A good month on the trainer.

For the first time in about 19 years I have ridden a trainer for a significant amount of time. Or at least what I think of as a significant amount. A little over 200 miles and 15 hours of trainer time.
The motivation is simple. 10 days of ridding in the Pyrenees Mountains.
That makes hoping on the trainer a little easier when there is light at the end of the tunnel! And you know that the tunnel is an 8% grade. So far its all going well I just keep telling myself that the more I ride now the less it will hurt in June. Still have a hard time staying on for more then an hour, but will try to up it a little. Don't think I could do 3 hours like Capn Cowbell did. But with a little determination I think I might be able to get in an hour and a half. All I can do is try.

Back on the trainer.

After only ridding once in the last week and a half. Tonight I got back on the trainer. We all have been a little bit sick. Nothing major just hacking cough and tired. Thought I had better get over it and not make it worse. Took it easy tonight, watch the OT of the Saints and Vikings and just spun for about 40 mins. Feels good to be back on the bike, now just to get into a routine.
Hope everyone else is getting in some "Outside" miles. Looks like the weather will be chilly here for another week and then warm up for a few days. It will be nice to get out on the road if possible.

Trainer time?

Spent an hour on the trainer tonight. For me its more of a mental issue then a fitness (or lack of fitness) issue. I have never been one to set on a trainer for hours at a time. I remember when I first moved to Omaha and was staying with a friend. He and a few of his ridding partners would spend 3 or 4 hours a night on the trainer and rollers. So I guess that's why they were Cat. 2 on the road and semi-pro mountain bikers.

When I was in North Platte the winter was pretty mild and we would go MTB ridding almost every night, and a 2 hour road ride on the weekend.

Living up in the upper mid-west, plus having a family put a halt to night ridding and road rides on the weekend. So I guess I have come to the conclusion that if I want to ride better I'm going to need to put in the trainer time. I have all the bells and whistles for the task. Fluid trainer and power tap, just have a hard time with the motivation. Like last year I set up a motivational work out. My tour de trainer is a pretty simple idea. Divide the complete 2010 Tour de France in to a workout. A simple excel spread sheet, with lots of color and formulas. And hopefully with the up coming trip to France in June. That will also give me the motivation to stick to it. I guess time will tell how I do.
So to all of you that do have the mental toughness to set on a trainer for long stretches of time.
I salute you!

Please wish me luck.

Till next time, Peace and grease!

Chicago.

A garmin in Spanish? I wonder who's that could be?



2008 Tour de France Champion Carlos Sastre!




Yes I do need to get on the trainer more!

Carlos was great, took pictures with everyone, answered questions and told a lot of funny stories about the Tour and the Giro. I had a good two days!

Beautiful day for a ride!

Took a little spin, 60 plus deg. Very little wind, just a wonderful day for a ride in Wisconsin. I got in about 26 miles. With a little luck I'll get one in today. We will see.

I'm on vacation so a lot of projects around the house that need to be finished up.
That's not going according to plan. But that's for another blog.

I hope that everyone is getting out for a ride or three.

Till next time.....


Peace and Grease.

Grumpy

2009 Tour de trainer day one.

Day one down. (week one as well) Ya ya I know I didn't ride the trainer. Its OK you don't need to ride the trainer. I make the rules! 17.24 miles down and A LOT TO GO!

Check out my progress of lack there of here.

A very windy day here in the land-O-Cheese. Reminds me of Nebraska, 30 mph winds with 40 mph gusts. Good times, good times!

Not much else going on so till next time....

Peace and Grease.

Grump

Tour de Trainer

With the announcement of the 2009 Le tour de France next week I thought it would be fun to incorporate that into my mundane trainer training.

For me to set and on a trainer for more that about 5 seconds is a major accomplishment. So in a attempt to add a little excitement to an other wise boring task I came up with "Tour de Trainer"

What is this you may ask? Simple! Every week you will ride a stage of the 2009 Le tour de France.

21ish stages with a prologue (or not) and 2 rest days. When the route is announced on Wednesday then we will have the total mileage.

The idea is,

Ride one stage a week 21 stages, 21 weeks. Divide them up however you want. If the weather is suitable for riding outside DO IT! We are not keeping score.

If you miss a day, you can make it up somewhere during the week or not, again we are not keeping score.

The point of this is at the start of nice weather you will have a head start on next years riding.

For those who do not need any encouragement, good for you. For the rest of us... Its a thought!

Peace and grease.

Grump