All my interval sessions up to this point had been 4×8 (four intervals at 8 minute duration) so I was looking forward to something new and to see just how hard I could push for 6 minutes. It was hot when I started the ride with a stiff wind out of the Northeast which made the second and fourth intervals particularly difficult.

After my warm up I waited until I had a slight downhill section to start the first interval. I shifted up a couple of gears and quickly got up to 21 mph. My speed varied between 18.5 to 21 mph during the six minutes and it actually felt pretty good. I wasn’t all out but probably couldn’t have given it much more. After the interval I had to slow it way down to recover. This was repeated for the other three intervals but the two into the wind were very tough and my speed did suffer some in areas where I had a direct head wind. The last interval was particularly hard because it was the last of the day and was into the wind. I think I gutted it out pretty good though and gave it a good effort.

Even though these intervals were 2 minutes less than my normal intervals they were very hard due to the effort expended. I wasn’t all out but almost. Here are the days numbers:

Time (h:m): 1:13
Distance: 18.62 miles
Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

Day 45 – 1 Hour Endurance Pace Recovery

I was really feeling the hard interval workout from the day before. My legs were heavy, I was tired, and not keen on riding but knew I needed the recovery ride to work out the kinks in my legs. Even though it was only an hour in length it felt much longer and tougher. The wind was absolutely brutal today blowing at a stiff 20 mph out of the South. Instead of resetting my computer at the end of my warm up I just rode for an hour. My average speed really suffered because of that but I still got in a decent ride.

It was Wednesday which saw, again, lots of cyclists down at White Rock Lake. I think I’m going to have to start calling it ‘Bling Day’ because this is the day you see all the serious riders show up with full team kits, carbon wheels, TT bikes, Colnagos, Pinarellos, etc. I wonder what the total cost of hardware rolling around the lake on a day like this is?

Here’s the day’s numbers:

Time (h:m): 0:57
Distance: 13.6 miles
Avg Speed: 14.32 mph

Day 46 – 4×8 Intervals

Another interval day but back to the 8 minute variety with a little less exertion. It was a hot day but, amazingly, no wind. Wooohooo! Don’t get those very often. White Rock Lake was almost like glass. I did my warm up and rolled straight into my first interval.

I think doing the 1 hour recovery ride yesterday really helped because my body actually felt quite good and I had no heaviness in my legs at all. I had actually noticed that when I got out of bed in the morning. I found myself rolling along at 19 mph for the first interval with no problem and maintained that for most of the interval. The same was repeated for the other intervals with me able to sprint over the small hills in intervals two and four at over 17 mph and quickly accelerating back up to 18.5 to 19 mph. On the fourth interval I pushed it pretty hard for the last 3 minutes or so and it felt great. Once done with the last interval I decided to go ahead and start my cool down and roll back to my car due to it starting to get a little dark. I need to remember to bring my lights next time.

Here are the numbers for today’s ride:

Time (h:m): 1:00
Distance: 16.2 miles
Avg Speed: 16.2 mph

I have a rest day today followed by a four hour endurance ride on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will be nice.

Day 40 – Off Day

Day 41 – 4 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

I was a little nervous going into this ride because I had not ridden this long at one time in a very, very long time. If ever. I did 3 hours last Saturday so I knew I could do that. If I maintained my century pace of 15 mph I should be right at the metric century mark for the ride.

I arrived at the White Rock Trail at about 7:45 AM and set off for my warm up. The temperature was pretty nice in the low 80s and there were already quite a few folks on the trail both running and riding. I finished my 15 minute warm up in the same spot I always do, reset my computer, and settled in for a long morning. After about 1.5 hours the wind really started to pick up out of the South and got steadily worse throughout the ride. I still managed to maintain at, or above, century pace into the headwind but it was very hard to do so in the fourth hour.

My biggest worry for this long a ride was fueling during it. I brought six fig newton bars and a cliff bar for use during the ride. After two hours had elapsed (32 miles) I stopped for a quick 5 minute rest, ate the fig bars, and refilled my water bottle. I stopped after three hours and had the cliff bar. When I was finished with the ride I had two bananas waiting for me at the car. Overall I think the fueling went just fine but should have brought some gatorade with me.

