They've got Bodies in Cinci...

We had a pretty good snow storm on Thursday and Friday, so there was no way we were going to be able to ride on Saturday. So.....

ROAD TRIP!!!

Pops and I went to the Cincinnati Museum and saw Bodies the exhibition. It was pretty cool! I had read about this traveling show several years ago and thought it might be cool. Apparently, this show has created somewhat of a local controversy. The only reason I knew it was showing in Cinci is because the news was reporting how a local group was protesting the show. But, by the amount of people the exhibition drew on Saturday, the protester are fighting a lost cause. The place was packed- it looked like the Stones were in town!. Pops and I were joking that we drove to Cinci just to stand in line. But, even after fighting the crowds, I enjoyed the show.

Everyone has a body, but just how often to you get to see what it really looks like.

1st Colavita TT- the aftermath

(Picture from Colavita website)

OMG!! That was a brutal race.

I knew I was in trouble when we arrived at the start area and the parking lot was covered in ice. I had never thought about it before, but it's pretty hard to pump up tires and walk your bike (while wearing bike shoes) over an icy parking lot. I almost fell twice, and I was being careful! But, I was so thick with clothes, I probably would have bounced anyway.

Conditions:
Somewhere between 25-30 degrees at the start
Sunny (thank God!)
Wind 6-10 (sustained) out of the E SE (cross wind with a slight headwind on return)
Dry (thank God again!)

I wore:
Bike shorts, fleece leggings, wind resistant bike pants
Underarmor top, fleece pullover shirt, wind jacket
Fleece lined full head/face cover and I taped over my helmet vents

I know that my hands and feet are ALWAYS freezing, so I had purchased some gor-tex cycling gloves and shoe covers. They worked great!!! For the first time ever- my hands and feet were okay!


(Picture from Colavita website)

My worst time from last year was 49:35, todays time was 49:53.4. UGH!

What I did wrong:
1. I didn't warm up properly - Ha! "properly"- try not at all
2. I couldn't find a comfortable cadence - I was all over the map 50rpms, 90, 82 - I saw everything.
3. I couldn't find a comfortable position on the bike- one minute I was down on the aero-bars, next I was sitting up.
4. I couldn't find a "line" - I was left of the white line, I was right, I was on it.
5. I probably overdressed- I was warm, but my range of motion was very limited.

I came home with the second place award, and some Colavita Pasta Sauce - but that's because there was only 2 in my class. I'm thinking of it as a "Participation Prize"- but, everyone that showed up really deserved one!

1st Colavita TT

Looks like the Colavita TT is on!!

The rain is holding off until tomorrow, so it's supposed to be sunny and 30 degrees at noon today.

Here we go!!!

I'll update after the race (once I thaw out).

2nd Indoor Time Trial Results

Last week, after the Team Training session, I was feeling quite frustrated with my training progress. I didn't feel as if I was making any progress despite faithfully following my training plan. And, I was afraid my results of the 2nd Indoor Time Trial would further discourage me. Well, I could not have been more wrong! I managed to beat my time from the first race by 5 minutes by finishing in 24:21! (1st TT time was 29:20)




My strategy for the race was this:

1. Keep my heart-rate within +/- 5 beats from my Ave Heart Rate
2. Keep my cadence between 80-90 RPM
3. Use the highest gear where I can maintain #1 and #2
4. Go with all out effort on the final climb to the finish line

Next on the agenda is the 1st Colavita TT (if they have it).. Right now, the weather is not promising - the latest weather report is calling for snow and/or freezing rain with a high of 25 degrees. Yuck! But, it may change!

Indoor blues

We were hoping to actually ride OUTSIDE this weekend, but unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The winter storm that was suppose to hit us on Friday managed to miss us, but the weather still suxed. Yesterday, started out cold and cloudy, but the sun did eventually come out. Naturally, we were out running errands at the time, so we missed our "window". Today was supposed to have been partly sunny and "warmer" (41 degrees), but the sun NEVER came out. It stayed cloudy ALL DAY and never got above the mid 30s! CRAP! I can ride outside when it's cold - as long as the Sun is out- but when it's cold and cloudy, I'm just miserable!

We did make it out to John Bryan (trails) today to help cut several trees that had fallen on across the trail in the past week. One of the ladies was saying there was about a 1/2 inch of snow on top of a layer of ice on the trails yesterday, but today the snow had melted off and the ice was starting to thaw, which left the trails with a nice layer of ice and mud. And yes, they were slick! There was just no way I could have rode those trail today --heck, just walking them was treacherous in spots.

Next week, I'll continue with my basement training routine and on Thursday we'll go to our team indoor training session. Hopefully, next weekend will be better. We'll still be inside, but we'll be mixing it up a little. We are looking forward to attending the Adventure Summit on Saturday, and then on Sunday we will be racing in the 2nd Team Dayton Indoor Time Trial.

The next weekend, will be THE big wake-up call!! Right now, we are still planning to race in the first of the Colavita Time Trial series.

IS IT SPRING YET?