Week 1

Well, If your going to race, you gotta train, so you gotta start some place. (I think the word gotta is the word gimme's Italian brother . . . just a passing thought). Any here are my first week stats. Since CX season doesn't start for another 10 or 12 weeks I'm going to build up my long distance days to about 3 hour long rides in the next 8 or so weeks. the 50 minute ride I did Sunday was the longest ride I've done in a long time, maybe since the 108 mile ride I did in Feb.

I'm also doing a group ride once a week if I can. Not sure if it good in staying with the tradition of "Base Miles", but it's something I can use as a gauge to see how I'm building back up. (Most group rides around here . . . KCMO . . . end up as a race).
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Last tues. I did the 75th Street Brewery Ride. It's about a 17 mile loop through Waldo, leawood, and Overland Park. It involves a lot of neighborhoods, and stop lights. But what else do you want starting at 75th& Wornall? On the turn around the ride starts getting fast, while I wouldn't call it a messenger race, A messenger appititude is good for "Timing" the stop lights just right.

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Last week I rode my fixed gear bike. I had been riding 40x15 but for the group ride I changed to 44x15 to keep up with the jones. Normally on group rides I'll ride a 3:1 ratio (45x15, 48x16).

But since my 45 doesn't look as cool as my 44 tooth Pete's Precision Products BMX chainring, I rode 1 tooth shy of 3:1 . . . didn't miss a thing and retained my perceived coolness factor!
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I've been riding a fixed gear because . . . well that's all I got right now . . . (Kinda, I still have my Raleigh together, but I'm just not feeling it ). . . I'm not digg'n the 44x15 for everyday riding though. Hills can be a drag . . unless your from the school of tacking .

This is the route I took going up a hill last Saturday. It's not just for ships I've been telling y'all. This is a picture from Eddy B's (Edward Borysewicz) book from the 80's called Bicycle Road Racing (Complete Program For Training And Competition).

Wow . . . A picture of Pro's having to ZigZag up a hill. However I realize it is back in the day when a 6 speed rear cluster was cutting edge. Ahhhhhh, even more reason to do it riding a fixed gear.

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Especially now that I've geared up to 48x15. On the tues night ride there is a big down hill, followed by a big up hill. I don't know how fast I was going, all I know everybody else was coasting down the hill, and I was spining fast enough to drive my heartrate up to 185 beats per minute. It's hard to stay with everybody when they are rested and take off up the hill and your already at 185 bpm. In fact I was glad I was at the front going down the hill, because going up the hill I ran out of gas and went straight back down the line. glad the paceline was 20 people long, or I would have been off the back and by myself. 48x15 might be a bit much, but we will see.