature. I started climbs slightly early and descents slightly late which resulted in a net ascent of 50-60 m. Total ascent a bit under 600 m.

This ride is well within my limits. There is only one climb that might require the Greenspeed.

Once again my heart monitor cut out at about 50 minutes, so I'm going to have to find a solution for that. It is only a trainer issue and I suspect it is the result of soaking the strap in sweat. The average rate is what I was at before it cut out. That was shortly after the longest climb.

Power: avg-161, max-291

Pretty happy with the power given that I was riding moderately because I was programming the course during the ride and consciously going at a sustainable pace.