Friday, February 19, 2010

The Three S's I've Been Missing


Sunshine


Singletrack




And Shorts (I ordered a pair of these.)

Despite having some good training under my belt for late February (80% of a hella hard training plan still does a lot of good), I still feel slow. I'm very confident in my ability to muscle up the OC climbs and not dissolve into a sobbing blob of jello by the end of the race, which should be good for a two hour PR in itself, but I'm having a hard time imagining myself setting a strong tempo on the roads or flowing through the Womble with the greatest of ease.

Even though I've spent sufficient time outdoors this winter, I think I still have the same cabin fever that every in town seems to be blogging about. Mine just has more to do with being trapped in Roubaix fabic, pavement, and low, overcast skies. I realized this last weekend when I really wanted to hold a strong pace through my ride, but it just wasn't happening. My conclusion is that no matter how hard you train, it's just hard to feel fast in lobster gloves, and the its harder to go fast on long road rides because, while working harder on the dirt increasing the fun, working hard on the road just increases the work.

I know I won't being seeing any of the above in the immediate future (except maybe some sun on the lower 2/3 of my face), but at least naming the things I miss is a good reminder that cycling doesn't completely suck all of the time like it has lately. Summer will come again, my limbs will see daylight, and I can go to Versailles (lusting for VSP much more than BCSP) and jet through the flowy, flowy loop unemcombered by pounds of fabric.

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