the beginning of spring
(photo of me grinding it out at the December edition of the coldsprints, thanks to Ted & Cyndi for the photo)
The last edition of the local winter indoor racing series Coldsprints was on Friday, and i continued my twin streak of both attempting to qualify and not making it to the bracket. It’s obvious how a winter mostly off the bike has slowed me down. I haven’t been tracking my numbers, but the first 3 rounds had a precipitous dropoff along with my post-CX fitness. This month was a little better, but i still found myself after 12-13 seconds watching my legs slow down and futilely trying to will them to spin faster. I’ve been on the basement trainer a bit lately, but 2 solid weeks of getting over the flu really killed the early training momentum.
Training is getting increasingly important as i get closer to the Ragnarök 105. I really have about a month now to get as fit as possible before riding 105 miles on gravel. I think i can do it, but it’s gonna hurt. Luckily, we’ve been on a good streak of warmer weekends, and that should continue for at least this coming weekend. I was out on Saturday, and the temperature went up 10° over a couple of hours in the morning, and my hands were sweating profusely in the icebike mitts before i got home. Here in Minnesota, we greet spring as a mixed blessing. It’s a relief, but it sure makes it harder to get the layering right.