Monday, May 03, 2010

Murphy's Bike Ride

In the interest of full disclosure: I haven't been training. Like, at all.

I've been lifting consistently and doing a few sprints here and there, but nothing you could really call "training". That changed today, when I realized that the Fixed Gear Classic is in 5 weeks ("What? It's not in July? Fuck!").

So I called Franz up and told him we (ok, I) need to get training. I got dressed, pumped up my tires (they sure lose a lot of air in 6 months!), and hit the road.

I must still have massive amount of power, because the first time I jumped on the pedals during our warm-up, the axle slipped and my wheel jammed into the chainstay. I skidded to a stop and swore for a while.

Of course, neither Franz nor I had tools or a cell phone, so I got to fondle myself on the side of the road for 15 minutes while he rode home to get some tools. My axle is fucked, but we managed to get it tight enough to finish the workout. I sure hope I can get it off...

After a couple more jumps, we started some flying 100's. On the second sprint, my cleat somehow unclipped from my pedal at 40kph and I was nearly launched over the bars. I somehow managed to stay upright and rode it out one-footed. It scared the shit out of me, but at least I didn't crash.

Three sprints later, I was burping up bile and had wicked tunnel-vision. Always a super experience.

Hopefully this ride got all the kinks ironed out and future workouts will go more smoothly.

I'm fairly confident that I can get into some semblance of shape in 5 weeks. I've still got the max power, which is nice. And, really, how much fitness does a sprinter need, anyway? Once I get my spin back and stop drinking every night, things should start coming together.

Yeah, this is totally gonna work.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Mechanical failures happen about every 3rd ride. I think I am going to have to do a preride inspection. It is fun to mock race. Especially when the other guy is suffering after 3 efforts.