Went out for my longest solo ride ever. I did four hours alone. I’ve done four hour rides quite often but always in a group. It was very different to such a long ride alone. Very quiet – thank goodness for a well-stocked iPod with some excellent podcasts. Funny the time seemed to pass very quickly. Almost seemed to pass more quickly than a standard two hour ride.

Checked out a new-to-me road out here in Lakefield. I hopped on Country Rd. 6 and then took a right turn on to County Rd. 44. 44 is a fun little road. Twisty. Rolling. Very little traffic. There are a few dogs but all in all, a good little road. Unfortunately it ends at Highway 7 – not a cyclist-friendly road. I doubled back on the 44 and turned right back onto the 6. I rode the 6 until it ended at some kind of quarry. Turned around to face a headwind and made my way back into Lakefield and then through the town and out the other side on the way to Peterborough for a few extra minutes.

Ride ended with four hours and 43 seconds of riding time. Perfect. Luckily it wasn’t that hot so I was able to get away with my two water bottles. Nice to get the ride down before noon as well. Sometimes these long rides can take over the day and before you know it, it’s the late afternoon.

Chilling out here in Lakefield. Wandered over to the flea market with my mom and then we went downtown to walk along the river. Perfect for some recovery from such a ride. I must admit my quads are a bit angry right now. The one thing about the riding around here is that it is much more rolling than I’m used to when riding from Barrhaven. Most of the hills are just little kickers but there are a couple that leave me weazing for a few minutes and cursing their steepness and length. But as the saying goes “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.

And considering my post from Saturday when I wrote about committing to challenging myself on each and every ride and really focusing – these hills were just what I needed to test my mettle. I did go out with Marc yesterday but when it was time for his intervals, he took a different route. I’m pretty happy to report that I was able to ride side-by-side with him though – we were both in our “endurance” zones – I flitted between the top of this endurance zone and my tempo zone the entire time. In past rides, Marc would have dropped me on every climb because I would have looked at my power numbers and backed off. Not this time, I stuck with him on every climb. I’m pretty happy about this.

A good couple of rides on this fine Easter weekend. Tomorrow is a rest day so I’ll just do some yoga and give the legs a break. The rest of the week is pretty well stacked with a couple of three hour rides, a three and half hour ride, some tempo intervals, sprint intervals and the four hour group ride on Sunday. Pretty darn good week if you ask me.

Stopped in at Wild Rock Outfitters yesterday – many thanks for the map and advice on where to ride.

Alright, time to get off this computer and read my book. Loving Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson – highly recommend this book.

Maybe this post should really be re-titled to Weekend Thinking. Or maybe weekend thinking about riding. Really it should be weekend talking and thinking about riding. Don’t misconstrue this to mean that this weekend I’m only going to talk and think about riding and not ride. Nope, I’m going to do it all. Ride. Think. Talk. Trick is doing it all at once! (Okay lame joke…)

All this to say that yesterday in the car during our drive to Lakefield, Marc and I talked a lot about riding. About setting goals for each training ride. This involves thinking about the scheduled work-out, setting goals for each interval, and the ride overall. Then going out and achieving or over-achieving on these goals. If you don’t meet the goals, it is not a failure – rather time to ask why and what happened.

The other thing we talked about really boils down to “wanting it”. About having to want to get better. To want to put yourself in that place of pain and suffering. To really testing your body to see how far it can go. To committing to the ride and not letting yourself give up or “back down” on the ride.

For me this means that when I go out on group rides, I need to pay less attention to what my SRM is telling me and focus on staying with the group and riding intelligently. I need to go on these group rides with the commitment that I’ll do whatever it takes to stay with the group, to attack the group (if it is such a group ride), and to push myself.

This is how I’m going to get to the next level. I need to make this jump. To do this I need to bring out some aggression. Not crazy aggression. Just that level of emotion that drives me forward and makes me want it.

Now, all this being said. Don’t get me wrong. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am one of the most driven and committed athletes out there. But I can still do more. And I can take this drive and commitment and focus in a slightly different direction. To help me make that jump to the next level.

So this is what I’ll be thinking about this morning as I’m sitting on the Marc’s back wheel really wishing he would slow down…

Happy pedaling. Happy Easter.

Today was just one of those good days on the bike. The legs were full of snap. The wind was light. The sun was out. The brain was on track and ready to get down to work.

I got in a very strong three hour ride today. Mixed it up with some sprint intervals. Still working on the sprint technique. So much to remember. Pull back on the bars. Turn the legs over fast. Remember to shift. But don’t shift too early. Shift when I’m on top of the gear. So much to do and remember in my 15 second window.

This is definitely something I need to work on all season. I need to get this sprinting thing down. I’m an explosive athlete. I’ve got the power and snap. Just need to translate it to the bike. Technique. Comes down to technique. Well also commitment. I need to commit to the sprint. Technique and commit work hand in hand. One without the other won’t work for me.

