Only a few days left
Like it or not, this is it. With only a few days to go, you are where you are going to be Saturday morning. At this point, you can do more damage than good, if not careful. Maintenance is key, but now the final pieces have to come together.
This morning was a quick (very quick) 41 miles, with a hard deliberate pace. Maybe a little too hard at times, but I had to get the bench mark. The bike is still making a funny noise, so it will be back in the shop tomorrow afternoon. With the forecast calling for warm weather, I'm doing morning and evening spins without any fan assistance. The heat is my Achilles Heal. I struggle in the climbs, but throw in the heat and I really struggle. I still need a couple short rides, with some easy tempo type stuff. Hopefully tomorrow night I can do an easy 32 mile loop out to the lake and follow it up with another easy one Wednesday.
The indoor spin bike has really been helpful this year. This is sometimes hard when you're doing it by yourself, but I set a pretty solid routine to follow. Hard enough that it get things moving, but not so hard that I lose form. In fact, the one thing I most focus on when spinning is pedal stroke form. Knees direct in line. Trying to maintain a near circular motion, with the shoes flat at all times. Doing an interval pace also helps me maintain a good position when having to make a seated sprint - all of a sudden. If you practice with poor form, you ride with poor form. No bueno.
Group assignments are final, with start times and bib numbers. Rolling at 07:06, Mens 45+ Cat V, B - 1100 series. That late of a start means I'll have to really be disciplined to hook on to groups and work my way up into the race. More than half of the riders, in fact nearly 2/3 of them will be in front of me. My goal is to catch at least on tandem before the top of Salt River. They start at 06:00, so they'll have an hour and change on me. Still, they can't climb, I mean even slower than me. But boy can they descend.
I'll break thing down in the next day or two. You need to have a strategy and hopefully mine works.
Ride Hard! & please donate.................................
