Adventures of the Northwest

Track Training and the RAPSody Volunteer Pre-Ride rappin'...

Last night I was out on the track participating in the Thursday night Track Training, as I do every week. It is so much fun to see the familar faces each week: Gregg, Pat, Jane, Jill, John and Brian among others. Last night John put a 15 T Cog on my bike. My friends said that I looked much smoother with my riding. I felt I was able to stay on a tire with MUCH more ease. I felt my breathing was slower - i.e. less spinning was occurring - and ,in general, I felt I was riding stronger in a sense. So Hyun made us do a really good drill. It was half laps of standing up and sitting down. So we 'sprinted' for half a lap sitting then 'sprinted' for half a lap standing up. We did 4 laps total (1 mile). It was completely exhausting but such a great workout! Jill immediately said - I know what I need to do this winter. YEP! That was my feeling exactly. I KNOW what I need to do this winter - LOTS of butt pounding, sweating like a pig, focused, obsessed, move it 'till you lose it, pedal until you drop, never done before, don't know if I'll live through it but chances are I'll be stronger if I keep it up, good ol' heart thumpin' training!! Interval training, roller training, front brake on my fixed gear - ride around the lake - training and ride with my new race team on weekend training rides. On top of that I need to just plain old have fun riding, cross-country skiing, hiking and anything else I can do. It should be a lot of fun especially since Jane, Jill and I will be on the same team to train together, encourage each other and have fun.

When we ended the class, John asked some of us 'veterans' if we would be interested in assisting to help train a class on the 14th. Sure! That sounds like fun! I would love to do that. So I will be doing that on the 14th. Afterwards, he stated next year we can assist a couple other classes as well. So next year I'll have even more fun things to look forward to! Jill, Gregg and I also spoke with Hyun about Wednesday night racing. It appears the MVA board is working hard on getting a Cat 4 group of women setup for Wednesday nights - especially next year - but that they are ok with us holding back, for Mondays, for the rest of the year. We will see... it seems it is kind of a flip flop about this but Jill, Jane and I are feeling comfortable with Mondays and working hard on Wednesdays. Then, Hyun suggested that next year we could do a couple Monday nights and then immediately go up to Wednesday nights. He also said then maybe by the end of the year we will do Friday night races. It all sounded good to Gregg, Jill and I. I think we are all psyched up for next year!

Off I go... to get ready for my 168 mile RAPSody Volunteer Pre-Ride this weekend. I don't know what shape I'll be in for Monday night's race. I sooooo want to just pound the pavement and see how fast I can go on this ride and see how strong I can go but I know it will hurt me for Monday night. I think I'll hold back a bit - maybe practice some sprinting on Saturday. I may try to be in a gear comparable to the fixed gear and practice sprinting. Then, take it real easy on Sunday so I can rest up a bit for Monday. :) We will see how that will work and see how dead I am on Monday... it will be interesting especially with my new gearing. :)

Stay fixed and keep pedaling! :)

posted by Seattlebiker @ 5:59 PM