Thumping

I've been on the run the past few days. I'm in the middle of a pretty hectic couple weeks of training and I'm definitely feeling it. On Thursday I made a hike up to the infamous MT. Lemmon, I only had some quick threshold intervals to do, so I only went up to mile 11(of 29).

I forgot how nice it is up there. Its hard to believe this whole area thousands of years ago was all covered in water as an inland ocean. The whole area has its distinct look because of this, and even most of MT Lemmon is the way it because it in fact was covered under water. The higher you climb the colder it gets, and the terrain changes from Tucson-like dessert shrub, to plains and rolling terrain, to full on forest BC like trees where the ski area is at the top of the mountain. Its really a beautiful ride.

So the next day after a hard week was the Prologue of the Tucson Bicycle classic. I intended that stage/day to be a rest day as it was only like 6km. I figured I would spin there, ride my heart out and spin back for like a decent 3.5ish hour ride. WRONG

So somehow the winds on that particular day picked up like insane insane crazy. Usually a 45 minute ride, turned into a 1.5 hour ride.....just to get to the frigging Prologue spot. The winds combined with the rush hour traffic, combined with the traffic from the train that scoots through Tucson left this guy realizing he might miss his prologue time!(Anyone who has seen trains in the South knows you can wait at a railway track for like....20 minutes easy)

Anyway so I was doing the math in my head as I was riding and getting closer and thought.....oh no, so I steadily picked up the pace faster and faster. Eventually I was riding and feeling like I was going no-where fighting with the winds going over Gates Pass(picture the T-hill climb x 3-4km).

The time trial to the time trial was like a half hour of hard as I could go. I managed to roll into the starting area huffing and puffing as my 30-second man went down the ramp!

I threw off my helmet, popped on my TT helmet and got onto the start ramp and promptly rolled off with no-one holding me hopping on my bike and clipping in as I rolled down the start ramp. I rode the TT as hard as I could even though I was cooked beyond belief. Complete with saddle bag.

So I ended up 38th of 44. Which is pretty horrible. I would rather that place, however than missing a start time!

In my own defence. To put it in perspective how strong the winds were/traffic cluster, I rode to the same area where the TT was a couple days later for the Circuit race, leaving at the same time and I had enough time to get a coffee and sit for 20 minutes before the Circuit started.

So I was pretty cooked. My rest day, turned out to not be very restful.

The next day we had a 130ish km RR which had a gradual climb and super fast downhill. Being the second race of the year the intensity was killing me! After a long week with 5 of the 6 training days being intense I definatly was feeling the pace.

Right off the gun, in the first 15 minutes I noticed a break go off the front with most of the teams being represented. I said to myself "Ryan, this is the break you want to be in" So I lunged out of the pack and tried to bridge up to break. I got about 5 -7 seconds from the break-away when I looked back and a guy had done the same and was riding with me. Unfortunately he had brought the pack with him and my attempt to get into the break was all for not.

From there the day just got worse and worse. The legs kept up with the crazy accelerations and I was doing fine. Josh was sitting in a top 20 spot in the GC, only a couple seconds out, so I worked the front of the main pack with a couple other guys to try to bring back the break, which I just mentioned. It was pretty negative racing as the only two teams who could actually help just ended up messing everything up and fighting amongst their team-mates and yelling at everyone. It really was childish racing.

After some time on the front the pack split up again and I found myself in a bad position. My legs were just so cooked I couldn't make the second split and I was relegated to the second part of the break. Luckily Josh was in the middle pack, and had a decent day there.

The accumulation of the bad day was when I then got a flat on the last lap and had to chase to get back into the end-group. The neutrel wheel car didnt have a SRAM cassette in the back of the truck. So, he had to go into the of the cab of the truck to grab it. Of course the truck had automatic locking doors and it took awile before both the guys could get the frigging wheel out of the truck.

What a way to end the day. Your legs are cooked beyond belief, you have an insane head wind up a climb, and you just got a flat. I kept saying to myself " Ryan, well your the last guy in the race.....the last guy in the GC" What a day.

Eventually I made it back into the group and finished 22nd of 45ish on the day. Still like 15 minutes back from the winning break.

The next day was a 50mile Circuit race. I was barely alive as I pedalled to the course. I was offered drives by a couple other races but for some reason I wanted to ride there. The idea of just coasting to warm up for an hour at like 20km/h was sooooooooo appealing.

As I was riding I was pretty much falling asleep I was so cooked. As I mentioned I went to coffee shop and got an espresso and sat in the sun and enjoyed it before getting involved in the pain I knew was on the horizon. Luckily the espresso kicked in and I started to feel great!

The Circuit started like a bat out of hell. Instantly off the line guys attacked. The pack was strung out within the first 15 seconds and I found myself in my drops staring at the wheel in front of me thinking ...."Holy shit....there is no way I'm going to survive"

I know its negative, but its not that you just give up, its simply your legs cannot pedal any harder or faster.....in your mind the logical thing to do is to pull over on the side of the road in the dessert and have a nap in the dirt.

The pace was pretty insane the whole race. I really had to work the pack to stay in and lots of guys simply dropped off. There was a gradual climb which the Slipstream Devo guys just hammered up. I had to go into the pain cave that's for sure.

A group of guys split the pack and I found myself in no position to try to get in it. After the week of hard training and racing I was so so so cooked. The race ended fast, but not insanely fast and I stuck in it finishing in the second group. I think overall I got 28th of 35 or something.

Josh did great getting into the break and finishing 6th on the day. I think 13th? overall. In the money!

The race was obviously nothing to scream about for me. the main goal now is to try to recover from the intensity and try to come out stronger. I took yesterday completely off, and I think I might just go for a spin today. Yesterday the resting HR was pretty high which is normal after so much intensity, but today its back down and lower than I've ever seen it at 36bpm.

The rest of the week has some pretty big rides with riding from Wednesday all the way until Monday(I think) Lots of hours and a couple 6 hours days I think. I'm going to try to get to the top of Lemmon at least once and to the Madera climb a few times, in prep for Tour of Gila which is basically all climbing. Then we head to California again!

Over and Out!