Week 22

Date
May 25, 2015

Distance
105 miles

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Week 22

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Weather

Ride Report 

This was day 10 of a 10-day training block for Petoji. The goal was to average 110 miles per day over 10 days. I ended up with 1110.8 miles, for an average of 111 miles per day. Mission accomplished.

Day 10 was another cloudy day with a chance of rain, so I did a few laps around Washoe Lake. After the 3rd lap the weather looked clearer to the north, so I headed that way but ended up getting rained on anyway. It was a fitting way to end the week. The weather wasn't cooperating all week, but there's a chance it won't cooperate during the real deal in August, so I suppose it was good training.

A fitting finish to the 10 days

I'm happy with how the 10-day training block worked out. Except for my pacing mistake on day 5, I didn't run into any major problems. My legs felt better than expected. I'd say the biggest challenge was mental fatigue from riding a lot of the same roads. (I was hoping to travel a little more, but with all the rain in the area I decided to stay close to home.)

I'm going to take it easy for a while. Time for a recovery week.

Week 21

Date
May 20, 2015

Distance
120 miles

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Week 21

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Weather

Ride Report 

This was day 5 of a 10-day training block for Petoji. The goal was to average 110 miles per day over 10 days. I headed to Fernley for a little change of scenery and for a lower chance of rain. My legs were feeling surprisingly good for day 5 and the route was flat, so this was the fastest day of the 10. It was a fun day until the last 5 miles or so when a storm rolled in and brought strong headwinds with it. The good news is that I finished before the worst of the rain rolled in.

Sand Dunes

I was happy to feel good on day 5, but I got a little carried away and rode too hard. I paid the price on day 6. Hopefully this is a lesson that I will remember when Petoji comes around. No matter how good I'm feeling, I still need to be disciplined with my pacing.

Week 20

Date
May 16, 2015

Distance
113 miles

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Week 20

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Weather

Ride Report 

This was day 1 of a 10-day training block for Petoji. The goal for the 10 days was to average 110 miles per day over 10 days. The weather was cold and cloudy with a chance of rain, so I stayed away from the mountains and did a flat route out to Pyramid Lake and back.

There was a little snow in the mountains, as you can see in the picture. It almost felt like winter out there.

Week 19

Date
May 9, 2015

Distance
102 miles

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Week 19

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Weather

Ride Report 

Nothing special this week. This was just a simple ride the day before I headed to Sacramento to watch Stage 1 of the Tour of California.

Week 18

Date
May 2, 2015

Distance
124 miles

Strava Link
Week 18

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

The weather was good, so I decided to climb Mt. Rose for the second time this year. I followed that up with both sides of Kingsbury, then a descent down 50 for a flat final 40 miles or so of the ride.

I felt pretty good on Mt. Rose. I wasn't setting any PRs or anything, but I was keeping a pretty good pace considering that I still had a long day ahead of me after Mt. Rose was finished.

Mt. Rose descent

I felt OK until Kingsbury, and then I started to run out of gas. I have plenty of excuses. I had a short episode of food poisoning on Wednesday. I thought I was over it, but there may have been some lingering effects. The more likely explanation is that Mt. Rose can really suck the energy out of you if you're not in great shape. I did a slow climb up the east side of Kingsbury and took it easy for the rest of the ride, spending most of my time thinking about the watermelon that was waiting for me at home.

It wasn't a great performance, but it's almost starting to feel like summer out there and it will take a few big climbing rides to whip my body into shape. Hopefully I'll get another chance next week. I'll be riding on Saturday and then Sunday I'm heading to Sacramento to watch Stage 1 of the Tour of California.

Week 17

Date
April 22, 2015

Distance
100 miles

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Week 17

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Weather

Ride Report 

I had to travel to IND this weekend, which meant I had to squeeze in this ride before work on Wednesday morning. I could see the rain rolling in towards the end of the ride, but with the early start I was able to stay dry.

Rain on the way

I had to go the whole weekend without riding, but I had 3 solid weeks in April of back-to-back rides, so a little time off is probably a good thing.

Week 16

Date
April 18, 2015

Distance
200 miles

Strava Link
Week 16

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

The weather was nice and there was no wind to worry about, so I decided to do a double this weekend. The route was flat and simple: an out-and-back on 395. My main goal for the day was to beat 12 hours.

Things were going pretty well early and I was on pace to reach the goal. Then I got a flat tire around mile 70. It took me about 10 minutes to fix the flat and get rolling again. 10 minutes is pretty slow, isn't it? I guess I never realized how slow I was until I started riding with GPS and could see exactly how long I was stopping. The slow tube change meant that my first hundred miles took 6:01:14. That's close enough to a 12-hour pace, but it's tough to ride the second hundred miles at the same pace as the first hundred miles.

Near the turnaround point

I rode the second half about as fast as I could without blowing up. I was fighting a little bit of a crosswind, but nothing too serious. Things were really touch and go up until the last 30 minutes. By that point I only had to maintain a 15mph average for 30 minutes, so I relaxed and slowed down a little. The pressure to break 12 hours ended up being a good thing. It kept my mind occupied and made the time pass faster.

I ended up finishing in 11:48 with 25 minutes of stopped time. I'm pretty happy with that result. I've been doing a lot of back-to-back days this year, but haven't really done a single long ride. My legs felt dead Saturday night and Sunday morning, but I was able to squeeze in 100 miles on Sunday and felt better than expected.