Training for ‘08
December 7th, 2007 by Arleigh JenkinsAs of this past Monday training for 2008 officially started. I have a coach, I renewed my gym membership and I’ve started to log the miles. Slow and steady miles most the week. Saturday rides are normally on the road which leads to long and cold. Wednesday night rides on the Fuel EX to keep me stimulated.
I’ve started to cut back my bike stable to help pay for all the gas & entry fees I will see in the up coming year. This week has been about taking photos and ebay. Over the weekend I will be listing another 10 or so things. There is also a few projects to finish in the shop. The1×1 project is getting different (faster) tires and slowly my race bike for 2008 will be put together. I also have had a couple request for various how to’s which I will start documenting over the next week.
This leads me to questions for our readers -
Who else is starting their 2008 season? Have you built up a winter bike? How many readers ride on the road in the winter?
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This past Monday was also supposed to be the kick start to my 2008 training but I got a cold instead. I’ve held off starting until next week so I can start fully recovered and feeling fresh.
I don’t have a winter bike per-say but I do mountain bike more this time of year. I mostly do indoor trainer rides. Sometimes long indoor trainer rides. There is also a group of us that meet on Thursday nights at a local bike shop for group indoor trainer rides. Everyone brings their own trainer and we either do a Carmichael Video or the shop owner/coach guides us through a work out.
I only ride on the road when the roads are clear and it isn’t miserable out. Several of us go out gravel road riding on our mountain bikes sometimes though
I had planned to start training for next year last week. My fitness is so low it wouldn’t take much riding to be an improvement. I just switched jobs so I should have more time.
Instead of upping my training last week, I got a bad case of food poisoning. This week I’m still fatigued although have gotten on the bike for a couple easy spins. I really need to start consistent riding next week or my chance of being half way fit by May will be slim.
2008 will hopefully mark my return to racing after a 12 year hiatus. Thanks to On-One Midge and Mary bars I’ve bid farewell to the wrist problems that kept me off the bike and managed to log some serious miles off-road this year. Funny how I can ride 5 hours on a rigid 29er with Marys, but 30 mins on my old bike (riser bars, 4″ travel 26″) have me begging for mercy.
Thanks to Ma and Pa I don’t have to worry too much about cardio or my weight (or lack thereof). But this natural fitness and a short season due to living in the North results in me being prone to overtraining. This year alone I lost 2 months to a IT band problem. Plus, to be honest, I don’t really care how I finish any more, as long as I have fun. So here’s my training mantra for the next year: road sucks. trainers suck. being hurt sucks. With those points in mind my schedule consists of short to medium length trail rides on the winter bike (studded up 26″ fixie), skateboarding my garage half-pipe, watching movies while using my wife’s elliptical trainer, and stretching. If all goes as planned I should be able to welcome the arrival of spring with good overall fitness, excellent balance and good technical skills. Plus I’ll hopefully have a killer smith grind.
Yah I’m trying to up my training, not necessarily for racing in 08. I simply am trying to increase my endurance to where I don’t collapse after doing back to back 12 mile days. I’m trying to plan on hitting some easier but longer rides in the 20 mile range and extending that into the 30’s by the end of winter. To that end I’m hitting the gym regularly and doing more leg weight training and trying to ride more regularly.
Ultra Rob! I’ve heard so many good things about you!
I’m glad I’m not the only one starting in December. I have friends that started building their base 3-4 weeks back.
I’ve been hittin’ it hard for a few weeks now. Mostly commuting by bike to work on a cheap Schwinn Varsity (read Walmart Bike = $150). The bike is fairly heavy, especially including my rear rack and small bag I attach, but I figure if I can keep it over 20 mph with all that weight, it’ll be no sweat when I hop on my Trek 2100 (now renamed the 2.3 model). The Walmart bike has over 4k miles on it in the past year and a half I’ve owned it, so overall not a bad “beater” bike, plus I don’t mind getting mud and grime in it. Aside from an annual cleaning, I just lube up the chain every few weeks to keep her somewhat efficient.
Great to hear you’re starting up training. I’ll be honest, I’ve never mountain-biked, per se. It’s one of the things I’d like to get into soon. Any tips on what would be a good starter MTB?
Good starter — My favorite bike for this season is a Gary Fisher Piranha. At $750 its a darn good deal. If that is out of your budget look at Haro or Raleigh.
If you have more questions email me! Arleigh at gmail .com
I was hoping to be riding more this winter to be in better shape for the 2008 road season, but work and illneses have put a damper on that. I don’t race, I just ride for fun and to decompress. In the colder months I mostly mountain bike and in the warmer months I mostly road ride, but there are exceptions to this practice. I am usually bored silly spinning, but will do it if I can get a group of friends together. If I can’t find a group to MTB at night, I will take my single speed cross (Bianchi San Jose) out on some of the less busy roads. Not a good idea to ride alone in the woods at night.
I am hoping to take my new rigid 29er (SE Stout) out for a snow ride, but misssed the first snow due to work (bummer!), and it melted fast. Hopefully work will slow and I can get back on track. Usually I ride 2 - 4 times per week, but lately I am luck if I get one time per week.