Wrapping Up Rest Week, Contemplating Endurance Week One

Saturday's mountain bike trail ride was on the home turf again - Weiser State Forest and Lykens Watershed on the Rattling Creek trails. I could see snow on the tops of the mountains so I knew the rocks would be slick, but much to my surprise they weren't knock-me-off-my-bike slippy. It was actually kinda cool to see those Continental Mountain King Tubeless tires work their magic -- "Grippy When Wet." They are well worth the $50 bucks a piece. I wish I could get more miles in the time I ride though -- it was only 18 miles in 3 hours. Granted, I climbed about 2500 feet so I guess 6 mph is ok with climbing. It still bums me out I'm so slow. But hey - that's endurance riding, right? Today was a very easy 90-100 rpm spin in the 65-75% of max heart range for 1.5 hrs on the road. I took the mountain bike for the small ring so I could spin the recommended rpms. Now... week 1 of 3 endurance weeks is about to start. No more Monday evenings off for a couple weeks. In fact, no more two days a week off. It's 6 days of riding with trail rides increasing to 4 days a week by the third week. This first week is 13.5 hours starting with 2 road hours tomorrow evening. The temps should be perfect at 70 degrees. Tuesday is intervals on the road and Wednesday will be a much needed break. Thursday is trail night probably climbing the Weiser Deep Hollow trail again (its a GREAT workout), and Friday is back on the road. Saturday will be 3.5 hours on the Rattling Creek trails again but this time I'm not climbing - it'll be all hardcore trail. And Sunday is road or trail and I'll wait to see how I feel by Sunday to decide which it will be. Weather plays a big factor too. Let the games begin!