Best Laid Plans

I have yet to find Sue's camera or remember to ask her where it is. There are a couple pictures on it from the Asheville trip I wanted to include with the proper vacation report, so I'll continue to put that off until later.

I returned from the Carolina Mountains feeling pretty good. I'd put in some long hard efforts on the climbs and was feeling like the season was really starting to roll along, and the legs were really starting to feel that spark. After the long drive back, I took a couple more days off from training to try to catch up with normal life and to properly rest the muscles.

Then, last Tuesday, I pulled out the TT machine. It's a GT Edge Aero frame, and I really like it. I picked up a set of Profile Carbon X bars on Ebay late last fall to replace the ancient cowhorns and Scott aerobars I've had on it for several years. The old Scotts were great, but anchors compared to the full carbon set-up. Plus, I had subscribed to the rotate-yourself-forward-around-the-bottom-bracket theory in an attempt to get as aero as possible. A forward position had also been necessary because the only stem I had was a long one and it stretched me way out. I had a Profile forward seatpost and it wasn't a super-bad position, but I always felt like I was lacking some power. Specifically, the forward position seemed to remove much of the role my back, glutes, hips and hammies had in power production, and relied more heavily on my quads, tiring them out faster.

Replacing the bars with the carbon Xs allowed me to bring the entire position back about three inches (!!) and now I sit on the bike much more like I do on my road bike. I even replaced the forward-bent seatpost with a normal straight one, which shaved about ten pounds off the bike. I rode on the bike only a couple times late last fall and it felt fast and far more comfortable, both on the muscles and on my tender saddle bits. I'm hoping that time trialing in a position I'm more used to from the road bike will boost my TT power and not decrease my aerodynamics too much.

Anyway, I took the TT bike out Tuesday, and was feeling strong and couldn't wait to hammer a bit and dial in the position. I hit a road nearby that has some small rollers but is generally pretty flat, put the hammer down, and watched the wattage. After the first couple minutes, I began to feel positively awful and was reminded that I really hadn't warmed up properly. After doing so, though, I felt better, but still couldn't seem to hold the wattage I'd been putting out in Asheville. The wind was fierce and chilly, and I pushed hard over the rollers, tending towards mashing bigger gears to try and get the watts up through force since my legs didn't seem to want to spin. I finished the day feeling like I'd had an adequate workout, but certainly nothing stellar.

On Wednesday, my right knee felt a little funny.

Thursday brought the first of the new, local Thursday night races. They're on a great little 2.7 mile circuit with relatively safe turns, little traffic, and a couple of small rollers to attack on but nothing too hilly to cause huge selections in the group. My right knee felt a little stiff, but after warming up, it felt fine. Only six of us showed for the inaugural race, but we took turns laying down the speed and attacking the group. We did a couple races of a few laps each, and it was fast and fun. By the end, my wattage graph had big peaks all over it, I'd spent quite a bit of time near VO2max land, and it was exactly the workout I was wanting in preparation for the Sunday race in Perinton which would bring with it several laps up a short but steep sprinter's hill.

Thursday I awoke to find my right knee sore and stiff. Shoot. I did it again. Last year, in the early spring, I'd started to feel really good on a ride and big-geared it a bit early on a favorite rolling road, only to strain my knee and force me off the bike. I had completely forgotten that lesson, and had strained my knee again in the same way. My TT ride started it, and the high-power attacks had finished it off.

I can't complain too much, because the soreness in my knee was a great excuse for avoiding the Perinton race in the chilly rain. The last thing my knee needed was to get freezing cold and wet and then hammered repeatedly by a steep hill. I have treated the knee delicately, taken some "vitamin I", and today is the first morning since last Tuesday when it hasn't reminded me there's something wrong with it.

So now, I'll be getting back on the bike and spinning, spinning, and spinning, followed by stretching, stretching, and stretching. The weather here in CNY has turned miserable though, and I have a serious case of the late-December blues. I want to race hard and well, but I absolutely do not want to get on the bike to train. Sue is currently on the disabled list, and thinking about exploring other interests besides bike racing. Seeing her depressed over not riding is feeding into my extreme lack of motivation as well. Top it off with a touchy knee and sunless, wet weather with high temperatures just touching 50F during the day, and all I want to do is sit around eating chocolate-covered coffee beans while watching Dirty Jobs on Discovery.