Here are the numbers for this ride:

Time (h:m): 4:08
Distance: 63 miles (my first metric century…unassisted at that)
Avg Speed: 15.24 mph

Day 42 – 1 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

Not sure how my body was going to respond the day after riding 63 miles. During the first part of my warm up my legs were heavy and felt sluggish. After 15 minutes though they actually felt pretty good. I reset the computer and hit it good for an hour. The wind was brutal, again, this morning but I was still able to maintain a good average speed. The most interesting thing this day was seeing a guy wearing white bibs, a heart rate monitor, and no jersey. That’s got to be a huge cycling fashion no-no. It was scary looking.

Time (h:m): 1:05
Distance: 16.76 miles
Avg Speed: 15.47 mph

Day 43 – Rest Day

Here are the mileage numbers for last week:

Total Time (h:m): 6:46
Total Last Week: 104.1 miles
Avg Speed: 15.53 mph
Total Training Mileage: 613.96

I’ve updated the charts on the Century Training Tracker if you’d like to see those.

Day 37 – Rest Day – not much to say here

Day 38 – .5 Hour Easy Spin – I mentioned this ride a yesterday when I posted my rant about weatherchannel.com and horse dung. This was truly an easy spin for 30 minutes that felt pretty good. My legs were actually still a little sore from the weekends rides. Having this easy spin helped to loosen them and they felt pretty good for last nights ride. Here are the numbers:

Time (h:m): 0:30
Distance: 7.57 miles
Avg Speed: 15.14 mph

Day 39 – 1.5 Hour Endurance with 4×8 Intervals – I had been eagerly awaiting this ride because I wanted to really hammer the intervals. The wind hurt me on intervals 2 and 4 but I road them very hard regardless. On interval 1 and 3 I was able to maintain some good stretches at 19+ mph with some over 21 mph. That’s huge for me. I find it funny that while I’m doing these intervals upwards of 20 mph that I’m still getting passed by other folks. It just tells me that I have a long, long way to go to get back into shape. I have noticed though that I can maintain higher speeds on the hills and when I’m done with each interval my recovery time seems to only take a few minutes. I don’t have a heart rate monitor to see exactly how long my recovery time is but I do know that when I’m finished with an interval I’m back to breathing normally and wanting to pick my speed back up to 15 mph after only 2 or 3 minutes. That tells me that they seem to be working. Here are the numbers for yesterday’s ride:

Time (h:m): 1:03
Distance: 16.76 miles
Avg Speed: 15.96 mph

You’ll notice that I cut the time short by about 27 minutes. Believe it or not, I was getting uncomfortable in the saddle again and I was wearing my new bibs (with chamois cream). I have one particular spot on my right side that seems to really bother me. Almost like a blister. My left side is perfect. I don’t believe it’s a saddle sore just an irritation caused by my bibs, saddle, or fit. If I can figure out how to remedy this one problem I think I’ll be good to go.

I read an interesting article today about FRS in Men’s Journal – The Best Energy Supplement Ever? I had wondered if the stuff was all it was cracked up to be and the article suggests it is. I love how Juan Pelota (Lance Armstrong) was able to get some free samples. I tried to get some free FRS so I could do a long-term test during my century training and was politely told to buy my own. Guess I don’t have the pull ole Juan does. Sometime soon I’m going to have to start looking at something besides gatorade. My weekend ride mileage is starting to climb with me probably looking at 65 miles tomorrow which would put me over the metric century mark. I’ve also noticed that after some of my longer/harder rides that my legs will be sore the next day. I’m just hesitant to lay out the cash for supplements and not see any help. I thought the discussion on FRS potentially having to be banned by WADA interesting.

I just said that I’ll probably ride about 65 miles tomorrow (4 hours on the bike). Last week for my 3 hour ride I had a cliff bar at the 1.5 point and lots of water throughout. For tomorrow’s (and subsequent long rides) I think I’m going to need a little more. Maybe a cliff bar and a gel or peanut butter sandwich. I’ve read that 45 minutes between refueling is a good point to start. I’d like to hear some of your opinions on eating/drinking during the 4 hour ride to include food choices and when to eat.

