Alright...I was going to get up at 8am and leave by 9 for a long ride (4-5 hours), but I awoke to a sore throat. I decided to sleep it off. I got up at about 11 (thank god for class starting at 5pm Tues and Thurs) and the throat was a little better. I definitely had to go for a ride, it was 63 degrees out today. I ate, showered and got ready to meet the Sesto team for a ride at 1. I showed up and the shop owner, Marco (ex-pro), was happy to see me there. And then we were off.
For the first 10km or so the "big guy" on the squad decided he would pull. He definitely has a huge motor. But I stayed with him easily. We then took turns pulling keeping the pace up. We then got to a 7% climb that probably was about 6km in length or so. They sent the climber on the team up the road. They then told me to go catch him. OK. I did what I was told. I was proud of myself, I stayed with him on the whole climb. We had a pretty nice pace going up the climb...I won't lie he was a good climber. He attacked right at the end and got me at the top. Oh well, I'll get him next time. We put on about a minute on everyone else in the group of about 8-10. Sweet! We all got back together and started on our way again. I saw a small steep climb coming so I decided to attack...again the only one able to come with and stay on was their climber. Right after the very short climb was a downhill for about 1km so I motored along and it was another climb right after the downhill. I was definitely going to get him on this one. He pulled around me and I stuck on his wheel. He tried to push a little harder and I stayed. Right at the end I attacked and beat him at the top. OH yeah!!! He then said "geez, I'm next to Lance Armstrong" in the best English he could do. That was definitley a complement cuz he was a really good climber.
At the end of the ride we were going along...I was third in line, the big guy was pulling again. This time he got out of the saddle....well what happens when you jump out of the saddle........you slow down a bit. I didn't know he did this, the guy in position two moves over to his left quickly. My wheel is overlapping his and BAM!!! Face plant into the ground at 25mph. I was able to absorb most of the impact with my hands and arms. Thank god I know how to absorb a crash. But I still got a little bit of road rash on my hands, a scrape on the chin and bruise on my left shoulder (which is getting a little stiff now) and I rolled/slid into the ditch. I got up without hesitation. Everyone came right to me and asked if I was 'bene' I was fine. Marco came over tune up my bike quick and they made sure I was good. Definitely...I showed them that I was strong.
It was a good day overall though. I can see the team likes me and they can see my strong points. I'll be training with them a lot more. I enjoy Italy so much even with a little road rash. I can't wait to race and see how I can do in Italy. Happy training...
31.1.06
30.1.06
Wind = Not my friend
Well, I woke up today at about 8am...should have been 7am, but oh well...I'm in Italy and I'm not complaining. I had a nice breakfast of yogurt, roll with jam, banana, some sweet cake thingy (trust me its amazing), and some OJ. God I love breakfast here. Sooo tasty. Well, I wish I could tell you I went on a ride right after that but no... I had class from 10am to 1pm, and then it was lunch at 1. So I fueled up on the turkey and broccoli covered in Olive oil...thank god olive oil is good for you. After finishing lunch I made sure that the food digested and I got out to ride at 2pm.
Today was a good hard day, not because I went hard, but because of the wind. The wind was constantly 25mph with gusts of 35mph...always fun. Other than that everything else was great. There was a little cloud cover and it was 57 degrees out. Perfect! I love warm weather. I did the Barberino di Mugello route today. I'm definitely getter faster and stronger on this route. The climb doesn't tire me out like it did the first couple of times. I actually shed 5 min off of my time on the route...part of it was the wind being to my back on the way home...but even then I kept a constant 38-40mph for 9km. I got back at about 4:15pm (I decided to go just a little bit longer to make sure for a cool down and I didn't want to get back so early.
Since I'm kind of a weight freak I bought a scale today to make sure I maintain that weight thing. I still have a month to lose about 10 pounds before the first race, so its all good. I'll definitely become more of a climber after living here for 5 months. My cadence has even changed...I have a lot higher cadence now. Yeah, it use to be the Jan Ullrich grind of about 60 all the time (I enjoyed that cadence), but now I have a cadence of around 80-100 all the time, which I know is more effective and actually makes you more powerful...but I'm not gonna lie, I'll miss that old cadence of mine.
Tomorrow I plan on riding about 4-5 hours for some good base miles. I'll be riding with the Sesto cycling team tomorrow also, so I'll learn a new route. Hottness! Then later this week I'll be going to the doctor for a stress test so I can get my Italian cycling license and then I'll join the team. It'll be good. I'll learn some new cycling terms in Italian and see how they train and how they do things differently. I'll try to put up some pics for next time or atleast sometime soon. Happy riding....
Today was a good hard day, not because I went hard, but because of the wind. The wind was constantly 25mph with gusts of 35mph...always fun. Other than that everything else was great. There was a little cloud cover and it was 57 degrees out. Perfect! I love warm weather. I did the Barberino di Mugello route today. I'm definitely getter faster and stronger on this route. The climb doesn't tire me out like it did the first couple of times. I actually shed 5 min off of my time on the route...part of it was the wind being to my back on the way home...but even then I kept a constant 38-40mph for 9km. I got back at about 4:15pm (I decided to go just a little bit longer to make sure for a cool down and I didn't want to get back so early.
