Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mom's day to all the moms out there. Yeah like any moms read this blog.

I finally was able to do a nice three day block of hard riding in and it felt REALLY good. Friday I did 40 with a block of intervals. Saturday I did 45 with the steepest hills I could find around here. Today I did another 2+ hours with a lot of grinding into head winds. I'm feeling tired and happy right now after a late night snack of Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Oh, and it was great seeing Ale-Jet (Petacchi) thump Cavendish at the Giro d'Italia today.

Friday Fixie.

I was really taken by two things in this picture. Green bikes and Lugged Steel are Classic!

Just Riding.

Today's weather was one of those perfect spring days; bright sun, deep blue skies, cool but not cold temps and not too much wind. After yesterday's all-day rain with no riding I was more than due to go put a hurtin on myself out on the road. I can't really call what I'm doing these days training, but it's more like riding because I love to ride until I can start training again. Oh, that doesn't mean I'm not in decent enough shape. A little fat though I gotta work on that. The numbers I put up today for this little 30.5 mile loop I do tells me I'm on par with last year at this time, if not a bit faster. I'm not doing any speed work or intervals right now though, it's more like fast riding until I'm tired and happy.

Tonight's Ride: 30.5 miles / 21.2avg mph (Personal Best for this loop) / 1:26:06 / Max Spd 41.6mph I didn't wear my hr monitor. Total for the day 48 miles.

The Yellow Jersey

I recently read The Yellow Jersey by Ralph Hurne and it was a pretty good read. In some chapters it seems kinda dated reading it today as it was written in 1973. Something about it reminded me a bit of Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and think it must have had to do with the era they were written. Nowhere near as freaky as Zen--, but Hurne's writing is very good and the parts about racing and the struggle of The Tour make for a real page turner.

In a nutshell it's the story of a retired pro cyclist named Terry Davenport living out his post career days by stringing along women who either keep him financially afloat or have a way of making him feel as though he's not lost it age wise just yet. Circumstances come about that lead to him coming out of retirement to be a domestique for a rider he coaches to ride The Tour de France.

At 37, (Isn't Lance 37?) Terry gives it a go and some amazing things happen that change his role on the team dramatically. I'd probably read it if I were you,... or not. Actually, yeah, read it. It was fun.

Errands by Bike.

Finding time to train these days for me is a royal pain in the arse. Sure, it can be done, but with all the scheduling hassles that come with it sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. But then I remind myself why I ride in the first place. I just love riding. Going fast, no speed limits, coasting downhills in an aero tuck, exploring new roads,... That's what it's all about.

Anyway, today I found myself running some errands by bike, something I rarely seem to do living here in suburbia and I love it. I also found the training effect I get from the fast riding between stops, in pants, is really one heck of a work-out.

I think I posted once before about there being no such thing as junk miles when it comes to riding/training. After today I still stand by that 100%.

Oh, by the way, I have managed over 140 miles over the last 3 days and I feel really good. No recovery issues whatsoever. Not bad for an old guy.

In other news I found it sad that Cannondale is ending all bicycle production in my home state of Pennsylvania. I know all about business being business, but it still saddens me. I hope a few of those enterprising souls that are to be left go take their skills and start a new niche bicycle company that builds no-nonsense Aluminum framed hard-core race bikes in the tradition of the CAAD Series of bikes. I'll be one of their first customers.