Heading to bed early on a Friday night means one thing. That's right... ROAD TRIP!
I'm off to the race tomorrow. I'm expecting around a 5 hour drive to get to the race location for the Kyushu Autopolis Circuit Race. I'll get down there late afternoon after squeezing in an early morning leg-opener workout in on the bike.
The forecast for the weekend is not looking so hot. Rain in the forecast for Sunday - race day. I've learned to accept the riding in the rain at this point in the year. I stepped out of the house today into the rain for my 2 1/2 hours of riding. It POURED today, and of course it did so even harder every time I started to descend at 60+ kph to the point that I could barely see with the rain stinging my face. No fun... but, at least it's warm!
I really have no plans at all for this race on Sunday. It kinda feels weird. So far every race there's been a "plan." Sunday is all about getting a 3 hour fast group ride in on the bike more or less. The last race on this course saw 3 people come in about 45 seconds "off the front" of the next 3-4 spaced out riders before the pack came in a lap down. So I suppose part of the plan is to be able to cover whatever breakaways get going - or to get on the wheel of whoever is covering the breakaway. No other riders from Club Athlete heading to this event so I'm on my own once again.
The rain might slow us down a little bit, but looking at the course there aren't really any especially hard corners. It's not nearly as twisty as the Aida Circuit in Okayama, and that course we were taking one of the narrower turns at 61 kph on the last lap (descending hard left turn).
I do have one challenge, but the rain might actually help me out with this one. 3 hours of riding usually takes me through 3 1/2-4 water bottles. So, without support I've tossed the seat post bottle cages on so I can start the race with 4 full water bottles. The rain might drop the temps up on the mountains so I might be able to get by with 2 bottles if that happens. We'll play that by ear race day morning.
Finally, the week ended on the up note as I rode today. After a great upper tempo day yesterday, 300 watts for 2 hrs, my legs felt remarkably fresh today. Even in the downpour, I was having to pull back on the pace to keep from pushing too hard and still I think I might have stretched it out a little. Perceived exertion for the pace was definitely down and I finally feel like I'm getting back in the groove after a couple of weeks "in the rough." Some hard intervals are in the plan for next week and I'm looking forward to carrying this "groove" through that training.
Ride safe everyone!
VW
I'm off to the race tomorrow. I'm expecting around a 5 hour drive to get to the race location for the Kyushu Autopolis Circuit Race. I'll get down there late afternoon after squeezing in an early morning leg-opener workout in on the bike.
The forecast for the weekend is not looking so hot. Rain in the forecast for Sunday - race day. I've learned to accept the riding in the rain at this point in the year. I stepped out of the house today into the rain for my 2 1/2 hours of riding. It POURED today, and of course it did so even harder every time I started to descend at 60+ kph to the point that I could barely see with the rain stinging my face. No fun... but, at least it's warm!
I really have no plans at all for this race on Sunday. It kinda feels weird. So far every race there's been a "plan." Sunday is all about getting a 3 hour fast group ride in on the bike more or less. The last race on this course saw 3 people come in about 45 seconds "off the front" of the next 3-4 spaced out riders before the pack came in a lap down. So I suppose part of the plan is to be able to cover whatever breakaways get going - or to get on the wheel of whoever is covering the breakaway. No other riders from Club Athlete heading to this event so I'm on my own once again.
The rain might slow us down a little bit, but looking at the course there aren't really any especially hard corners. It's not nearly as twisty as the Aida Circuit in Okayama, and that course we were taking one of the narrower turns at 61 kph on the last lap (descending hard left turn).
I do have one challenge, but the rain might actually help me out with this one. 3 hours of riding usually takes me through 3 1/2-4 water bottles. So, without support I've tossed the seat post bottle cages on so I can start the race with 4 full water bottles. The rain might drop the temps up on the mountains so I might be able to get by with 2 bottles if that happens. We'll play that by ear race day morning.
Finally, the week ended on the up note as I rode today. After a great upper tempo day yesterday, 300 watts for 2 hrs, my legs felt remarkably fresh today. Even in the downpour, I was having to pull back on the pace to keep from pushing too hard and still I think I might have stretched it out a little. Perceived exertion for the pace was definitely down and I finally feel like I'm getting back in the groove after a couple of weeks "in the rough." Some hard intervals are in the plan for next week and I'm looking forward to carrying this "groove" through that training.
Ride safe everyone!
VW