Biking, biking and more biking is what I need!

Admittedly I am not doing what I should be doing these days. I should be out riding my butt off on my bike. In a little over 50 days I will be in Merkleville, California for one of the biggest physical challenges I have attempted in my life. On July 11, 2009 I will be out in the beautify of the Sierra Nevada’s attempting to ride 129 miles and gain over 15,000 feet of elevation during one day. I have done some pretty outlandish things on my bicycle in my life but this will be, by far the hardest thing I have done to date. So, have I been biking enough – NO! I have been doing a tremendous amount of working out. I have spent hours and hours in the gym in recent weeks and months but I haven’t spent much time with my butt glued to the saddle of my bike. This morning I am heading out for a ride that hopefully will re-ignite my bike training. Additionally, I am taking a very different approach to training for this ride than I did for Bicycle Tour Colorado (BTC) last year. Death Ride 2009 (the name of the ride on July 11, 2009) is all about climbing hills. Granted the hills in the Sierra Nevada’s are no where near as high as the passes I climbed with BTC, but there is still going to be a LOT of climbing. Though I will also do some distance training my major plan is to concentrate on hills, hills and more hills. Many of my training rides are going to be simple ride up the giant hill, ride down and then do it all over again. One of the rides I foresee doing a lot is the frontage road along I-70 going up Turkey Creek Canyon. This frontage rode runs from the Morrison exit off of I-70 to the top of Lookout Mountain. It is an intense ride because the grade is fairly steep. I guess one which everyone is probably asking is – why have I been avoiding doing my bike training. One reason – up until a couple of weeks ago the weather was so crappy. Now that the weather has improved I have no excuse. Another reason has been just because of where I am in life right now. That’s hard to explain, but my schedule just hasn’t been conducive to getting out and dedicating several hours at a crack to riding my bike. The bottom line is that I just need to make it happen. Well – it is Sunday morning and the weekend is half over. The weekend so far has flown by. Yesterday was spent doing a lot of work around the house, dealing with an aching tooth and taking a nap. Today will be somewhat the same though as soon as I finish writing this I am heading out on my bicycle and hitting the E470 bike trail. I will at least get 20 – 30 miles in this morning. I have some lunch plans for the day and then it is back home to do work, work and more work. Late this afternoon or early this evening I will make sure that Zack and I get outside and do something together. Maybe well spend an hour on the trampoline or maybe we will go and take a walk. Not sure at this point. Anyway – hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! Thanks and peace to all! – J.