First off, I am not doing as many rides. Throughout winter and spring, my ride strategy was: RIDE EVERY TIME WEATHER ALLOWS. Here in Georgia it does get cold wet and windy, but those days are usually interspersed with mild sunny somewhat unseasonably warm days. So you have to be ready for all of it, and unless it is pissing down cold rain, you better take advantage of acceptable riding conditions when you can. This year the winter was fairly mild. Lots of warm days, not too much rain, and the wind was even cooperating more than in years past. Still, since you can never tell when the streak of good weather may end, the sense of urgency to ride from January through the end of April is high. So I rode a lot over winter/spring. A lot for me anyway. Now that I am using the Stavistix plug in to enhance my Strava stats, I am able to see where I am mileage-wise compared to years past, to the day. Definitely did some work this winter. UPSIDE: I can tell that the work paid off.
Secondly I'm not working towards any immediate goals right now. Through winter there were a few organized rides happening in spring that were always percolating in the back of my mind to work towards. They were the Atlanta Cycling Festival Bicycle Camping ride, Athens Twilight Criterium - The Gambler ride, and the Jackson County Brevet. But right now there are no organized rides on my agenda. This could change quickly though, as this is the forst year that I have been keeping a spreadsheet of upcoming charity rides so that I can actually make plans. So I'll be making a late summer - fall plan soon. No, Six-Gap (well, 3 Gap for me) will not be part of my plans, but it is on my radar as a long term goal.
Lastly, I'm kind of bored with riding all the same places, so I needed to change things up a bit. To do this, I finally got a new KONA BLAST mountain bike, and I've been hitting the woods.
Getting back on a mountain bike has been awesome. Lots of shade in the woods so riding is cooler, and being in the woods makes me feel great. No buyers remorse at all on the bike, it is the nicest I've ever had. In addition to hitting the trails I've also developed a little liking for pump tracks.
But lets get back to talking about going slow.
Right now, when I am riding, I have been deliberately turning easier gears. I've been thinking about and trying different techniques. I've been working on different positions on the bike. I've been standing up to pedal more than in the past. I've been choosing easy, fun routes.
Right now on my road bike rides, I'm taking it easy on the flats and downhills, but putting stronger efforts into the climbs. I'm hoping that it will have an effect of making my overall rides as fast or faster than I've been doing, but sort of tricking myself into feeling like I haven't used as much energy, since I will go for long periods in chillmode between climbs. usually I am giving a decent effort on the flats and downhills and then automatically go into "high torque high cadence" mode on the climbs. Now I am telling myself that I am strong enough that I should be turning a higher gear on the climbs, getting my butt out of the saddle and attacking them. Plenty of time to rest on the other side. We'll see how this works out.
I'm also breaking out ye Olde GT Talera for some rides. Always a pleasure cruise on that contraption. I'll wear my wal-mart imitation crocs when I go Talera. That will insure that no aggressive riding will happen. It is my "Forget Strava and just have a good time" bike. Of course I still log the ride though.
I'm cool with slowing down my riding in most aspects right now. I had a great winter and spring so I'm due for getting back to ENJOYING the ride again, rather than having each session come off like work. I'll get back to workmode soon enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment