Monday, April 21, 2008

Training Update 4-21-08

It's been a good week. With 7 days left until my race I've been able to stay on track and get consistent riding in. I normally would have been tapering last week, but due to my late start this year I needed it to bump up my fitness and intensity in addition to getting used to the mountain bike. Tuesday was a beautiful 70 degree day, the warmest of the year. I had my bike built up by mid-afternoon and loaded it up on the Midget using a makeshift rack clamped to the convertible top frame.





For my first ride on the dirt I headed to nearby Marshal Mesa. The riding is short and leaves much to be desired, but it's good training and newly opened trails were calling my name. More importantly I wanted to be able to stop by the Midget on each lap to tune my the new Fox F100 fork and make other adjustments. It was monotonous, but I got the bike dialed and enjoyed the new trails and warm top down weather.





Wed, Thurs, Friday and today were all high intensity mountain bike rides. Five rides isn't ideal for getting race-ready on the mountain bike after a winter of road riding, but it's all I have. My tech skills are still being awakened, but for the circumstances I feel good. I'm digging the F100 fork, but am still finding the edge of my new tire. I'm at a complete loss as to how I'll stack up against the competition in Greenbrier next weekend. In the grand scheme of things, this race is really nothing more than an exaggerated training event, but I am having trouble not caring about my results. The many unknowns including my own fitness level, inflamed knee, and competition have been haunting me.

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