Jack Training May

Saturday - May 02 - Went hard yesterday, and really felt it today. For some reason I had one of those days where riding just felt good, and I was seeking out hills and doing sprints excessively, just having a ball. Today was recovery time, so I went and rode in the park with Ben to warm up the legs for tomorrow. Came home and fell out . . . . should have used yesterday to start to taper, not go hard. Looking forward to tomorrow. I really wish I could have been able to get to Wintergreen - I was checking out every ones times after they had been posted. Hopefully after tomorrow I'll still have all of my skin and spokes intact !

Fort Lee Crit - It was fun - I came in 8th. After today I really want to cat up, if for nothing else so that I can gain more experience. Hats off to everyone else who races . . . . especially Bill. I am saddened that some kid caused him to crash, ending his time in a breakaway that looked like it would have gone the distance. Good job Jordan - I thought you had 3rd place in the bag. And thanks Ben for the beer and the ride. I'm sure those beers helped to make the stuff I yelled at the racers at least 30 decibels louder.
I'm hoping to see everyone out this Saturday - its been too long since the whole BWR and Renegade family has been united!

May 4th - Legs didn't feel too bad, but the rain surely sucked. I hope it doesn't rain all week. I'm not sure when the next race is, but I'm looking forward to it.
Today riding wise was loosening up and trying to to recover. Since I'm working in Fredericksburg for half the week I rode the trainer after coming back home. Picked up some new hospital issue recovery tights . . . . nothing new is really happening. Maybe a dog will chase me tomorrow or something else will happen to break the monotony. Who knows?

May 5th - It wasn't raining when I left for work - the sun even came out for a little bit. This made me think that the rain would not materialize today . . . . boy was I wrong. After work I headed north to Quantico in a steady downpour, all the while wishing I had fenders. That and anti fog glasses. Got a ride back to Fred, and upon arriving home jumped on the trainer to raise my body temp so that no illness would set in. All in all a good day, but this rain has to go.

May 6th - After tooling around for a while after work I decided to hit the park in search of some local racers who I could hopefully emulate and thus become a better rider. First I spotted Steve, but he had to rush home, so I could gain no training time with him. However, he informed me that Bill was deeper in the park. Upon meeting up with him I was initiated into the world of bookends. As he had a limited gear selection, I was able to catch him after his sprint, stay with him during the middle of the bookend, and chase once again during the last sprint. All in all it was a good experience. As I headed home I had to stop at GNC and eat a couple of protein bars - truthfully my legs felt shaky after commuting and bookending.
Hope to see a sunny day Saturday!

May 7th - Crazy winds today. I tried to find a route that would avoid the majority of the headwinds so I could recover . . . . it kinda worked. I found myself of roads with too much traffic which made me in turn go faster. I don't want to be burnt out later in the season. The good thing about today was that the sun did come out for a bit later on, so I extended the ride a little, going to Borders to look at different cycling magazines.

May 8th - Recovery day - shorter commute, then a ride to Central Park and back. There was one pretty interesting wreck on River Road, where a kid drove his car right off the road into the ditch/hill leading to the river. Also washed my helmet this morning in a hurry, and apparently didn't rinse it well enough. Suds and soap flavored sweat when I was really going hard.

May 9th - Ben, Joe and I led the way at the Massaponax Church Rd Classic this morning. Afterwards I had to work . . . . this sucked. Usually after a weekend ride I come home and piddle around in compression stockings . . . . not today. Kept busy at work, and afterwards I noticed I was smoked when I hit Central Park on the way home. A flat tire forced me to call for a ride. But later on, around 9 I got the itching to ride again, so I did a nighttime hour, finding the legs refreshed.

May 10th - After yesterday I thought I was in for a refreshing day of E riding . . . . wasn't meant to be. I heard that Joe and Gus had gone all the way to Richmond, so I knew Ben and I would have to at least spend some good time suffering lest our training fall behind. We did the White Oak loop, and then rode around Fredericksburg for a bit, hitting the hills at Fall Ave and on Cowan. Overall I had 50 some odd miles, not bad for a late starting ride. I'll most likely be a little off my game tomorrow, but hey, what better way to spend a mothers day?

