Cold, cold go away...

I'm juggling my training schedule based on what the "weatherman" says. Today for example, it was supposed to be Sunny and 18 C and tomorrow rain. So instead of running today I did biking. I'd rather get my running shoes wet than my new bike. 

Today was speed work and the main set was 2 x 10 minutes. One of the sets was fairly flat and the other was all 10 % plus grade hills. Coming down after I finished the hills I stopped and said hi to Jeff from Sound Solutions, he had just got to the top and didn't know it was me. He told me that he can barely make it to the top and was looking at "that guy", who was me, going up and down twice. I was happy with my hill climbing tonight. I was able to say in the saddle at full out effort. Last week I had to ride standing just to get to the top.

What separates a regular cyclist or runner from a competitor is speed work. Speed work is hard core. The principle is simple and surprisingly the amount of time at full out effort is only around 30 minutes, but that 30 minutes causes extreme discomfort. The best thing about doing speed work is finishing it and having that feeling of accomplishment. 

I was thinking of the competitors I'll race this year and wonder how many are doing speed work in their training. Doing speed work gives you a competitive edge. I know when I was in my early 20's I rarely did speed work. I read about it and knew it was necessary to get faster but didn't do it much. It was too hard to do consistently. Going to a track or getting on the bike to do intervals was not that much fun.

I'd like just one ride without a mechanical problem. Tonight my cadence stopped working for a while and I had to stop and adjust the cables. Then my heart rate monitor wasn't working properly. At an all out effort it was reading 67 bpm. 

The one thing that I can't understand is why my first bike, a Centurion which I still own, has never had a problem. In 22 years I think I've only taken it in for a tune up once or twice and I've abused that bike so much. It's never so much as had a cable, chain or brake pad replaced. Then my second bike was a Trek 5900, which was the exact bike model that Lance won the 2002 tour on and it's been pretty good, but it's been in the shop about 4 - 5 times in 7 years and have had to replace cables and the chain. Last year I got a new bike and it was in the shop at least 5 times last year alone. I had cables changed, went through 3 chains, brake pads, speedometer problems and shifting problems. This year I've got a new bike and have already had it back to the shop twice, although it's still on warranty so it didn't cost me anything, yet. 

What I've experienced is the older and cheaper the bike the less the problems and costs it is to fix. The newer and more expensive the bike, the more problems and more costly to fix. I guess the costs are like fixing a Porsche versus a Chevy. I'd just like, for once this year, to get out on my bike and have "NO" problems, not so much as a flat tire, lost water bottle or a truck mirror hitting me. I can only dream. 

Because of my safety paranoia I went to MEC and bought a bright yellow jersey for riding. I want to make sure everyone can see me. As strange as it sounds, I had a tough time finding jerseys that are really bright and geared more towards safety. I also bought a turtle light for the back of my jersey. I was going to ride wearing the jersey tonight but by 6:30 pm the temperature dropped to 13 C and it was threatening to rain. I put on the yellow jacket instead and just finished as it started to "spit" rain. Disaster averted. I can hardly wait for the warm weather, I'm sick of the cold.

Biking Speed work - 1:13:29 / 35.33 km / 28.8 kph