Fall is (finally) coming!

This has been a hard summer to get through. I'm either getting too old for hot weather (maybe), or else I'm just getting soft and lazy (most likely).   In either case, the endless days of greater than 100 degree temps with abnormally high humidity is just getting painful. It didn't help any that we spent two weeks on vacation up in the cool (did I mention cool?) high country of northern Colorado.

The goals for the Colorado vacation were to relax, visit kids, grandkids, and friends, and (for me) to get in as much riding as possible on routes with hard climbs. As part of the "master plan" for the coming cyclocross season, I wanted to rachet up my ablity to tolerate heavy doses of lactic acid.  Doing hard climbs is one way to develop that ability; in fact, I think that not having long climbs here in West Texas is a significant problem related to me staying strong on the bike.   Maybe it's just that riding climbs in a pretty area is a lot more fun that doing long upwind intervals into the hot, dry West Texas wind!

A high point (no pun intended) of the Colorado trip was a 5,000 foot climb up Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park to an elevation of over 12,000 feet.  This ride ended up being about 40+ miles over 4 hours, and even better - it happened on a 50 degree day with light rain for the first couple of hours.  The last time I rode this route was about 15 years ago, so I was pleased to see that my 61 year old legs and lungs still could handle this type of ascent.  The 22 mile descent back down around curves and switchbacks was another story ... age has not improved my descending skills or courage.

The focus now is on ramping up the interval training to prepare for the upcoming cyclocross season.  As an intermediate goal, I'll race the Texas road championship event in October, where (hopefully) the climbing I did in Colorado will help me handle the hilly state course.  Since I haven't done much road racing for the past several years, I honestly don't know hat to expect.  Sit in, cover what appear to be serious breaks, and see how long the legs hold up.

Cyclocross season will be a dichotomy.  On one hand, I'm looking forward to CX racing and the associated (short-term) pain.  The down side is that, with the exception of the state CX race and possibly nationals, there probably won't be many events that offer a 60+ category.  That means I'll race against the 40+ or 50+ crowd and get dropped fairly quickly.  The key is to keep focused on the long term goal, that being 2012 and 2013 when the Master's CX Worlds are held here in the US (Louisville, KY).   That's one thing I miss about no longer living in Colorado ...they have larger fields racing in all of the Master's categories.

So the rest of the late summer and then early fall will go like this: start doing more short but very hard intervals (60 sec on/off type stuff) plus some short tempo rides with 10-15 min hard.   One workout per week will be a CX race simulation, and I'll also do an endurance ride using the CX bike on trails.   Other than a couple of short running sessions with short uphill sprints, the remainer of the workouts will be relaxed recovery rides.   The first CX race of the season will be in late October .... time to get serious and (hopefully) have some cooler and wet weather.   I'm also in the process of building up a new CX bike, so I'll update with pics when it's ready to be seen publically.

Upcoming Events


Sept. 4: Hot Dog Run, www.roadlizards.org/Upcoming%20Races/HOTDOGRUN_Flyer_Sep_2010.pdf

Sept. 11: Burma Road Time Trial, http://www.sanangelobicycleassociation.com/

Sept 11: Run to Remember, roadlizards.org/Upcoming%20Races/Run_to_Remember_Flyer_Sep_2010.jpg

Sept 18-19: Fort Davis Cyclefest, www.active.com/cycling/fort-davis-tx/fort-davis-cyclefest-tour-2010

Oct 9-10: Texas Cycling Championships, http://www.txbra.org/

Oct 16-17: Season Opener, Texas Cup cyclocross series, http://www.txbra.org/

Oct. 30: Six Hour Mountain Bike Race, http://www.sanangelobicycleassociation.com/