Not much to be said about that. I considered riding anyway because I had missed a day earlier in the week due to rain but decided against it so I didn’t compromise my Saturday morning ride.

Day 34 – 3 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

I woke up a little before 7 AM and headed on down to White Rock Lake to get this ride in. The morning was just beautiful and the temp was still in the lower 80s when I started. There were a lot of folks out this morning doing their riding, running, rollerblading and walking. There even looked to be some kind of running race going on but I missed most of it because it looked like it had started early.

This ride was fairly simple – ride at endurance pace (15 mph) for 3 hours. I’d done this same length of ride just a couple of weeks earlier so I knew I could do it. After a 15 minute warm up I settled into a good rhythm and went to it. Everything went really good but after about an hour the wind started to pick up from the South and that made my Southbound leg around the lake a little difficult on some of the exposed points. I was really happy with the way I attacked the three or four hills that I see in each loop. I did notice that after several laps I couldn’t maintain the same speed I did initially but I can tell I’m getting better at riding them. I brought a cliff bar with me this time and had it at the 1.5 hour point. Immediately after that I rode pretty good (could have been psychological) but the 2 hour to 2.5 hour time frame was pretty hard.

After I was done I felt really good about the ride and am happy with the numbers. While I didn’t ride 50 miles during my timed endurance portion, if I was to add on my warm up I would be over the half-century mark. Here are the numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 3:10
Total Distance: 48.4 miles
Avg Speed: 15.28 mph

Day 35 – 1.5 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

This is the same ride as Day 34 but for only half the time. Instead of waiting until the evening to ride I decided to ride early and am glad I did because it got HOT later in the day. One bad thing about the ride though was that the wind was brutal. Straight out of the South but blowing hard. It made it quite difficult on portions of the loop but I just grinded it out. Saw lots of riders again this morning. Here are the numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 23 miles
Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

Day 36 – Rest Day (Week 5 Re-Cap)

Today is Monday and the standard rest day. The Century Training Plan I’m following also has tomorrow as a rest day so I should be well-rested for Wednesday’s ride. I know I need the rest but I don’t feel like I need two days off.

The mileage numbers and measurements for this week are below. I’m about 23 miles short of what I should have been for the weekly mileage due to a rain day but I’m still happy with the numbers. My measurements seem to be fluctuating a bit and frustrate me. I really thought I’d start seeing change changes in my girth by this point but I haven’t seen anything significant. It seems like I’m holding within a half inch on all measurements with some up and some down. The next several weeks should tell me a lot though because my Saturday rides will see me really raising the bar on the mileage with this Saturday calling for a 4 hour ride. I’d like to find someplace other than White Rock Lake to do it so if any of you readers are in Dallas and can suggest a safe, low traffic route I’d like to hear about it.

Here are this weeks mileage numbers:

Total Time: (h:m): 5:59
Total Distance: 91.3
Avg Speed: 15.2 mph
Total Training Mileage (since 4-Jul-09): 509.87

Measurements changes since last week:

Neck: +.5 in
Chest: -.5 in
Left Bicep: -.25 in
Right Bicep: +.25 in
Waist: +.5 in
Left Thigh: -.5 in
Right Thigh: -1 in
Left Calf: -1 in
Right Calf: 0

New Gloves

After finishing my ride on Sunday morning (Day 35) my gloves finally gave up the ghost with one of the seams giving way. The seam had actually given away a while ago but it finally came all the way loose today. I can’t argue with how they’ve performed because they were a cheap pair of Nashbar gloves that have probably seen well over 1000 miles of riding. They needed replacement a long time ago but I try to make stuff last as long as possible (maybe I’m just cheap). I ended up going to the local Performance Store and they had several gloves on sale. I opted for the Performance Century Gel Glove which cost me $12.99. I know they aren’t a name-brand glove but compared to some of the name-brands that were on sale the Century Gel seemed to fit better and had better padding. We’ll see how they go and I’ll probably do a long-term review to let you know how they work out.

This was my infamous ride that left me miserable, doubting my abilities, and lead me to write 3 minutes to a better bike ride. By now you’ve all probably read that my problem was a rubbing brake pad on my rear wheel that was basically giving me tons of resistance for the 45 minutes I rode. Not a good day. I’m better now though.

