Week In Review 6/18 to 6/24.

The week of 6/18 to 6/24 was another 100 mile plus week. Starting with a ride not on Whidbey Island but rather Fidelgo Island. I like to ride in the Anacortes, La Conner, Mt Vernon area. The landscape  is different from Whidbey Island. Long flat roads stretching out over the farm land of the Skagit Valley.




 Reservation road however is very similar to roads here on Whidbey.  Known as the "back way" into La Conner. Reservation road climbs up along the wooded ridge above the farmed plane.  Once you reach the top of the climb you begin the long descent across the Rainbow Bridge and into La Conner.
Thought La Conner and onto the farm land where the wind continuously blows.

Three of the rides this week features the Campbell Road climb.  This is one of the most changeling climbs on the south end. I've meet a few riders who have come to Whidbey Island to train for events on this climb.  

I thought if I climbed it three days in a row I would get over my anxiety for this climb.  

                                         




This ride has lots of climbing and I didn't have to cross state route 525.




On Sunday I did this nice short and sweet loop into Langley.

The Real Reason Why Cyclists Shave Their Legs

Bob tells why professional cyclist shave their legs.

I have never ridden professionally and never have shaved my legs. I don't have a lot of hair on my legs and have never felt that I would get much of an advantage by shaving my legs. However, I can see the advantages of shaved leges if my leges were massaged everyday.

I've been sick!

Last few days I've been sick. Just the common cold. Coughing, runny nose, watery eyes, low energy and the rest of the crap that goes with being sick. A day before I became ill I came across a cycling blog The Human Cyclist and the post "Unstructured structure -Agile training plans".

In this post the author discusses the idea of listening to your body to determine the progression of your training rather relying on training plans and schedules. I think this is a great idea and I'm very happy with myself to have stayed off the bike while I was sick.  This is easier said than done. The days I was sick I was thinking "must get on the bike". Fortunately the rational part of my brain told me "Your sick dummy go to bed!" and thank goodness I listened. There have been other times when I ignored my body and rode hard on the bike while I was sick. I ended up making myself sicker and prolonging the agony. When I examine why do this I think its because my body will try to lie to me. Sometimes my body will say "Steve you're too tired to go out for a ride." I ignore my body and go for a ride and its the best thing I've done for myself all day. However, other times my body was right I was too tired.

In the end you have to constantly examine and reexamine yourself. You have to know yourself well. You need to know when your being truthful or monkeying with yourself. The relationship with yourself that cycling creates is sensational. Its another reason I love this sport.  

Strength, Stamina, Speed

Strength, Stamina, Speed. This is the method of training I try to employ. Over the winter I worked on strength in the gym. I'm working on stamina this spring and the speed is happening.

Graeme Street is a professional cycling coach and inventor of Cyclo-core 90 and many other training programs specifically for cyclists. I personally have not used any of his programs: none the less, I like watch his videos on youtube. He is inspirational and knowable. His enthusiasm for cycling is stimulating and encouraging. I've watched this video several times. I particularly like the part where he talks about not being afraid of failure. Pushing your limits to the point of failure is how you grow stronger, mentally and physically.   Here to explain the Strength, Stamina, Speed method of training is Graeme Street.