19.3.07

Ice Man












This past weekend saw some great training oppotunities. On Saturday I met up with the local hammer heads and did a solid 5 hours on my favorite rolling roads south of the city. The weather was phenomenal at around 15 degrees and no wind. These kind of rides are perfect this time of year with tempo riding when on the front and hard tempo up the climbs. Towards the end of the ride the sprints start coming out adding to the spring fever feel. After chasing some cars down Elbow Dr plans were made for the following day. However, there had been a misunderstanding and I arrived at the wrong meeting place. The weather on Sunday was in stark contrast to the day prior with temperatures hovering around zero and a steady drizzle filling the air. I started out on a four hour adventure that would eventually leave me literally frozen wondering if I had done myself any good on the training front. If anything comes of rides like this it is the mental capacity to deal with any race situation. If you train in the worst weather possible, racing weather can never be worse. So far this year training has taken place in snow at -20, days and days of pounding rain and high winds and now riding completely frozen stiff. My clothing was completely frozen solid and from the photos you can see the state of my bike. I had the PowerTap on thinking that the weather was mild for it and by the end it was still sending out a strong signal. Hopefully it stays that way...

1 comment:

BikingBakke said...

Per - I'm glad you took pictures of your bike... I was out on my 'cross bike too, and powertap worked. I didn't have a camera to take a picture of the ice buildup, but sure wish I did. What a mess, I had to chip away at my derailleur for quite a while to even get 3 gears working.