Yea what was I thinking a few months ago riding in the Tour of Utah Warriors Project sounded like a cool thing to do however it is a TOUR and what in Gods good name am I doing there?
No really I think things will be ok on the leg twisting stage 4 that we signed on to do? I thought I would share some daily thoughts with our forum and see what comes from it, hopefully it entertains someone ,provides insight to others and gives me the therapy I surly am in need of!
After my last TT I sort of switched over to a more climbing program switching out my LTH intervals for more longer steady power outputs while either really climbing or on a raised platform on the trainer. The great thing is this was vacation time for my family so my inclusion into the 300 Warriors was met with slightly less than the were behind you 100% I usually get, but hey this is cycling suck it up right?
I guess it is everyone’s dream to go and ride what the Pro’s do and even more so if you are still a competitive athlete as I like to think of myself some time, do it on the same day they are and “BE PART OF IT ALL”. SO what goes through one’s head when preparing for such a huge event? What does the added mental pressure bring to the mind when you go to the hills from a fairly flat place? This is the emotions I am going to try to capture as well as some of the biker humor that can only happen if you try to ride in various states and become totally lost! Oh yea mentally I mean, where am I?
I am totally going bonkers all my training time is being eaten up by the time wasters, appointments 2-3 hrs late, long drives to be told to come back, and just senseless BS, the dentist office ladies did suck up some time but that was OK! Training has gone from 17-20 hrs a week down to 7 I will be lucky to escape my pre vacation week with 8 total hours, what to do????? “Ok if I get up at 4am every other day I can do this, why don’t people understand how hard this is damn was that a real non diet soda I just sucked down eeeeeeek! Pass the fries”
The drive from hell commenced at noon on Saturday and instead of driving my luxury Toyota Avalon (32mpg) I am driving this bouncing swaying rent a truck(7mpg) down some of some of the wickedest back roads of down east, NC! Where in the heck is my wallet where the H&*^! Man I have to drive all the way back no freaking way, cell phone time ha ha, ha no bars from my people, some network “ok ok ok stress is bad for training and recovery why don’t other people in my life notice little things like when I screw up? ”
Ok now I have it and I am chucking down food at KFC like an over the road trucker. Driving through DC takes some practice and I got some of that in a former life however never,never do it on a Saturday in a thunder storm with a rent a truck hitting speeds of 75mph on the bypass ” this is good training for my road race skills right?”
Now on to NH 18 hrs on the road 6 hrs of sleep and I am on my bike and I don’t have the slightest clew of where in Gods name I am. I figured with all the tree huggers in NH there would be some bike lanes and some respect on the road for a small carbon foot print, ahhhhhhh nope! I guess it is the long winters of spending every weekend at the bowling alley or the video arcade I gota say your average driver thinks that the road is an extension of the Wie and a dude in a bright colored suit is some sort of target, I tossed 2 water bottles they spit back, Prius driving, cell phone talking, Star-Bucks slugging freak, great training! I haven’t been that scared since
Panama
The only saving grace that allowed for some care free riding were the truckers they have their line I have mine I think it is universally understood.
Being vacation my dad in his way offered up every fried delicacy of seafood one can imagine, only in NH can you get fried clams with a side of butter “anyone seen my BC Powder I need some blood thinner asap” No no no no give me the whole box we have to go to a family outing tomorrow, cholesterol here must be a food group! ” The hills suck the weather sucks and riding is a liability hell the bike costs as much as a casket, insurance for the wife–get off my butt!”
11 Aug: I am in the Pocono’s finishing up family time the weather here has been awesome to train in and after being down for 2 days while in NH I feel better with 3 days of riding some boomer hills under my belt. Today however I am forced indoors and rushed as we leave for NC in a few Hrs. I am out on the porch with some spring time training kit on spinning away like a fool. “I mean why do I do these things, What am I trying to prove, hell I like it enough, mommy make the bad man stop, bad things go away!”
I put in a puny hour at 200 watts bringing the front of the bike up to 7deg and go for 15′ at 260 then spin the rest of the workout out at this angle. The family while supportive has been giving me this side ways look the past few days training like a mad man was not what the wife had planned. But being the good trooper that she is she smiles and hangs on “I will pay for all this somehow 
”
12 Aug: I am smack in the middle of Frederick MD and have set up the trainer in the parking lot. I know allot of good rides around here but there is no access from where we are staying and I think that taking the car to “go off and train” would be pushing things a little, but hey the weather is like 68 and some stout wind from the north so I start to spin away. The task today is to get in 3 sets of high tempo wwork at 15′ each as I spin I think “I am falling apart! What the bloody hell am I doing? Here at 6:30 in the morning in a parking lot on my trainer looking like some sort of freak” AH to hell with it! A couple of construction guys walk out and ask me what king of MAN shaves his legs, I don’t know why these guys think cyclists are dumb so I shoot back ‘I guess the same type of man that would walk out of a hotel with another man and notice such a thing!” You know I got this look back, but these guys are good natured and know when they have been beat, we all chuckled and as they walked away one of the guys turned around and flicked a lit cigarette at me, ahhhhh normalcy I feel better already good to be below the Mason Dixon line and all things that are hillbilly!
The drive home to the outer banks of NC was an endurance test but I survived I got to chat with my coach and try to get some understanding why my legs feel like they belong to some alien. ” I can’t go like this I feel like a noodle man hell I couldn’t even do 75% of 75% you know, what is going on?” Relax man, you riding in a TOUR or something? You have been training non stop for the past 6 days and on some boomer hills and you just keep digging, rest, relax, breath deep I thought I was talking to Ian! I need some one to tell me I am going to tear the freaking road up uggggggggg!
MORE AS IT HAPPENS
(Just so everyone knows I write what happens, however I may use a stereo type to make the story more interesting so if I have offended some one sorry it wasn’t meant to offend but to entertain and hey can I get my water bottle back?)
Ride hard into the wind and suck it up everyone else is going with the flow! B.
Posted by Brian Grenier
