Training

 

Although I’ve been a “serious” cyclist for 38 years, it’s all been about causal riding. I’ve never been competitive or even tried to ride hard. But with the thought of riding across the country – 80 miles per day for 45 days – I decided I needed to “train”. My objectives were (1) to be able to do the ride in relative comfort, (2) to lose weight (which helps in climbing hills) and (3) to increase my speed. On an 80 mile day, if you increase your speed from 13 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour, you reduce your ride time from 6:15 to 5:30 – which gives you more time to recover – or drink beer.

I enlisted the help of a physical trainer (on bike in photo) and cyclist friend Jim Erickson of Winthrop, Washington as my coach.

Part 1 of the training program, November thru February consisted of (1) “boot camp”, with Brenda and Beverly, 2 to 3 times a week, (2) Jim’s “circuit” 2 to 3 times a week, (3) “spin class” 2 to 3 times a week and (4) cycling as weather permitted. Jim’s circuit (with weights and a stability ball) had three phases which focused on (1) stability and endurance, (2) strength and endurance, and (3) power. At least that was the theory.

 

Part 2, March thru mid-June focused primarily on cycling. There’s nothing better than time in the saddle. Jim was with us at Texas Hell Week, March 14 thru 21 which gave him a chance to assess my “progress”. I rode 527 miles in those 8 days. The remainder of the training was supposed to consist of:

         

Later March and first 3 weeks of April: Cycling a couple of “easy” weeks (200 miles), two “moderate” weeks (300-350 miles) and three “hard” weeks (500 miles). Because of weather and work, I wasn’t able to do as much of this as I wanted. In fact I didn’t get in any “hard” weeks.

Then in late April and May we went on two tours: “Napa & Sonoma Valleys” and “Roll on Columbia”. Both of these, and the Columbia in particular, will give me opportunities to ride much bigger hills than we have in most of Texas.

So I’ve exercised 2.4 hours per day mid-November through May, ridden 5,000 miles in 2009 and lost about 20 pounds. Am I ready? We'll soon find out.

Photos: Coach Jim on bike, Brenda doing curls, Beverly with the Ball Pike, me a Ball Hams exercise and Spin Class at Richardson Bike Mart.