2 days in the saddle

Well as the girls start daily YMCA it is going to be a bit tougher to try and figure out what days I can ride and what days I have to pick them up at Toby Wells YMCA which would mean no riding that day. This week my ride days were Monday and Tuesday so I took advantage of it and headed out on my Chino Farms ride on MOnday which was about an hour and forty minutes and 30 miles round trip. A nice little spin after 68 miles on Sunday and a few little rollers to get me out of the saddle. It would have been a bit longer but got I got a late start chatting with the girls prior to them all going to the driving range.
Today I wanted to do a little hammering down at Fiesta Island and I invited the XX1090 radio group but it might have ben a bit late when I let them know as no one wanted to circle the island with me. So I headed out as a solo rider promply at 5pm and planned on doing 2 hours and 40 miles. Well the wind was howling more then I had seen before and it was a tough ride but I wanted to get some miles in so I put the head down and set out.
I noticed a gathering of other riders during the 5 o'clock hour and it seemed there was going to be more riders sharing the island with me. As it turned out there was a very large group of about 50 riders who all started around 6pm and were doing the small loop as I was doing the larger loop. They were all roadies and much faster then I was but not as fast as the Thursday night "world championship" ride which is usually about 80 riders and just blazing around the island. If the guys on Thursday are doing 27-28 then these guys were doing 24-25. I wanted to try and joing in for one lap to see if I could hang but we never seemed to meet in the right spot, oh well.
Well today my goal was to do 4 laps each harder then the previous and ending with the 4th just balls out all on the big loop. Followed by a 1/2 speed cool down lap on the smaller loop then repeat the 4 large laps again hopefully faster then the 1st set. Well to get loose I did the 1st lap in 14 minutes and finished the 4 laps in 50:30, which means the final 3 laps were in 36:30. Not sure if that is good or what but it seemed pretty fast considering the wind.
During my small loop cool down I was trying to figure out what I was going to do time wise for the next 4 laps. I picked 12:30 for the first 3 laps and then let it all go on the final lap to see if I could make it under 49 minutes. Well the first 2 were right on the money and the 3rd was a at 12 even and the final lap was at 11 minutes for a 48 minute total. The final 4 laps were very consistent and I could really feel it in my legs the final 2 laps. After some quick calculations it seems I was about 21mph in the windy conditions and all alone with no drafting, so mission accomplished for the day.
Final #'s were:
Watts average; 196
1st 4 laps: 50:30 with a 14:00 warm up 1st lap
2nd 4 laps 48:00 with an 11:00 final lap
Total miles riden: 36
Total ride time: 1:48 with a small loop cool down between sets

Back on the road again...

Well here it is July 25th and my first day back with the CAF MDC group after a 4 week absence for our 3 week trip to Japan. I know I had lost a lot of fitness and gained about 8 pounds during that 3 weeks away from the bike and had originally decided to join group 4 today. But after seeing about 6-7 radio contestants in group 3 this morning I felt that was where I needed to be and jumped in with them. I am glad I did as it was a good pace and actually I felt pretty good during and now 3 hours after the 68 mile bike ride.
Today's weather I am sure had a lot to do with it as the cloud cover was great most of the way as we covered the 68 miles in 4 hours heading from Del Mar out to Bonsil and then to the 76 bike path to the coast and down the coast back to Del Mar. I will be doing 1 more week with group 3 and then giving group 2 a try as I am guessing once I get back into better shape that is the right group for me. And who knows maybe one week during one of the 40 mile weeks I may even give group 1 a try, but that might be a few months away.
The radio contestants had a chance to chat during and after the ride to discuss fundraising and if there is something we can all do as a group. We got a few ideas and will meet either this week or next week locally here to discuss what, when and where we will be doing something. This seems like a very ambitious group this year and all I can hope for is to make it as far as possible in the radio contest before having to switch jerseys to my CAF Alumni jersey. This week the radio vote will be announced on Wednesday morning during the XX1090 Scott & BR radio show between the hours of 5am and 9am pst. I am hoping to get enough votes to get the 2 week immunity that comes along with the person who gets the most votes, but not sure if I can get it or not.
Okay that may be it for now. Going to try and get in 3-4 days of riding this week prior to Sunday which I believe will be about 75 miles but with lots of hills.

Well here we are July 22nd and my 1st week back from 3 wonderful weeks in Japan with my family. As I thought there was very little riding or physical activity as the temps and humidity were way up there and just a lot of walking and eating. So 7 pounds later here I am trying to get this body and these legs and this ass back into some form of riding shape for this Sunday's CAF ride.
This week I have ridden 3X, Monday was a "get to know your bike" day around Fiesta Island, slow and easy averaging about 17mph. Wednesday was a bit more as I went a full 2 hours around Fiesta Island with 2 laps pushing real hard going 11:12 and 10:51 on laps 4 and 8. Felt a bit better but a long way to go to bet back the form I had prior to leaving for Japan. Then today was a hill interval day between Sorrento Valley and Fairbanks Ranch doing that loop 2X for about 26 miles and little flats, just up and down the hills so it was good to actually get out of the saddle.
While coming home I heard my rear tire losing air and will take the bike to TREK tomorrow to have them replace the wheel tape and give me a new tube. Also I need to get a few things for this coming summers rides while I am there. I will be joining Group 4 this Sunday which is the slowest of the 4 groups so I can get back into some decent shape and also to mingle with a different set of people since we are not sure who gets to vote on who stays and who goes with each weeks eliminations, so better to suck up and meet everyone.
My Pepsi CAF donation/raffle is coming to an end with the final drawing to be held on July 29 where I will be giving away 11 great prizes that were donated. I am not sure how much has been raised so far but I am guessing maybe $1,000 which is great cause Pepsi will match that $1,000 and turn the total donation to CAF at $2,000+. That will put me right around $5,400 which is just over 1/2 way there to my final goal of a lofty $10,000. Not sure just how I am going to get the rest but hoping for good things to happen somewhere.
Well it is late and Napua is having her 8th birthday party tomorrow so I better get some rest as it will be a long day. Hope to get my bike back the same day so I can do a little ride on Saturday before the big ride of 63 miles on Sunday.