Yes, I’m getting excited for the upcoming cyclo-cross season. I know it is early. But when I can finish my ride and sit down and think about my day of training and know that I’m making progress and moving forward, I can’t help but be excited. Tomorrow night I’m getting the mountain bike out for a roll over to Slack to check out the trails. I’ll let you know about the sogginess of the trails here. Not normally a place where I would ride a mountain bike (perfect for ‘cross riding) but I think at this time of the year, the mountain bike will work.

I’m off to Lakefield, ON on Friday for a week – so I’ll be out on my road bike checking out the area. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to hook up for a ride. I am looking for a group ride on Sunday – I’ve got four hours on the schedule with the words “group ride” underneath.

When I’m back in good old Ottawa, I’ll be out for some mountain biking at Kanata Lakes. The trails should be dryish by then. Can’t hardly wait.

Love this time of the year. Spring signals the start of a new season, new goals, more growth, more progress. And most importantly – fun times on bikes. Life is good.

Yeesh, this wind is getting to be a bit tiresome. In more ways than one. My strategy is typically to ride out against the almighty headwind. I do my intervals into the headwind. Then I get a friendly push home from the well-deserved tailwind. A win-win situation for everyone (okay really me).

But today this did not happen. The wind was not blowing in the correct direction(s) for me. I did my best to get my intervals in at least a cross-wind and with some climbs for extra spice. But it was headwind all the way home. Even the cross-tailwind wasn’t that awesome along Upper Dwyer Hill. The ride down Jock and then Franktown was fierce.

There were many pluses today’s ride thought that outweighed the unfriendly wind. The sun was shining. The sky was a brilliant blue. I nailed my intervals. I’m really focusing on keeping my cadence high when I’m under stress. I tend to revert to a plodding 80 rpm cadence when working hard. So the goal is to fix this. Today I did an excellent job of keeping the cadence and the wattage high. Great feeling when the small goals come together. In fact the entire ride was pretty darn good – cadence was spot on, wattage was grooving along. I felt good out there.

I’m in the next phase of my training now. Lots of tempo intervals and sprint work. Also some longer rides. I’m looking for group rides. Every Sunday I’ve got a four hour group ride on the schedule. So let me know if you’ve got a group ride going. I’m looking forward to spending more time on the saddle.

On deck for tomorrow is three hours with a bunch of sprint intervals thrown in for some heartrate raising and lung bursting action. Nothing like a sprint work-out to put some quiver in the legs. Extra bonus is that Wednesday is supposed to be a decent day – sunny and dry. Time will tell about the wind.

I’m itching to hit up the trails on my mountain bike. I head that Kanata Lakes was starting to dry up. Not sure what the last few days of rain will have done to the conditions though.

Well, I best be off. I’ve got a bunch of web sites to visit and my new book is calling my name (Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson).

Ah, sitting here watching the end of Gent-Wevelgem with my favorite guy. Wow – I can feel the pain of the break. Such a beautiful sport. Fitting way to wind down after a busy day of riding for ourselves.

We hooked up with The Cyclery crew for a fun and at times fast group ride. Original plan was the Richmond Bakery but the wind caused us to change our plans. Carp it was! I had a lot of fun on the ride. Moments of floating along effortlessly on the pedals sandwiched between bouts of pounding the pedals and focusing on the wheel in front of me. At the end of it all, I got in a little over three hours. Good. Perfect way to spend a Sunday. Riding bikes and hanging out with friends. Kind of like when I was a kid. Really much better than anything else I can think of right now.

Pretty chilled out afternoon. Usual house stuff to do. Amazing how much laundry two cyclists can generate!

I think one of the best things about today’s ride was how welcoming and friendly everyone on the ride was. It was smiles all around with lots of chatter about bikes, work, kids, and life. There was no craziness as can happen on group rides. Just a fun group. (Okay, there was that insane moment on the way back where the pace got a bit hot for me… But next time I’ll be ready for it!) Fun on bikes on the weekend. Nice.

Rumor has it that Kanata Lakes is starting to dry up. Cool. Think I’ll find myself there this week to work some rust out of my trail riding skills. Maybe a smooth double day with a road ride before lunch chased by a mountain bike ride. Doesn’t get much better.

Today is one of those days when I realize how fortunate I am. I was going through my blog posts over the years and found it very interesting how I dealt with setbacks and what I drew inspiration from. I like to believe I’m better at handling the hurdles and bumps along the way. But one thing does remain consistent for me, I still draw inspiration from those around me. For this, I have you to thank. Your words, comments, emails, even smiles, help me keep staying focused. Everyday one main thought runs through my brain and keeps me on track:

Vicki, what are you doing right now to reach your goals?