Day 31 – 1 Hour Endurance

Totally rained out. A huge thunderstorm moved through the DFW Metroplex from about 5-8 PM so there was no chance of getting a ride in. I don’t have a trainer so I couldn’t even fall back on that. Oh well.

Day 32 – 1.5 Hour Endurance with 4×8 Intervals

Basically a repeat of Day 30 and I was really looking forward to this ride. The wind was blowing which would make intervals 2 and 4 very difficult but overall it was a great ride. Interval 1 was so-so because it was my first one but interval 3 felt great. The section of the trail I was on was kind of flattish for interval 3 so I was able to maintain speeds over 18 mph with brief periods at 20 mph. That’s a big deal for me.

My nether regions are back to feeling good on the bike after starting back on a chamois cream. I’ve always used Paceline Butt’r so that’s what I went back to. Feels great. I wore my new Performance Bibs today and did notice on the right side they seemed to scrunch up right on the inside of my upper leg that caused a little discomfort but nothing major. I bought’em a little tight so that might be why. I’m hoping as I lose more weight they’ll fit me pretty good for a while.

I also moved my saddle back about a 1/4 inch and that has seemed to help too. Not sure if it’s psychological or not but I really felt I could climb better with the saddle a little further back.

Here are today’s numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:19
Total Distance: 19.88 miles
Avg Speed: 15.1 mph

Day 27 – A 3 hour endurance pace ride was scheduled for Day 27 but it had to be canceled due to severe thunderstorms. I had no desire to get caught in heavy rains, hail or lightening.

Day 28 – This was supposed to be a 1.5 hour endurance pace ride but I ended up only doing 1 hour. I could have easily done the 1.5 hours but decided to take it easy and only do the 1 hour (more on why below). Here are the numbers:

• Total Time (h:m): 1:00
• Total Distance: 15.1 miles
• Avg Speed: 15.1 mph

Week 4 Re-cap

I have to be honest and say that I was very disappointed in my performance this past week. I struggled on the bike all week and it really showed in my measurements and mileage. Why did I struggle?

1. I was lethargic. I felt really, really tired all week and even thought I might have been getting sick in the first part of the week. My legs were very heavy on every ride and even though my time/distance/avg speed numbers were there I didn’t feel like I was performing well.
2. I was uncomfortable in the saddle. I got to the point on my Thursday ride last week that I had to quit after only about 30 minutes in the saddle. I was just too uncomfortable in my nether regions and couldn’t ride more than a few minutes without having to stand on the pedals to take pressure off. I have been riding enough over the last year that I shouldn’t be having problems like that so I was very frustrated. Like an idiot I had stopped using chamois cream a couple of months ago because I didn’t think I needed it for these short rides. Turns out I was wrong and after having that driven home by @331miles and @gtinla I picked up some Paceline Chamois BUTTr this weekend and it made a world of difference on my Sunday evening one-hour ride.
3. Repeating Weeks 1 and 2 may have been a mistake. If you remember I started the 10-week Century Training Plan two weeks early and did Weeks 1 and 2 twice. This may have been an error because if I had followed the normal 10-week plan I would have had two rest days last week. Because I re-started the plan after two-weeks I missed out on that extra rest day and that could have contributed to me feeling really drained last week.
4. My diet sucks. I’m trying hard on my diet but it’s not good enough right now. I’m still finding myself opting for a quick take-out meal several times a week because it seems like too much of a pain to fix food after my evening ride. Sometimes I may not get back home until 8:30 PM from my ride and by the time I take a shower and cook dinner it’s already 9:30 or 10. I need a way to make this process simpler and I’m thinking I need to prepare meals ahead of time or at least buy foods that are easy to fix (I’m not talking about prepared foods). One thing I started doing, instead of cooking chicken on the stove, was to buy a roasted chicken and de-bone it. That gives me plenty of pre-cooked chicken that I can eat throughout the week. The problem with that is that I’m eating too much chicken right now. I absolutely love chicken but I need to get some variation such as meats and fish. I’m open to any ideas/suggestions in this area.

