One Big Post on Training

So my routine for training for the MS150 goes something like this:

1) Grudgingly turn down plans for Friday night social activities to stay home and carb load/hydrate
2) Groggily stop the incessant drone of the 5:30 alarm clock on Saturday and wonder "Why am I doing this?!"
3) Cram down breakfast, double check the gear checklist, and mount up the bike
4) Drive up to an hour and a half out to the ride location and ride, ride, ride
5) Drink water and Powerade, munch on Cheez-its and trail mix and ride, ride, ride some more
6) Pack up and head back into town for lunch - arguably the tastiest lunches ever consumed
7) Post ride nap - arbuably the most satisfying naps ever napped
8) Check email for more of those donation notices that remind me that steps 1-7 are not an act of insanity!

Sure, I gripe, but it's been fun. This year has been a great riding season. We've had some of the most ideal riding weather possible, without rain or cold (some of you may remember last year's hypothermia ride story), and I'm lucky to have an awesome riding partner in the form of my friend Vanessa (in case you're wondering who's in all those slideshow pics.) Vanessa's also on the Shell team and we're both 2nd year MS150 veterans after riding together last year.

The two most memorable rides of the season for me have been New Ulm and the Tour de Houston.

New Ulm was 50.5 miles of hills and sunshine. And yes, the last .5 miles are important enough to mention! The ride had many grades, but the key thing about this ride was that there were 3 hills that the training series captain describes as 'memorable'. I've learned that memorable means steep - as in barely keeping enough speed to not lose your balance steep. In recompense for getting my legs completely destroyed, the New Ulm ride was capped off with a big plate of BBQ provided by the local volunteer fire department. That was more kind of memorable - the tasty kind.

The Tour de Houston was (relatively speaking) a quick and easy 47 miles and also memorable in a better way. The novel part was that since the ride is a City of Houston event, we got to ride on a closed-off Hardy Toll road. Riding up the feeder and merging into 4 open lanes of bike traffic on the highway was definitely a new experience! The ride was fast and flat, especially on the way back with a bit of a tailwind. I got to cruise at 25-30 miles an hour for at least 15 miles, which is about double speed for me normally. Those of you who know how I drive know I'm a bit of a speed demon. It was cool to feel like a Tour de France caliber cyclist for at least a little while, humming down the road and yelling "on your left!" as I whizzed by cyclist after cyclist. Awesome stuff.

Afer several hundred miles trained, there's just one more official training ride this weekend and then my only training will be to keep my legs ready with a few miles at home on my stationary trainer. You'll see it in the slideshow as the only random picture taken in my living room! Then it will be time to packup the bike, the airmat, and the sleeping bag to get ready for the big ride and the campout in La Grange. More stories to come soon after the ride!