Spring Break/ Training Camp #2

This week has been most excellent for riding bikes. Eoin, Reid, Sam C., Steven and myself drove down to Eoin's house for some gorgeous weather and ice cream cake.
(Mrs. McDonnell's third batch of ice cream cake this week)

Monday - Rode through UNC Campus for around an hour to holla at some ladies. Steven talked to some girl at a stop light. Later he talked about how he talked to a girl. We visited some of the famous landmarks on campus including the well, the sun dial, bell tower, the garden and a castle that is the host of some sort of secret society (though we don't know what.) Total miles: 5, 10 at best.

Tuesday - Steven's last day with us before he left for DLP training camp. We rode for 2.5 hours then did 6 x 3 min v02 max efforts up a climb. The whole team got in on it and treated the efforts as races. Total ride time: 3 hr 45 min.

Wednesday - The crew rode for 2 hours in the morning then rested before a twilight training criterium with the NC State cycling team later that night. The course was the NC State crit course but backwards. There was about 20 people there and it made for a fun race. It is not often I get to participate in a race at night, and it got me thinking about the Athens Twilight Crit, which I may have the opportunity to race next month...





Thursday - 100 miles. Similar to last year's 100 mile ride in its epic-ness, but different in style.

A Reflection of last year: The ride was an unofficial "race." Owen Nielson and Reid took off around mile 25 and finished 45 minutes before everybody else. Left in the ride is Steven, Eoin, Bryan and I. With 20 miles to go Bryan attacked, and with no reaction with the remaining 3 riders, started to ride the last little bit by himself. As Steven, Eoin and I came into the last 2 miles, we see Bryan come in from a side street up ahead. It was obvious he made a wrong turn. Bryan sees us coming 100 meters away and starts to hammer. With the help of Steven and Eoin, I launch myself up to Bryan and catch him before the town sign. EPIC.

In this year's ride we decided to make it a "tempo" ride, where we would a do a double paceline, with the people pulling doing tempo and the people sitting in recovering. Tempo turned into low lt, thanks to Will from NC state. We sprinted for county signs and by the end of the ride we were exausted. Near the end of the ride Eoin, Reid, BW and I rolled it up and sprinted for the last sign. Reid wins the county lines sprints points competition and the overall win.

But wait, we only road 93 miles. So we rolled around for 7 more miles around chapel hill. I bonked hardcore in that last 7 miles and could barely push the pedals on the way home. Not top sporter. Good thing there was ice cream cake for instant recovery!

Friday (today) - the weather is crappy so we didn't ride. (Reid rode the rollers on the porch) We are talking now about if anybody if going to show up for the P-ride tomorrow.

That's it for now. No races this weekend, so maybe I'll finally do PB&J post I have been wanting to do.