Saturday Ride

Joined the DMBA group on Saturday to do an end of season epic ride through Durham forest and onto some private trails.
Very cool....look at the Garmin data to see the density of these private trails (just east of lakeridge)
My ride was cut a little short due to a crash resulting in some bruised ribs.  Hope to be back on the bike this Thursday.

Thurs. night ride

Got out a little late for a ride with the regular group....timed it just right by parking at the bell towers - meeting them as they crossed over to GM/WW.
This was our first time this season bringing out the lights...as we seem to be getting back to the parking around 9pm.
Usual fun, crazy fast ride...even up at a higher intensity with superfast Alan being out.  On the final climb out of Glen Major...racing up the hill in the dark (with lights), I was dropped (yeah it felt harsh) by Geoff & Alan --- I mean these guys opened a gap on the uphill of 100m in seconds - wow.  Unfortunately Alan took a nasty endo in one of those trenches that had opened up from the rain, hopefully only some bruised ribs.

I'm off to Detroit for my bro's wedding this weekend (YeeeHaw! George you are finally doing it!  Congratulations!), will do a hard ride Monday night.
Best of luck to Johnny B. doing a 24 solo this weekend.

Tuesday night road ride

Got out with Martin for a good 80k ride last night...first time in a month since I have been on the road bike, ride to Zephyr & back, perfect August late afternoon/evening

Details....


Was also back at Joyride on Monday.  Tonight run, or easy ride.

Yeah!

Back in the saddle!
Thursday night went well, fun, fast ride, however taking 8 days off and consuming mostly beer & frenchfries didn't do my endurance any good.  Was thoroughly trashed by Geoff on the final climb (Geoff if you are reading, this is my motivation to get fit again).
Was out on Sunday with Mark, where Mr. John Connors & Carmen Sweet toured us through the Ganny for a 30k+-.  They are both really strong..John especially after a couple weeks in France leading a couple of "shadow tours" of the tour de France with his Alpine Cycling company.

Now two days after our ride in the Ganny, I am waiting to see if I will have the dreaded poison ivy rash.

Stats are here....  I am planning on going back in a couple weeks to do the full 60k loop

8 days

Yes, 8 days since I have been on the bike...and I think it has only been 2 times this month!  Work, vacation...no excuse but it is what it is.
So tonight I will be back with the Thursday night group..it will be painful.

Tough race

This past Saturday was the Summer 8 hour at Hardwood hills. I was in the single speed solo category.  Interesting race....the course was great, the conditions were humid.  What else? After crashing for the 5th time during the race, I suddenly remembered..."hey buddy, you are on small block 8's....that's why you keep wiping out"; yes, those small block 8's - (which the only other time I used them was in the spring 8hr solo) are a fast rolling race tire...but they don't grip well, and when you throw in a few wet roots..well one second you are just riding along, the next second you are on the ground assessing what hurts.  Long story short....I am the sorest I have been since I learned how to snowboard...I am bruised all over. Ibuprofen is my friend.

In brief  ...really good course, conditions were humid beyond belief...rain held off.  Shared the pit with Mike Ring(1st time solo, and he podiumed!) John Bragon - yeah John, you are getting faster....it takes a couple seasons to get the body used to the endurance eh?   Let's see an even better PB at the fall event!, and Johns' dad was pit boss for us - thank you!

Finally...another highlight from the day...Ice cold can of beer at the end!

Looking forward to the fall 8 hours....want to do better, go faster!

my placing 4/10  11 laps in 7hrs 37min 22sec....total of approx 112k 

stats from the garmin

Time:	08:52:40
Distance:	95.58 km
Elevation Gain:	2,390 m
Calories:	10,233 C

(the garmin with it's satelite tracking is not so accurate in the single track as it tends to "cut corners", which is why it shows only 95.58km) The "time" shows 8:52 because I forgot to stop the timer.  What is interesting I find is the "moving time" 7:19:48...this means that I spent 18 minutes during the race "stopped".

Timing

Time:	08:52:40
Moving Time:	07:19:48
Elapsed Time:	08:52:45

Avg Speed:	10.8 km/h
Avg Moving Speed:	13.0 km/h
Max Speed:	38.7 km/h

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	2,390 m
Elevation Loss:	2,382 m
Min Elevation:	325 m
Max Elevation:	418 m

Heart Rate

Avg HR:	149 bpm
Max HR:	193 bpm

Fitness over forty (or closer to 50)

It amazes me how quickly I can loose my fitness...or let me be specific.  It amazes me how quickly, without training for a few days, and pretty much abusing the body from a nutrition perspective, the top end of the fitness can vanish.  Last week I rode 6 consecutive days  ....(yes one of those days was at Joyride, just to keep the legs spinning), the last day was Thursday, where I pretty much blew up on the final climb...running on empty and then some.  Instead of going home and having a recovery type drink  - this is my favorite

I decided to have a few glasses of this..

Well it may have all kinds of anti-oxidizing properties, but it does not make a great recovery drink.  And yes, for those of you that read my earlier blog about falling asleep sitting up in front of the TV...well this was likely a contributing factor.

Feeling physically depleted on Saturday,  I (with my much better half) headed out for a road trip (car, not bike) for Prince Edward county...very cool area, visited some wineries - lots of cyclists doing the wine circuit; bought a bottle of Norman Hardie county Pinot Noir, (really looking forward to this one) and a couple other Pinot Noirs from other Wineries.  Okay back to "training" , so on this great little day trip, we ate crap (way too hungry...grabbed a club & fries), tasted a good local beer, and listened to some great music at the the Acoustic Grill in Picton - highly recommended.

Well I am all over the map with this posting aren't I? 

Sunday ....sleep, sleep 

Monday did some raspberry clearing at Durham forest, then yesterday was feeling ready for a ride.  

Call Martin...no, he is sailing today.  Okay, who do you call when you want to have your legs bursting, your lungs on the verge of collapse?  Yes...Louis, joined Louis for one of his Durham forest race course preview rides.  The results were similar to a few weeks ago when I posted about this... try to stay ahead of Louis, blow up, collapse, recover, and ride some more.

Now this Wednesday morning, I am feeling much better, completely recovered, and looking forward to tomorrow's hammerfest.

Looking back at the title of this post..Fitness over forty (or closer to 50); the point that I wanted to make (that I seem to have diverted from) was that it still amazes me that the fitness can go so quickly, that recovery is so much longer than when I was younger.  One curious thing I notice though is, the amount of "fun" or "pleasure" that I get from a ride seems to be much more than when I was younger...there is that expression "youth is wasted on the youth" can be so true.

btw... my birthday is tomorrow so, "age" is playing very prominently with me today.