mission complete

sorry...no pictures to so with the post...i really need a new camera

finished out the weekend with 4 rides and 12hrs.

turkey day ride was shorter than i wanted but a great road ride...2.5hrs at a nice casual pace

friday was another road ride and a little longer one...ended with 3hrs and just a tad under 60 mile

saturday was 3hr mtb ride at clear springs...rode all 3 trails with no stopping...great workout and perfect weather.

sunday was the combo day! 3.5hrs on the mtb bike but a mix of terrain...about half pavement half single track...killer workout and a nice way to end the weekend.

total....great first real weekend of training! it was nice to get some longer rides in and the legs felt great. hopefully this is the start of another great season.

thanksgiving weekend equals

the perfect recipe for the four day training block i have been wanting to do. To me...what better way to truly jump start the base miles than 12+hours in 4 days! Uh, not to mention the plethora of food that will be overflowing at every house i go to as we make our rounds for turkey day. And of course the leftovers that accompany large meals...for 2 days after...there will be plenty to eat to help the recovery of the miles laid down.

The plan, besides eating too much, is to ride at least 12hrs...thursday will be the shortest ride with the most structure...2.5hrs with some big gear tempos thrown in on the trace. After that the plan is flexible...i haven't been able to get any sort of commitment from anyone on whether they can meet...so...I will ride Friday or Saturday somewhere off road...the other day will be a long road ride. Sunday my hommie wesson is coming down to ride...the plan is to ride the mtb's from my house to the trails and back and be out for 3.5hrs. LSD!!!

I'll keep ya posted.

thoughts of a 29er....

had a great ride today at the ridgeland trails. meet up with wesson and rode just about 2hrs...mostly chill pace but threw in some fun at the very end...thanks hommie, it was fun! the trails are in great shape...every ride has new signs of improvement! great cycling community up in there!

the workouts this week have been on point. i ended up taking monday off...it was the first day off in over 16days! I started right where i left off...Tuesday was a nice 6 mile trail run with some strength work too; Wednesday i got a hard core leg strength workout in the gym and then went straight on the bike for a nice ride...in the long run i think the ride really paid off in reducing the post workout soreness; Thursday was another strength/core workout with only a 20 min cardio session; Friday...solid mtb ride! at this point, i'm looking forward to the ride on sunday...saturday looks like it's going to be WET all day so i'll be working out inside...sunday will be a long road ride...cant wait!

so....for the title...for some reason i have been thinking about racing a hardtail 29er...i think it might be a good fit for the type of trails around here. lots of options of makes and models out there...

week one down...

this past week was the first week of the "base" season. lot's of different workouts...running, weight lifting, lots of core, and some other stuff just to keep things fresh. it was a great week for a few reasons...one...the weather! what wonderful weather we've been having...mostly mid 70's and sunny! work is very flexible too right now, so it's enabling me to workout during the day and enjoy it...i'm getting spoiled...its going to get tuff when the new year gets here and the new budgets are in place and days are short and training schedules are HEAVY....guess i'll keep taking advantage of my situation now while i have it!!!

the week was full of workouts...monday and tuesday i was running...got about 12 miles total all on the single track trails in town...i really dig trail running...i think im going to try and continue some running all year...i also lifted some weights on tuesday. Wednesday was the first ride of the week...nothing hard, just rode the oiz to the trails and back about hour40...very easy spin. thursday was a combo day with weights n the a.m and xtraining in the p.m..and friday pretty much of the same...core workout in the a.m and an hour on the ss in the evening-great way to glide into the weekend! sat was the 3rd ride of the week...2:45 on the oiz..mixture of dirt roads, logging roads, and pavement and sunday being much of the same but only for 2:20...ended the week with a total of 12:40 work time.

that's week one of my 4 week plan...2 more building weeks then one recover week...the last working week, next week, of this month will be sweet...really looking forward to it...praying that the weather stays nice for me...will be a 4 day block training session! The goal is to get a minimum of 12 hrs of ride time. The plan is to go camp at the Nox or Oak Mtn...and RIDE, drink some cold beers, and watch a fire burn.

not much....

been very chilled out the last few weeks with the training.

the last race of the year for me was the McGee Lungbuster in Ridgeland, MS on October 18th. It was the last race of the SCRCS and probably one of my favorite courses to ride and race on, so a good way to end the season. The race course had been extended by about 3/4 of a mile per lap with some added climbing and technical sections to make for more of a challenging course and i think the mission was accomplished!

as far as prep work going into the race...um...i think it would be safe to say there was none...i hadn't done a xc race effort since the last SERC race which was on August 2nd and hadn't been doing any intervals or tempos during my rides, so needless to say the top end speed wasn't there for this race. not that i was worried because this was strictly for fun and to support the scene in MS...but i still wanted to compete and have a solid performance in front of my home state folks...

the race started fast and i knew immediately that i was in trouble...but i just tried to stay smooth and ride fast. The group was small but fast and i tried to stay up front but to no avail as betz wanted to push the pace from the gun...by the time we got to the first climb he had a 30 sec gap on us and would build upon that until the finish...he whipped us all. Tre and i would ride all of lap 1 and most of lap 2 together...until he had a mechanical and fell back some...i pushed on and started to really get into a groove...looking back, i probably pushed it too hard towards the end of lap 2 and the beginning of the final lap...and by the time i got to the climbs...i was shot! i tried to take on some calories and keep the cadence high but ever pedal stroke became harder and harder...and what was once a good gap on 3rd place was fading fast...once i made it to the tt course, which is the last 3ish miles of the xc loop and takes about 13 minutes became a fight!!! Scott Borne was riding hard and gaining on me...fast...every turn he was closer and then at the last climb...he bridged up and was o my back tire...DAMN....it was going to end in a sprint...first time a race has ended like this for me...and it was brutal...we came out to the open and both floored it! i inched him out by about a half a wheel!

great race and super fun!

now...things are slow and unstructured...i took a full 7 days off after the race and it was nice to do nothing but chill with the family, enjoy some football and REST!!

last week and this week are prep weeks for the upcoming off season program...running a bunch, lifting weights and working on the core, and doing some other cross training stuff has kept me busy....trying to do about 11hrs of total exercises each week. the official "off season" plan starts in a week and should be a good one.

something new this year will be the absence of LW Coaching...even though last year was by far the most successful season to date for me and i had the best results i've ever had in the cat 1 class AND that i obtained my #1 goal of winning the SERC overall i still cant justify the cost of a coach. SO instead, i have been educating myself through past experience, things i learned from LW last year, and readings form Joe Friel i will be back to self coaching for 2010. im excited about the challenge of it and hope the results will be even better than last years!! only time will tell...

more to come as the base training unfolds.....