May 11th - Time to recoup. Ankle felt a little weak after the last two days rides . . . . so I'm limping around, drinking protein shakes and dreaming of becoming a better rider. Rode only half of the commute today . . . . saw the police bike convoy on rt1 . . . . on their way to DC I guess. This sporadic rain is killing me . . . . hopefully it will dry up soon . . . .
In other news I picked up some new chamois cream . . . . after watching Bill slather up his chamois cream at the last race I decided to get some of my own. However, I'm working on a limited budget, so instead of buying some high tech cream, I went into the first aid kit at work and used some burn cream. After about 35 min of riding I noticed a pleasant numbness. At first I thought I was losing circulation to my vital parts, but upon closer inspection of the burn cream I found it contained lidocaine . . . if nothing else it was an interesting sensation.

May 12th - LSD ride. Still felt pain in the ankle. but its not too bad. Kinda chilly day even though the sun was out. Rode a little bit in the park. Not too much to report. Was a little dehydrated today, judging by the color of my urine. It it wasn't for the water fountain by the tennis courts I'd be toast . . . .

May 13th - Rode around the park after work, waiting to see who would show. I got there a little early and had a few miles in when I met Jeff, Bill, and Jinks, and later Ed and Andre. Did the hill sprint workout . . . . I'm tired as I write this. Lucky for me the guys are generous with the gu's and cliff bars . . . if not for that I might be in a severe bonk in a ditch somewhere. Thanks. Good luck to all racers this weekend . . . .

May 14th - Recovery ride, legs still felt good . . . . looking forward to this weekend.

May 15th - Seeing as I'll be riding back and forth tomorrow to the ride at MCR, and once there fending off attacks from experienced renegades and BWR'ers alike, I only did a minimal ride today. Tomorrow I'll get some big miles, and then do a LSD ride sunday.

May16th - It was an all around good ride - really nice to have the BWR guys out. After today I realized I need to work on being smooth overall . . . . the group rides are really to my benefit bc no one is around during a commute to correct me. Aside from that I was bored to tears for the rest of the day. I don't know that having the TT helmet made me any faster, but I sure as hell tried to be fast on the way home . . . .

May17th -Recovery day . . . . aside from the riding this weekend I've been bored . . . . after some riding today I decided to have a little bit of whiskey. So, after pouring a little bit and downing it I noticed it had no "bite", almost as if it wasn't alcohol at all. Then I realized my younger sister must have replaced the whiskey with iced tea or something last time she was home. So I peered down into the bottle to see some moldy growth developing, which made me a little sick to my stomach. I'll stick to spike shooters and protein shakes from here on out.

May 18th - Interesting day. Got the race info from Bill and Jeff . . . . . wish I coulda been there to show my true cat 5 spirit. Got a new set of wheels - they felt really smooth . . . . smooth enough that after tomorrow race I won't look forward to putting my old ones back on. Got cursed out by a older man driving a red truck, and then in the park when I passed an old man walking he threw a jab in my direction! I have to be careful about the people in the park . . . . they get into a zone out there amongst the civil war relics. Went by Bills, and then Ed's . . . . sorry to both you guys and your families if I smelled at all - commuting will do that to you.
In other news I must have developed some sort of illness from the "whiskey" I drank yesterday. I had no appetite, which is unusual for me, and couldn't manage to drink enough to get clear urine. Hopefully I'll be ok tomorrow . . . .

May 19th - Training crit - good race - it left me so tired that this will have to be a short post. It was nice to have another renegade face in the peloton. If only Joe could make it to the next one . . . . . the three of us might really hurt them then. The course itself wasn't too bad . . . . I ended up chasing and trying to get into a breakaway . . . . had a good chance when it was myself and two Natures Path guys. But working together doesn't really exist at the Cat 5 . . . . too bad for all of us. Riding back with Bill was another opportunity for me to learn . . . . next time I'll be more wise when it comes to "burning my matches", so B racers everywhere watch out !

