Ep. III: Revenge of the Shish -- Log

Another week of adventures gone by!

Nothing too exciting to report... Took last Friday off, Sat & Sun were Burnside rides (pretty fast actually), Monday was Pursuit Night at the track, just did Team pursuits. Tuesday went to the track and did my CTS (Carmichael Training Systems) Field Test.

Basically, it's two 8min efforts at my 'maximum sustainable intensity', and this gives me a heartrate to base my training program on. I was a little tired, so my results are a prolly a little on the low side, but i'll do this again in a month to keep it accurate. I was pretty beat afterwards tho, i really worked it...hammering each stroke for 8mins.

Wednesday i went to the gym at 7:30am if you can believe it...Brando was busy Tues evening..bleh.. I sorta liked working out that early, but i felt rather tired most of the day, and sleepy in the evening. I need that extra hr of sleep...

Wed afternoon helped organize the Ethics Co-op / Buying Collective pick-up, and got my foods....including 4kg of quinoa and 4 boxes of Clif bars - woot! (I helped start this, and also designed and programmed the website...it's pretty cool, totally automated!)

And then tonite was track night! A BBQ (oh yay says the vegan) was planned for tonite, so the races were SHORT! I raced a total of 17 laps..!!

First up was an unknown distance scratch race...and it turned out it was 11 laps!

Lotsa people out tonite, and i ended up positioned at the very back of the pack..it was really weird being there! Since there were so many people, it took about 5 laps before i actually saw the front of the line..hilarious! By then, three guys had broken off the front in an attack... (When they broke, i was probably about 1/3rd of a lap behind them, due to the length! So no chance of me catching them..) I just sat in, several of us broke off from the rest....and then the bell rang!! I just held in with the sprint, and came in 6th. Not too bad!

Next up were the Keirins, seven of us lined up... Vinko ended up at the front behind the pacer, followed by Sarah, followed by me. I got virtually no draft..haha..

The speed picked up, and the pacer pulled off, and Vinko kept the pace up. Charles pulled up beside me and alongside Vinko...one lap to go...i just tried holding on, pedaling like a madman! They kept inching away from me, but i kept on spinning, best i could.... In the end two other guys caught me at the line, denying me the final round, but it was good to hang in!

Turns out i hit 59kph - new top speed for me!! I'm riding a 48x15, so that means i hit close to 160rpm....i was humming! I'm gonna see if i can borrow a 46 tooth ring, and ride in a 46x14...a couple inches more might be good at higher speeds.

After that were the finals, which were quite exciting to watch! Dave McLeod (Organic Athlete) and Matt were both flying at mad speeds, i think this is the first time i've seen Matt seriously challenged in a sprint! (Tho Vinko keeps him honest!) Matt pulled the win, but not by much. Great racing to watch anyhow! (In the previous race, Chad made an amazing effort to try and catch Matt, who launched off after the bike pulled off. By the time they hit the line, Chad made up about four bike lengths...damn these guys are strong!)

The night ended with the BBQ, i brought some quinoa (in tin foil) and added a veggie burger, and warmed it all up. I'm probably the first person ever to barbeque quinoa. =)

It was nice to hang out and chat with everyone, hopefully we'll do this again!

The rest of my week is pretty straight-forward..ride ride ride! I'm gonna try and stick to the Carmichael plan more, like spending more time in the appropriate HR ranges...i haven't been doing this so much, since i've been doing group rides and hill repeats.. I'm definitely getting stronger tho, so i'm doing something right!

So long for now, and keep the rubber on the ground!