Here are the mileage numbers for this week:

• Total Duration (h:m): 3:30
• Total Miles: 54
• Avg Speed: 15.4 mph

My measurements for this week saw little to no change. My neck and chest saw no change with my biceps decreasing by a quarter inch each and my thighs and calves increasing in size. My weight was also up four pounds from the last time I weighed myself. Overall I’m disappointed in my measurements but I’m not surprised after how I felt last week and with the decreased mileage. I can’t let it get me down though and need to continue pushing.

If you haven’t noticed I added new page to the blog called Century Training Tracker. This is where you can see some graphical representation of my mileage and measurements.

Summary

If you can’t tell I’m facing some challenges in my training right now. Namely my diet and a battle against fatigue. I can impact them both though and it just takes a little will power to do so. I used the word ‘training’ just a couple of sentences ago and I probably need to use it more often because that is what I’m doing right now. I’m training for a century ride and that means I need to stick the plan to be able to realize my end goal.

Thanks to all my readers for the great support.

Day 23 – 1.5 Hour Overall Endurance with 4×8 Intervals

I’m finally getting the hang of the intervals and actually enjoy doing them. With the 9 mile (or so) loop around White Rock Lake I can get two eight minute intervals in per lap with each followed by an eight minute recovery. I haven’t felt too great over the last few days and it kind of showed in my workout because I wasn’t able to ride the intervals too hard. I probably averaged about 17-17.5 mph on each interval and 13 mph during the recovery. My last interval was pretty good but I had to deal with a big Hummer that was in front of me that couldn’t pass a rider it was following. That caused me to slow down a couple of times but I was able to pick my speed back up soon after. The numbers were:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 23.21 miles
Avg Speed: 15.47 mph

My biggest problem on this ride was my new bibs or rather my discomfort in my new bibs. After an hour I was totally uncomfortable with what felt like some rubbing around the edge of the chamois. Even though these new bibs are much lighter than my old ones (and the chamois isn’t as dense) I’m not totally convinced the problem is the bibs. I’m sure they still need to get broken in but I think the real problem is my gargantuan size buttocks (it’s funnier if you say that in your best Forest Gump impersonation). With my super-sized rear, combined with the new bibs, I believe I need to take a close look at my saddle. The saddle I have is a Vetta Lite Gel and is the original that came with my bike 15 years ago. If would probably come as no surprise either that I had half as much rear then as I do now. I’ve put off looking for a new saddle for quite a while but think I may need to give it a shot again. I say again because I attempted to get my sit bones measured at a Trek store in Jacksonville, FL last year and the employee couldn’t figure out how to work the fit board. This is going to have to be a priority for me next week. If you have suggestions I’m all ears.

Day 24 – 1 Hour Endurance

I was really surprised to get this ride in because it was threatening rain all day. It actually turned out quite nice but was humid again. Luckily I remembered my headband today and didn’t have to deal with sweat in my eyes like Day 23. I did a quick 15 minute warm up and then settled into a nice and steady 15-16 mph pace for an hour. This is a very simple ride that should have been pretty easy but, again, I really felt like my legs were heavy. They’ve felt that way for that last several rides. I maintained the pace for an hour but I just think it was harder than it should have been. The numbers were:

Total Time (h:m): 1:00
Total Distance: 15.64 miles
Avg Speed: 15.64 mph

It was Wednesday so there were several large “packs” of riders out at White Rock Lake today. I was passed several times by groups with six or more riders and saw a few guys outfitted in matching kits. I didn’t get a close look so I don’t know if they were part of team or not. Maybe they just enjoyed dressing alike so they could bask in their poserness (is that a word?). Lots of Cevelo TT bike sightings the last two rides too. Kinda weird.

I almost witnessed a pretty bad wreck too. It was only avoided by pure luck of the lady who was cut off…by her son. I was done with the hour long endurance ride and was slowly spinning back to my car. A lady was riding a road bike in front of me with her son (maybe 10?) on a mountain bike on her right. For whatever reason her son decided to move from her right all the way to the left side of the road by cutting in front of her. As the situation unfolded in front of me I was really surprised Mom didn’t end up flat on the pavement. As the son cut across her front wheel she slowed and turned to the right to avoid clipping his rear wheel and barely manged to get her right foot un-clipped and on the ground otherwise it would have been ugly. I slowed and asked if she was OK and she said yes and that they were still learning. I’m just glad she didn’t smack the asphalt and that there weren’t any riders coming in the opposite direction because he went all the way to the left side of the road. Hope he learned a lesson.

