Had a solid night’s sleep and was up early this morning. I just can’t sleep in! So frustrating. I would love to be able to sleep until 8 a.m. Nope -up at 7! Oh well. Early bird gets the worm I guess. Popped out of bed and decided to get my yoga fix on. I did a 20 minute yoga detox flow. Just enough to get me limbered up and a bit of sweat on. Nothing like sometime in pigeon and warrior three to get the blood flowing!

Next mission was a ‘cross ride. I set off towards Averbode – I had planned to ride the trails I had discovered earlier in the week. But as I was pedaling along listening to Stuart Maclean and the Vinyl Cafe, I spied a trail to m left. I wasn’t sure where it would go, but what the heck… Well, I found an even better place for training. I discovered this massive “nature preserver” with mountain bike trails, mega-climbs, fast twisty descents, long bumpy roads with big patches of mud and sand, lots of bumps thanks to the horses that people ride in this place as well. It was an awesome ride. I was able to ride for 90 minutes and barely doubled back on myself.

Think I’ve found my new playground. This nature preserve is bordered by roads. So my “rule” was that if I popped out on a road I had to practice a standing start. I ended up doing four standing starts. I tried out the new drill that I learned from Matt yesterday. Put your bike in the hardest gear. Get in a position as if you’re on the start line. Then sprint like mad for 30 seconds or so. Starting in the hardest gear really teaches/forces you to use your upper body to move the bike and to get a good hard burn in the legs. I have to say, that this drill really highlights if you are slow at accelerating. I definitely notices that the first few pedal strokes are very labored. But I’m hoping/planning that with more practice I’ll improve.

I really had a blast out on my bike today. It was just me and the woods. Saw one lady walking her dog. Other than that I was free to zoom around in the mud, sand, and singletrack. Gotta love riding in the deep dark black Belgian mud. It really forces you to turn the legs over. Most excellent day on the bike.

I took a picture of my bike post ride:

I also discovered some photos on my camera from my trip to Treviso, Italy:

Well, I’m off for the afternoon. Decided not to race on Saturday – want to make sure I’m fresh for Sunday. So I’m looking forward to a couple more days of good training. Tomorrow I’m going to go into the suburbs of Antwerp for a little bit of “shopping” at Decathlon and Saturn (massive electronics store). Looking forward to more fun on the bike.