Since I'm kind of a weight freak I bought a scale today to make sure I maintain that weight thing. I still have a month to lose about 10 pounds before the first race, so its all good. I'll definitely become more of a climber after living here for 5 months. My cadence has even changed...I have a lot higher cadence now. Yeah, it use to be the Jan Ullrich grind of about 60 all the time (I enjoyed that cadence), but now I have a cadence of around 80-100 all the time, which I know is more effective and actually makes you more powerful...but I'm not gonna lie, I'll miss that old cadence of mine.
Tomorrow I plan on riding about 4-5 hours for some good base miles. I'll be riding with the Sesto cycling team tomorrow also, so I'll learn a new route. Hottness! Then later this week I'll be going to the doctor for a stress test so I can get my Italian cycling license and then I'll join the team. It'll be good. I'll learn some new cycling terms in Italian and see how they train and how they do things differently. I'll try to put up some pics for next time or atleast sometime soon. Happy riding....
29.1.06
The Start of Pain
OK this is my first blog for this site. Hope you enjoy and get some good tips from me for cycling. I'm not going to say too much in this one, but here it goes...
I've been in Florence, Italy since Jan 6, 2006. I've loved all the sites and mostly the cycling!!! I have a pretty nice climb just outside my window, Monte Morello...and the start of the climb is 2 miles away. It begins with a 15% gradient for 4km and then kicks up to 22% for about .7km. It is definitely a bitch of a climb, cuz then right after that it gets easier, but its still 8km of a 6-9% gradient to the top. The total of the climb is 800meters and the first 500meters is in the first 5km...grueling.
Then theres the road to Barberino di Mugello. Its nice and flat for about 15km and then the climb starts. The climb is about 7km in length with a gradient of 7-13% up to Le Croci. Then its a nice fast downhill for about 10km....when you turn around to go back the same way you then have to climb it.
Those are the two main routes I take so far. I'll be joining the Sesto Fiorentino Cycling Team, MTbike this week. The owner of the sponser shop is an ex-pro and I get to start training with him this Tuesday. It'll be hott. I will also start racing with them in the beginning of march all around Tuscany. Each race is on average 80-120 km in length. I'll really need to start kicking my ass and lose some of this Winter weight. I hope to be down to 155lbs by the first race March 5th. Only 7 more lbs to go in one month...seeing that I lost 9 lbs in two weeks before Superweek I don't think 7 lbs in 4 weeks should be much of a problem.
So far I've been here 3 total weeks...the first week I put in 13 hours of training time, Week 2 consisted of only 6 hours cuz it rained most of that week, but I hit the roads hard when it was finally dry. And week 3 consisted of 15 hours of training time. All of this being in the mountains is definitely different for me. Madison is very very flat compared to here. This week I hope to put in a total of 20 hours on the bike...every day this week is suppose to be sunny and 55. That's hott!!
Thats it for now I'll keep you informed on how the training is going from now on...tell your cycling friends about this blog. Tell them they can learn the Italian ways...
I've been in Florence, Italy since Jan 6, 2006. I've loved all the sites and mostly the cycling!!! I have a pretty nice climb just outside my window, Monte Morello...and the start of the climb is 2 miles away. It begins with a 15% gradient for 4km and then kicks up to 22% for about .7km. It is definitely a bitch of a climb, cuz then right after that it gets easier, but its still 8km of a 6-9% gradient to the top. The total of the climb is 800meters and the first 500meters is in the first 5km...grueling.
Then theres the road to Barberino di Mugello. Its nice and flat for about 15km and then the climb starts. The climb is about 7km in length with a gradient of 7-13% up to Le Croci. Then its a nice fast downhill for about 10km....when you turn around to go back the same way you then have to climb it.
Those are the two main routes I take so far. I'll be joining the Sesto Fiorentino Cycling Team, MTbike this week. The owner of the sponser shop is an ex-pro and I get to start training with him this Tuesday. It'll be hott. I will also start racing with them in the beginning of march all around Tuscany. Each race is on average 80-120 km in length. I'll really need to start kicking my ass and lose some of this Winter weight. I hope to be down to 155lbs by the first race March 5th. Only 7 more lbs to go in one month...seeing that I lost 9 lbs in two weeks before Superweek I don't think 7 lbs in 4 weeks should be much of a problem.
So far I've been here 3 total weeks...the first week I put in 13 hours of training time, Week 2 consisted of only 6 hours cuz it rained most of that week, but I hit the roads hard when it was finally dry. And week 3 consisted of 15 hours of training time. All of this being in the mountains is definitely different for me. Madison is very very flat compared to here. This week I hope to put in a total of 20 hours on the bike...every day this week is suppose to be sunny and 55. That's hott!!
Thats it for now I'll keep you informed on how the training is going from now on...tell your cycling friends about this blog. Tell them they can learn the Italian ways...
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