The Week in Review

Not exactly the week as planned, but all in all not too shabby. I took Monday and Tuesday off the bike as planned, and was on schedule through Wednesday then the wheels came off.

Wednesday: Road Bike - 27 miles, 1654 feet of climbing.
Did a pretty standard loop through Snoqualmie and North Bend while trying to keep myself at a comfortable, relaxed pace. Ended up time-trialing the climb up Snoqualmie Parkway and setting a new P.R. for myself (8:23).

Thursday: Mountain Bike - 35 miles, 2661 feet of climbing.
Was planning on doing two laps of the Thrilla in Woodinvilla course, but that didn't happen. Did the first lap in the reverse direction then, during the second lap, some newcomers got lost and I went looking for them. Couldn't find them, got pissed off at the group dynamics and utter lack of communication and leadership on the ride and, essentially, took my ball and went home. Ended up just turning around and riding in reverse back to Redhook.

Friday: Mountain Bike - 35 miles, 3731 feet of climbing.
Woke up with a very sore throat and swollen glands in my throat that were painful to the touch, and even hurt when I turned my head. Oh well, gotta ride anyway! The plan was to ride to Grand Ridge and back then tack on a trip to Rattlesnake Lake and make this a 60+ mile ride. I posted the Grand Ridge portion of the ride to the BBTC calendar and despite posting it as a "moderate paced" ride, I was joined by a 53 year old lady who, despite having some pretty good stamina, is very timid on the bike. Don't get me wrong, she's a good rider and I only wish my own parents were as fit as she, but I think she'd be best served sticking to the "social paced" rides. I normally do the Grand Ridge out-and-back in about 90 minutes or so, but it ended up taking about 2.5 hours today (nearly an hour of paused time for me). It ended up getting pretty late and Kristin and I were going out to dinner so I had to skip the Rattlesnake Lake portion of the ride and call it a day at 35 miles.

Saturday: Mountain Bike - 67 miles, 3806 feet of climbing.
Throat still sore, glands still swollen, temps in the upper 40's and forecast calls for on and off rain showers. A fine day for a planned 90+ mile epic! Not exactly. My feet started getting cold about 8 miles into the ride, but I was hopeful the sun would eventually break through and provide some warmth. I was attempting to ride to the Thrilla course from home and do two laps around the 20 mile training loop. I was loaded up with a ton of food and water to endure 8 hours or so of riding, self-supported. I climbed the wrong road up and over the ridge trying to connect to the Thrilla loop and had to return back to the valley road. I tried the next road, looking to connect with the pipeline trail, but failed again. I ignored a few private property signs and punched through some woods and came out on the side of a golf course. Oops. Eventually found some woodchip trails with tell-tale horse tracks and figured those horse tracks would no doubt lead me to the pipeline trail and, sure enough, they did. The rain was coming down pretty good while on the Thrilla course and my feet were totally numb. I figured that if the rains stopped and the sun came out and my feet warmed up, I would do the second lap. That never happened, my feet stayed ice-cold, and I was losing a lot of energy out my feet. I felt great otherwise and was keeping to my plan of maintaining a HR around 125-135, but I had to bail after one lap and make the long uphill slog back home. I didn't ride as much as I wanted, but I'm not going to dismiss 6+ hours of pure saddle time as a failure. It was a good, albeit painful, day.

Sunday - Nothing
It's going to be a beautiful day today. Sunny, temps in the upper 60's, no rain. But my throat is still sore, the glands are still swollen, and I have a race next weekend in British Columbia. I was scheduled to do a 100 mile road bike ride today, and I really want to, but I know it's just not wise to push it too much if I might be coming down with a cold. It's only 3 weeks to 24 Hours of Spokane. So, instead, I'll sit inside and work and hopefully feel a bit better for tomorrow and maybe do a long ride then.

*Two consecutive weeks of 11,000+ feet of climbing!!! That makes me feel happy.