Solo Weekend

Spent the past weekend on some solo adventures. All in all a great weekend of training. Would've liked a bit more time on Saturday, but the Ol' man winter had made up his mind.

Saturday, I put in just over 2 hours of brutality. It was 30 degrees with 30mph winds. Pretty much every backroad that ran North-South was insane. With the winds blowing so fierce they were creating massive snow drifts across the roads in unprotected sections. I'd say I crossed about 50 snow drift, some up to 100 meters long or so. I was forced to walk one, as the wind pushed me around so much I couldn't stay upright in the snow. The good news is I didn't crash in any of the others and after negotiating a few difficult ones, they became fairly easy as you just found a good line and cruised. If there was no line, I just hit the gravel off the shoulder and it provided decent enough grip to stay upright. The last few mile, though the snow picked up pretty heavily and became difficult to see more than a few hundred meters. Naturally, after I get home and clean up the sun comes out and all is good.

Sunday, was a great day 35 and sunshine all day. Light winds, but nothing major. I decided I would just give it a good day on the bike. I headed south into the rolling hills of Seneca Lake Wine Country and put in 142k circumnavigating the lake. I felt pretty good for the 1st 3 hours or so, but by the time I climbed out of Watkins Glen, I could tell that my meal from the night before didn't prepare me well enough for the ride. I'd eaten well on the bike, and prior; but not enough for dinner. I can pretty much tell how much an effect a meal or even certain foods now has on my training. I didn't expect I'd put in such a big day, but then who can argue when the sun is shining and its a nice day. If there wasn't snow on the ground I'd have thought it was June. The last 20k of the ride I suffered a bit, but suffer now and feel good come race day!

I was suppose to ride this morning with Mark and Suzanne, but I bailed for more sleep after yesterday. However right now, its 47 and the sun is shining. Yah, I have a "appointment" around 3pm ;) ..... gotta take advantage while I can!!