Buddy Dam Ride

Heather and I love how big the sport of cycling is... It is cool how you always see racks on cars or your eye catches a road bike going by somewhere and you have to stop and watch it go by and try to make out the make and what wheel set and groupset he has on it... and it's nice that there is always somebody to ride with. The other day Heather and I planned a quick ride to the dam while Mikey watched the store for us. So we thought it would be fun to ask Amy to come with us.. she just bought a bike from
Brentwood Bike Co. She is doing a Tri in 2010. Amy is the one posing with Heather in the last post. And then Don Williams asked when we were riding via facebook and we set up a meeting place on the loop...I was looking forward to riding with Don because before I even bought my bike we were talking about the sport and how he trains and his rides and the power tap.. that will be my next post.. cuz santa won me a power tap on ebay... :)
So we got to a late start on our ride because of the store... missed our meeting with Don but I figured we would see him at the dam. Heather was looking great on the Old Blue.. her form is really coming in and is getting faster every ride... and climbing better each climb. It was fun to help Amy learn the sport, shifting strategy etc. I just hope we can be half as good as the people that taught us.
We ran into Don , he was already on is way back .. but turned to do another trip to the top of the dam with us...on the way up the dam climb .. we wanted the girls to go first but of course nobody wanted to go first.. Heather finally said forget it and took off... then Amy... it was hilarious watch her try to clip in going up hill... nice and close to falling over..but nope she stayed up ... then Don and I took off side by side.. knowing he ad to be be a lil billy goat I figured he would work me to the top.. but he spit his chain.. off.. I was happy.. I said in my head ok I got this guy now....I caught Amy first... her heart rate was like 196 ish.. she was nice and redlined about half way up.. look over my shoulder and guess who is closing fast.. yes the billy goat after putting on his chain... I was like great.. whatever I'm gong after Heather... When Don caught me (yes he is 70 lbs lighter than me lol) I said damn we aren't going to catch Heather.. that's all Don needed to hear.. he jumped out of the saddle shifted up a gear and was gone... Yes I chased using the same technique but my legs were rubber.. Don beat us all to the top .. on his second time up mind you .. Heather second me third and the lil engine that could Amy made it to the top with a heart rate of 202... nice...Heather said she wouldn't have let Don catch her if she knew what was going on behind her...she said she had some left.. that's the first time I ever heard Heather say that after climbing...
The ride back to Loard's was nice.. Heather and I practiced some pacelining and finally got Amy to lead for awhile ... the loop was 21 miles and loads of fun.
next time hopefully Chris (Amy's husband) can make it and would love to ride with Don again. It would be nice to get everybody together for a Brentwood Bike club ride on Sat. morning. I'm So thankful for the hours that I work at Fedex.and that our 13 year old is mature enough to run the store.. makes it so much easier to sneak a ride in with the short daylight hours that winter brings.

HEATHER'S RIDE IN NICASIO

I have never even heard of Nicasio.. and now I can't wait to go back. It was a long drive for me but it was well worth it. It was 83 miles from our house in discovery bay. Nicasio is so beautiful that it didn't even seem like we were working out, the 30 mile ride seemed to short. Today was my first group ride with out Mike. Even though he wasn't with me, he set me up good. Mike had blue all prepped and loaded on the lil ghetto box , all my clothes together, and all my water and nutrition set up for my ride. I'm starting to notice my training is paying off.. I felt really strong on the ride today. I'm starting to climb better, still not the best and have a hard time controlling my heart rate but I'm making it up whatever hill is in front of me. We rode a total of 30 miles today. What a great place to ride. There were groups of riders everywhere, big groups , fast groups , girl groups. Team In Training is going back to Nicasio later in the season when the rides get longer and I can't wait to ride with Mike out there, he had to work today, the one Saturday a year he has to work at Fedex because of the Christmas rush. We practiced pace lining today.. I hear Mike and Chris from Brentwood Bike Club talking about it all the time and how to do it. This is when your group rides in a line about 18 inches from the back wheel of the bike in front of you. Everyone takes a turn pulling (the first rider in line breaking the wind and pulling the group) this technique can make a long ride seem like a short easier ride or a short easy ride seem long if it's not done correctly.
So anyhow, it has to be predetermined how long and how fast each pull will be. So if the pace is 18mph and 90 second pulls, you hold a 18 mph pace and after 90 seconds you peel off to the left and let the group pass you and fall into place at the back. In the back you can relax a little bit and recover for your next pull. This is when you would drink. We have a little practicing to do. I've seen Mike and the club do this out at the dam and wow you can really move working as a team, but you have to be a team and keep the same pace, not drop anybody. The idea behind pace lining is to draft and conserve energy when not doing your pull. I can't wait to get this down it will be fun to do it right and be like a race team... lol. I know it was a great day because I came home and crashed on the couch...Sunday I'm looking forward to our club ride with Brentwood Bike Club ... the Sunday coffee ride, we will probably get another 30 miles in, then Monday will be a recovery day. I want to say good job today Team in Training, today I felt we rode as a team and it felt good, and thank you coach Jim for a great ride. That's me and coach Jim in the picture.