Day 25 – 1.5 Hour Overall Endurance with 4×8 Intervals

Today was a terrible day on the bike. Five minutes into the ride I knew it wasn’t right. The last several rides my discomfort in the saddle had been steadily getting worse and today I had had enough. I did one loop of White Rock Lake, even tried one interval, and had to call it quits. I couldn’t ride more than a couple of minutes without having to stand up off the saddle or try and adjust my shorts.

Something just isn’t right with either my shorts or saddle. I’m leaning towards the saddle because I’ve worn a different pair of bibs or shorts each of the last three days with the same discomfort.

Not how I wanted to go into the weekend.

Even though the Century Training Plan in Bicycling Magazine is 10 weeks in duration I decided to modify it to a 12 week plan by performing the first two weeks of the plan twice. This week was a repeat of Week 1. I felt I needed the two extra weeks because, basically, I’m not Lance Armstrong on a bicycle. I’m way overweight and out of shape and wanted those two extra weeks to help prepare. I had been riding before the start of this program so it wasn’t like I just decided on Day 1 that I wanted to start training for a century. I firmly believe that if someone decided to start this program cold turkey on Day 1 that they would end up quitting because it is a lot of riding.

This past week was tougher than I expected it to be especially since it was a repeat of Week 1 of the Century Training Plan. Perhaps I was lured into a false sense of security thinking it was just a repeat of Week 1. It was still 117 miles of riding. Yesterday in particular was a very tough ride where wind, and possibly, fatigue were factors. I don’t think the fatigue is ride related either. I believe it’s due to lack of sleep because I’m the world’s worst person at getting the recommended eight hours of sleep a night. Too many nights I stay up late reading or messing around on the computer and only end up getting six hours in the rack and sometimes less. I’m going to make it a short-term goal this week to get eight hours a night to see how it works out.

Below are the measurements taken this morning. I’m seeing little to no change over last weeks measurements which can be a little frustrating. The thing I need to keep re-enforcing upon myself is that I’m not going to change overnight. If you’re nearly 100 pounds overweight like I was then it’s going to take a while to get down to where you need to be. I may be seeing little change from week-to-week but I’m hoping that when I’m done with my century I’ll see a good steady decline. I won’t be done when my century is complete either. I’ll still have a long ways to go which means my training can’t stop. Here are this weeks measurements:

Measurements:

• Neck: 17 in
• Chest: 45.5 in
• Left Bicep: 14.5 in
• Right Bicep: 14.5 in
• Waist: 47.5 in
• Left Thigh: 27.75 in
• Right Thigh: 27.75 in
• Left Calf: 18.5 in
• Right Calf: 18 in

The riding numbers for this past week look pretty good with me actually averaging above my planned century pace of 15 mph. I will point out that the hours only indicate the amount of time spent riding the specific workout for that day. For instance, if the workout is a two hour endurance ride I reset my bike computer after my warm up so I get an accurate log of just those two hours. Once the two hours are up I pull the computer off and do a cool down. Because of that I’m not logging my warm up or cool down mileage which could probably add another 5 miles or so per day to the total mileage. Here are this weeks riding numbers:

Mileage Numbers:

• Riding Time (h:m): 7:30
• Total Mileage: 117.1 miles
• Avg Speed: 15.72 mph

That’s it for this weeks re-cap. I believe I’m making good progress but I’ve still got 7 weeks to go until my century on September 26, 2009. I’m hoping those 7 weeks will see big changes both in my measurements and my riding.

If there are questions you have about my century training please feel free to ask. I may gloss over some things that a beginner might need to know so don’t be bashful. Ask away.

Also, I’ve decided to slow down my posting frequency of my Century Training Series. Why? Because it’s actually quite hard to come up with stuff to make each post interesting and if they aren’t interesting they’re boring. I don’t want my four readers to be bored. Plus cutting back lets me post other content on days I don’t write about my century training. So, starting this week, I’ll post about my century training on Monday and Thursday leaving the rest of the week for my award-winning pontification that my rabid readers rely on to make it through their day.

