Red Rider

Worked up an appetite this morning. Next race isn't until January and it's a flat, slow training crit, so this may be overkill. Backed with the leg work I did yesterday in the gym it feels just about right.

Hermes

1.5 hour T-day ride. We had sunny skies and temps in the mid 60s.

revchuck 

Dang, wish I had hills like that. On my "hilly" route yesterday, it took me three times the miles to get half the climbing you did. I'm pretty sure my training schedule will be full of climbing repeats and VO2 max intervals during January and February...on the trainer...

sarals 

I went up that hill yesterday with Ex. I'll let Ex tell what happened - he can do that better than I can (he's an impartial observer).

He can tell you how well I crash, too.

revchuck 

73.4 miles at endurance pace today, almost made it to 1k feet of climbing. Yeah, it's flat here. Beat the rain, though. Tried to find my own personal "bonk line", found it right at the end of the ride.

AzTallRider

1:45 on the TT bike, with 30' in the 53/12 (need to put the 11 cassette on my training wheel until racing season)

Allegheny Jet

You will need a 54/10 for in season!!! Ok, 55/11.

Allegheny Jet

I rode mtb for 1.5 hrs today with both my sons. For that I am thankful.

shovelhd

2:45 on the commuter bike, fairly flat and fairly easy. I was going to take the day off, but it was 53 degrees and sunny, and I was not working, so WTH. Club ride tomorrow.

AzTallRider

I'm considering a bigger ring for the TT bike, but the way I'm managing things right now, I'd be using it on the road bike as well, since I swap the crankset back and forth. I use an 11-25 or 11-23 on the racing wheels, and just need to put one of those on the TT bike's training wheels next time I'm futzing.

Hermes

2:18 endurance ride with Racer Ex. It was a beautiful day with temperatures starting in the high 40s and getting up to the mid 60s by the end of the ride. We did some of the back roads of Woodside, Palo Alto and Los Altos.

shovelhd

That guy gets around.

Cleave

We should play "Where in the World is Racer Ex?"

Ended up doing a short ride as the heavy fog took forever to lift and I had to complete the sale of our 2006 Prius in the afternoon. Was happy to get that done. Now I just have to sell some bikes and other bike equipment.

sarals 

That is marketable!

Racer Ex 

Look out your window

shovelhd

All I see are trees.

sarals 

Oh...hi!!!

Hermes

While Racer Ex and I were riding side by side and chatting, my wife was in a group ride with Racer Ex's competitors at a training camp. Our TSS's were similar with hers being a little higher.

sarals 

I did a 55 minute session at Z2 on the trainer this morning, using heart rate only because my PT computer STILL isn't back! My poor Look is still spattered with mud (I did wipe off some key spots on it), I just haven't had the time to clean it yet, but that didn't stop me from riding it this morning. I was bit knotted and tight from Hamilton, but I warmed in 35 minutes or so and did three max effort exertions. The second one was the best! I feel fine now, loosened up and ready to go up Hamilton again (not!)!

Allegheny Jet

Cold, windy and lake effect snow showers today. 1:15 on the rollers in the warm basement. I kept looking over my shoulder and left and right, but no Racer Ex.

revchuck 

59.9 miles endurance pace today, including 16 dead into a ten mph headwind. Residual fatigue reared its ugly head...even a two-chocolate-donut stop at the halfway point didn't bring me completely around. I don't know how much influence the temperature had - started at ~37 degrees, plus wind chill; I was born in New York, was raised there and in Pennsylvania, and have lived in Germany and Colorado, but have been in Louisiana for the past 21 years, and I've lost the habit of dealing with cold.

VanceMac

Ex is everywhere. Have gun, will travel. (Paladin seemed a more flattering reference than Forrest Gump.)

Decent training block over the holiday weekend. Three rides for about 7 hours with some climbing. Nothing epic, but good start at ramping up the weekly saddle time.

shovelhd

5 hours on the commuter bike. NW winds gusting to 30. Snow flurries. No sign of Ex.

sarals 

He's waiting for you at the top!

AzTallRider

No sign of Ex here either, but I didn't bring binoc's to look up ahead.

Did the team ride: 70mi, 237 TSS Mostly steady pace, but... we had a couple of our Ironmen on the ride, and when we hit a light on the fast stretch back to the shop, where one of them was already pulling us at 30mph (on his work of art Quintana Roo TT bike), he asked if we were up for a faster pace to the next turn. He then pulled us along at 40mph. He has seemingly effortless speed. He did the bike segment for the Ironman last sunday in 4:28 - that's 25mph for 112 miles and fastest bike segment in the 25-29 age group. Monster engine and impeccable form.

But as we sped along at 30mph, I got a chance to ask our other Ironman on the ride, "Honey Badger" as we call him, a 45+ masters guy, about his training regimen. He totals 21-23 hours/week, and it sounded like maybe half that was on the bike. He does 5-6 hours on Saturday, and his rides includes hard efforts - they aren't just miles of z2-3. On Sunday, he rides the trainer, 3 hours without stopping, at his Ironman pace. Interspersed in the week are hard 1 hour rides, with different intervals (5' to 20') tacked onto the end.

The other 'kid' beat his bike time Sunday by 30', and he says he almost never rides outdoors: only weekend rides that he typically does with the other top tri-guys. He only uses power (indoor compu-trainer) for intervals; otherwise he stays away from numbers. He said that, if he feels okay after a ride, he knows he didn't work hard enough, and pushes himself more the next time.