Saturday, May 8, 2010

Long Live Junk Miles

I got out for an hour and a half on Thursday. Just me, the Look, 60 degree temps and some of Southeast Michigan's finest roads (well, to those of you who live in the area, that last one is kinda a joke). I haven't thrown a leg over the old steed in a little over two weeks, so this was a long time coming. There is nothing like a nice ride by yourself to clear your head. No agenda, no program, no plans, the only thing dictating my effort was my own mood. I even ended up chatting with another cyclist as we made our way west and, in the process, discovered a couple new routes. That doesn't happen if you're on a "plan" or are sticking to a training regime.

This ride, by it's very definition, is what a lot of cyclists call "junk miles." I agree that the racing benefits of these unregimented rides may be debatable, but I think they are exactly what I needed mentally. And, as we all know, if you aren't up to par mentally, you won't be competitive. So, if you're feeling a little stale, I strongly encourage a spontaneous spin, break free from the fetters of your training program - your brain will thank you.

Long Live Junk Miles!!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Road Racing? Probably not gonna happen.

My planned road racing "season" ("season" because I was planning on a shortened road season to allow for more focus on cyclocross) is quickly going the way of the dodo. With 55-60 hours of work per week, an aging home that constantly requires work (UGH!) and wanting to spend time with my wife and daughter, I guess something had to give. Riding one day a week for 2 hours doesn't exactly build the kind of fitness required for road racing. Over the last three weeks, my bike has gone from a finely tuned road racing machine to a high performance, carbon fiber clothes drying rack. Sad.

Well, technically I do have some availability, I could get up at 4:30 or 5:00 AM and ride the trainer for an hour every morning, but I HATE riding the trainer when the weather is nice. And, quite frankly, I'm pretty sick of it. I'm starting to think there's no such thing as balance, just fluctuations from one extreme to the other. Either I have lots of time to ride or absolutely none. Unfortunately, the most recent trend has been no time to ride and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Oh well, you know what they say, "there's always next season"!