Today called for a 1.5 hour endurance ride. Normally I would have ridden in the morning but I wanted to watch the final stage of the Tour de France live. Plus I wanted to sleep in some because I was tired and had been fighting a head ache since last night. I was pulling for Farrar to get the win but I think Garmin started too early and with Renshaw’s perfect leadout of Cavendish he didn’t stand a chance. Sad it’s over but looking forward to Team Radio Shack next year.

I headed down to White Rock Lake at about 4:30 so I could finish up my ride a little early. Turns out I was smart to go early (raining as I write this) but it was a lot hotter than I thought it would be and the wind was a killer. I checked the weather before going out the door and Weather Channel online said the wind was 2 mph out of the South. As soon as I started riding I noticed the wind. It must have been blowing 10-15 mph straight out of the east which makes for a nasty head wind on two hills. Ouch!

Overall today’s ride was very hard. Not at all what I expected. It could have been the wind but I felt it was more than that. At times I felt like I was struggling when riding into the wind and the first time up on one particular hill absolutely destroyed me. Those who ride White Rock Lake know what hill I’m talking about (or maybe you don’t). It’s the one that’s on Northcliff Drive (appropriately named) at the Bath House Cultural Center. It’s relatively short at a few hundred feet but it pitches up as soon as you turn onto it and pitches up even more about halfway up. That hill always pushes me to the limit when I ride it. I’m not sure why. I’ve thought that perhaps it’s my gearing because I only have a 7-speed cassette and I may not have enough gears to make it easier. Who knows.

Here are today’s numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 22.64 miles
Avg Speed: 15.0 mph

You’ll notice that I changed the theme today. I was getting tired of the old one and wanted to have a little more flexibility with my header graphic (which still needs a few changes). Thanks to those who sent emails and tweets to provide feedback.

Day 20 – Today the century training plan called for a two hour endurance pace ride. I was anxious to ride so I could try out my new bibs.

I was up and at the trail riding away from my car at about 8:30. While putting my bike together I saw many cyclists riding up and down the trail so it looked like it might be a busy day. Upon setting out I noticed an immediate difference with the new bibs. I picked up the Performance Ultra II at the local performance store and was happy so far. We’ll see how it feels 2 hours from now.

Once the warm up was complete I settled into my 15 mph pace and felt really good. I didn’t ride yesterday so my legs felt fresh and I easily maintained the set pace even on the hills. I again stayed in the small chain ring to keep my cadence high and it felt good. I completed three full loops of White Rock Lake plus a little extra to get my 2 hours in.

The ride wasn’t without a problem though. I was sitting at a stop light getting ready to do the last couple of miles to my car and only needed a few seconds to complete the two hour ride. Once the light turned green I got up to speed, checked my computer and pulled it off when it rolled over to 2 hours and tucked it into my jersey pocket. Not ten seconds later my rear wheel didn’t feel right so I take a look and it’s nearly flat.

I pull over into some shade to change it. I get the tube out, find the hole and check the my tire in the same location and find a small cut. I’m guessing it was cut by a piece of glass at the stop light. Bummer. I pulled out a new tube, used the dollar bill I keep in my seat bag as a boot and pumped up my tire. It wasn’t perfect but it would be good enough to get me to my car.

Guess how many people asked if I was OK? Zero. Earlier in my ride I pulled over to take a picture of a house and I hadn’t been stopped 30 seconds when the first person by me, a girl, asked if I needed help. I was really amazed. This time though, when it was very obvious I had had a flat and was repairing it, I was passed by no less than 20-30 riders and not a one said a word. Did I have everything under control? Sure I did because I’m prepared for this kind of stuff when I ride. What if it was a noob instead who didn’t know what to do and everyone of those riders just simply rode by without so much as a simple inquiry as to if they needed anything.

How were the bibs? Pretty good. I did start to feel a little discomfort after the two hours but nothing like my old bibs. I think I just need to get them broken in and they’ll feel pretty good.

Here are the numbers for today:

Total Time (h:m): 2:00
Total Distance: 30.5 miles
Avg Speed: 15.2 mph