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My Plans for Training (Cycling) in 2013
Related: cycling, Death Valley, Everest Challenge, hard core, road biking, training
For 2013 my focus is aimed squarely on a podium finish for the Everest Challenge— close but not quite there for 2012.
Power increases (wattage) from my 3DBikeFit.com bike fit predict a win based on last year’s numbers. But I’m not naive; there are many factors in every race. Still, it is an exciting prospect that hard work might make a win a perfectly reasonable stretch goal. I never aim low in any case.
My immediate issue is some discomfort in my left knee and increased crepitation, which has been going on for 3-4 weeks on and off. To win a race like the Everest Challenge everything has to work at 100%, so knee discomfort is a pressing and serious concern to resolve, which might mean I have to delay in harder training.
Still, “field work” can resolve nagging doubts and settle the issue, and so the Death Valley Double is on my early season training list. Temperatures are pleasant, the mileage is long, but climbing is modest, so it’s a good test bed for seeing if 4 months of adaptation to the new fit has paid off and/or created issues. At any rate, I must know these things by March so as to adjust the April-August training approach appropriately.
Events and rides
Last year’s double century training (Death Valley Double, Solvang Spring Double, Devil Mountain Double, Alta Alpina) paid off handsomely in both a deep reservoir of aerobic fitness, but also mental toughness and raising the bar on self-perceived endurance limits. So my intent is to repeat these events, a repeat one season later always providing valuable perspective as well as hard power data.
Of the Doubles, my favorite by far was the Alta Alpina 8-Pass Challenge, followed by the Death Valley Double, Devil Mountain Double and the not so favorite Solvang Spring Double (speeding 101 traffic + broken glass + severe headwinds).
And surely I don’t want to go a season without doing my absolute favorite endurance training ride, the Trek to the Summit of White Mountain Peak.
