Today was my upper body workout followed by an easy bike ride. I forgot to mention in talking about periodization yesterday that if your main exercise mode is lower-body specific like cycling, it is important not to neglect training the upper body with its own exercises. When I'm heavily emphasizing cycling like now, I still … Continue reading Easy Day Plus Upper Body →

Tuesday's ride was a long hard one so yesterday was an easy recovery day, just over 90 minutes near home. It was pleasant and my legs felt better afterwards. The ride is here on Strava The east foothills across Hill Ave Periodization Periodization is varying your training during the year to emphasize different things. Now … Continue reading Local Recovery Day and Periodization →

Yesterday I went for about an 80 minute ride before my group ride. I wanted to see if eating breakfast made a difference so I tested my speed on an out-and-back course to the Southeast of Morgan Hill. Yes it did- I was over half a mile per hour faster. I started skipping breakfast because … Continue reading Around The Reservoirs Group Ride →

Yesterday was hard upper body day so I did that workout first at home. Then I went for an easy spin on my e-bike which has fat tires, so I went looking for off-road trails. I proceeded up Main street east of town and used its dirt and gravel shoulder, which runs past Guglielmo Winery. … Continue reading Morgan Hill’s Canals and Other Dirt →

Yesterday I did a long ride (3 hrs 51 min, 46 miles) that included 3 local trails. I rode out Santa Teresa boulevard north to Almaden Lake park where I picked up the Guadalupe river trail, which I took as far north as Chynoweth. Then I backtracked to the park and took the Los Alamitos … Continue reading Three Trails Ride →

Just an easy ride yesterday (average heart rate 107) because I went harder the day before. I rode out Coyote Creek trail as far as the flooded-out section, then detoured around the flood on Monterey highway to Coyote Ranch Road . This was a nice pleasant ride because it was warmer today. Here it is … Continue reading Two-hour Recovery Ride →

http://www.Amazon.com/books The Year by Dave Barter is the amazing story of cyclists through the years who have ridden as many miles as possible in a year. To start out he describes his own attempt to ride a double century (200 miles) in a day. This is clearly a grueling task, including grinding it out riding … Continue reading “The Year”- Amazing Ultra-endurance Cyclists →

Today should have been my Tuesday group ride but rain was forecast so we didn't do one. I rode anyway and got all geared up for the rain but it turned out not to arrive till after my ride was over. I managed to sneak in a brisk 35 mile ride in pretty nice weather. … Continue reading Brisk Local Ride →

Yesterday I went my longest ride of the week, just under 40 miles in 3 1/2 hours. This was at a brisk pace for an average heart rate of 116. The weather forecast was for overcast with no rain but it turned out to be unexpectedly sunny instead, a very pleasant surprise that made for … Continue reading Long Sunday Ride →

Athlete at Heart: Learning to live with heart disease and find joy again, is an inspiring and entertaining autobiographical account by Kristina Bangma, a personal trainer and athletic coach from Vancouver, B.C. Much of her story struck close to home for me, because I too have had severe heart arrhythmias, and I know what it's … Continue reading Athlete At Heart →