May 20th - E miles, trying to recover. No easy task either . . . . I'll still be recovering tomorrow by the feel of my legs. But, it won't be in vain because I plan on doing a longer ride Friday in order to catch a bus from DC to NYC . . . . I'll be up north this weekend for a wedding, but I'll be back in Richmond next week . . . . hope to see more blue and white kitted riders out!

May 21st - Short ride today, because tomorrow will be long. Riding to DC after work to catch the bus outta Chinatown into NYC for the weekend. Will be back in time for the training crit next weekend . . . . just glad its not me getting hitched . . . . good luck to everyone racing and training this weekend!

May 22 - 23th - Rode to the nearest metro station after work on Friday. Got into NYC late that night, and didn't get much rest. Felt ok the next day, but with all the running around getting ready for the wedding I had to do a short ride. I'm staying in NJ, and the terrain is has alot more uphills, so I'm going to use that to my advantage. I'm looking forward to getting back to VA so I can resume my usual training regime.

May26th - After a couple of fays in NYC and NJ playing basketball, riding, doing wedding stuff and drinking I needed to come back to VA and settle back into a rhythm. Tonite was the Bryan Park training race . . . . I almost didn't go because the intense games of basketball I played left my legs quite sore. I did a little ride this morning, just to test the water . . . . I had decent form, but couldn't get my speed up to where it should be. The race went off well enough . . . . I ended up doing work in the front, but couldn't close as many gaps as before. Also, my bike computer malfunctioned before the race, so I was going using only intuition. The fatigue may have been a good thing for me, because I had to use what power I had wisely. All said and done I was happy, even though I sat up in the end . . . . . there is always next week. Big thanks to Scott for letting em catch a ride with him, and for the interesting convo during the trip.

Hope to see some BWR jersies this weekend and next week too!

27th - Legs felt good today, almost as if the race had flushed out some of the remaining fatigue. the original plan was to go to the park, but I needed to retrieve my old wheels so that I'm not always riding on the new ones. Got that done, came home and changed the cassette, and then it was about time for bed. Bill had spoken about how after a race sometimes it is hard for the body to shut down and sleep at night - I had a touch of that last night. Hopefully tonight will bring solid rest.

28th - Okay day - little bit of riding, little bit of resting, just to make sure the legs aren't taxed out this Sunday. Switched the wheels so now I'm using the older, heavier wheels . . . . kinda sad to not be riding in style anymore. It was also quite humid today with the showers coming and going . . . . . not really to much to report overall. Tomorrow is going to be a longer E ride type day so that I can get some saddle time in and get my mind prepared for the race this Sunday. I hope to bring some of my family out so that I can get them to cheer for BWR and Renegades alike . . . . .

29th - Nice ride today, even if part of it was in the rain. Big thanks to Bill for the vest . . . ! I actually though that it would rain for longer. The pattern seems to be that it will rain and then dry up quickly, leaving everything that much more humid for the next day. Tomorrows ride will be a shorter one to open the legs for Sunday . . . . .good luck to everyone racing, and see you then!

30th - Routine ride - shorter so that I can hold my own tomorrow. This week has been awkward for me - after my time in NY it was hard for me to get back into a decent rhythm.
I'm praying for good results tomorrow - it would be nice to tell everyone that I did well when they see me.

31th - Good job to Joe and Ken today. I had a good race, but in the end the podium places went to better men. Hopefully the guys from Rt 1 velo forgive me for egging them on during the race - sometimes I just can't help it. I get super excited during the races . . . . I'm glad that I now know I need a 53 - thanks Jeff for finally counting it for me. Had you not done that I would probably have ridden that crankset until it fell apart. So, it was a good race day, made better by Bens beer and getting to watch everyone else race. I'm going to recover as best I can tonight, e ride tomorrow, and then do my best to terrorize the B race on tuesday.