And the bonehead of the year is.......

Sunday, April 11th -- I hate when I do stupid stuff. So, it hadn't been a great training week, and I was really looking forward to my pre-ride of the Wente course with the team yesterday (Sunday). Met the club ride in the morning and then drove an hour to Livermore, only to discover that I'd packed my mtn bike shoes (SPD) which, of course, I couldn't wear with my speedplay pedals. (note to self, buy a new pair of road shoes and leave one in the car, along with a pair of SPD pedals, just in case).

So, back to Burlingame. I approached my ride with a vengence. Decided I was going to climb every hill I could find. Wasn't sure of my southern destination (Page Mill? Old La Honda? King's?) but I was going to make it challenging on the way there.

So, I climbed Polhemus, Edgewood, and eventually settled on King's Mountain. Believe it or not, I've never climbed all the way up King's. Felt great. Lungs and heart are strong. Legs are my limiters right now. I feel like I should be doing some strength work......anyways. Oh, and I even passed some guy in an Alto Velo jersey on the way up the mountain. At about 3 miles up the mountain, my back was screaming, so I stopped for about 30 seconds and stretched it out and continued.

Headed home on Skyline northbound to 92 (big mistake because it was freezing cold, foggy and there was a HUGE cross-wind).

Ride Stats: 2:58:26 -- 39.2 miles -- 13.2mph avg -- 37.5mph max -- AVG HR = 128 (includes nice easy warm-up & cool-down) -- MAX HR = 157.

Back status -- I think I should back off the Pilates (no pun intended). I think I'll stop for a week or so and see how my back feels and then once I'm recovered, start up one day a week. If my back still hurts without the Pilates, I think it's time to see a chiropractor or something.

Saturday, April 10th -- Busy day. Saturday was our monthly bike basics clinic. Coaching this clinic is one of my absolute favorite things to do in the whole world. Holly Roberts volunteered as a mentor and we had a nice, smallish group (probably due to the holiday weekend). Since the clinic was from 10:00 - 2:00, I decided to do my own training afterwards.

After the clinic, decided to do my warm-up for the LT Intervals by riding home to Redwood City with Holly. We stopped at my house on the way so I could drop off my "stuff" from the clinic. Not exactly sure what I did, but as I was hopping up onto the sidewalk, I boffed. I've only crashed on my bike three times (once when I got hit by a car and twice when I was first learning to use clipless pedals). Down I went in my own parking lot. Just rolled sideways, but I've got a great bruise on my hip and a bit of a bruise on my elbow. Yes, I was feeling a bit off on Saturday (still) and probably a bit hungry.

Anyways, picked my sorry ass up and rode with Holly to RWC. There's a new sport on the bay this season. At the point where everyone used to windsurf, there are now 100s of kite-surfers (I had to ask what they were doing). It's a totally cool sport. Not only do they surf around on the surface of the water, but they also get air (about 20 feet of it) and do all kinds of acrobatics.

Needless to say, there was super-huge headwind heading home on the bay. Tried to do my LT Intervals, but I just couldn't get my HR up there on the flats. This is definitely a leg strength issue, but I think my heart also wasn't into it. I think until my Power Tap arrives, I'm going to do my LT Intervals on the CompuTrainer.

Ride Stats (includes clinic time -- skills & 10 mile ride with the participants at a super-slow pace): 3:07:56 -- 37.0 miles -- 11.7mph avg -- 35.9 max

Training Week Stats (April 5th - 11th) -- 10 hours & 40 minutes -- 142 miles