2009 is now under way!

[ornoth_cycling]

Although we’re still in February, there’s actually a heck of a lot to report.

For the past two months, I’ve been training exclusively indoors, thanks to the resistance trainer I mentioned borrowing from a friend. It’s given me the most regular winter workouts I’ve had since I started riding.

I’ve used a number of videos to drive my training. Three are Spinervals fitness and climbing workouts, and one is a basic workout from Charmichael Training Systems. All of those are from professional trainers. I also have three more from the Sufferfest, which is just some guy who sets current and classic pro bike racing footage to pop music from the 80s and 90s.

These are all interval workouts, so they’re shorter (45-60 minutes) but much more intense than my usual road rides. They emphasize strength through high resistance training and low-resistance, high cadence spinning.

I’ve been training every other day, which has been a bit much for my knees, but not too bad. So far the numbers add up to 27 sessions totaling 22 hours and a bit over 300 “miles” on the trainer.

Today I put all that indoor effort to the test with my first lengthy outdoor ride of the year. The temperature was unseasonably in the upper 50s, although the wind was crazy: 32 mph sustained, with 45 mph gusts!

The first item to note about today’s ride is the value of my indoor training. The wind may have thrown me off, but I really felt strong throughout the first hour of the ride. The indoor training has clearly paid off in terms of strength. I didn’t suck too much aerobically, either. What I lacked was stamina, both for long, sustained anaerobic efforts, and over time once the ride extended into a second and third hour. But overall I think the trainer has really helped. I have to say, tho, it felt *very* strange when I first got on the bike outside and it actually moved forward underneath me, rather than staying stationary! It actually took me a couple miles to feel comfortable on the bike again.

The other thing to note was the route I took, which was a slightly different 36-mile loop, but one that was pretty scenic and provided quite a challenging workout. Basically, Minuteman path out to Arlington Center, up the east side of the Mystic Lakes on Mystic Valley Parkway, up Washington in Winchester, over godawful Blueberry Hill and across to 3A and back down the west side of the lakes to Arlington Center.

From there, I made quick stops at both old and new Quad Cycles bike shops. Quad is in the process of moving from its old store in Arlington Heights (1346 Mass Ave) about a mile down to Brattle Square (1043 Mass Ave). It’ll be interesting to see the new place once it’s fully set up and stocked.

I took the painfully long hill on Park Ave up to the water tower, and from there took unfamiliar (and more hilly!) roads (mostly Common Street) through Belmont to Watertown Square. After a very quick snack at the Watertown Dam, I followed the river home via Charles River Road, Greenough, and the PDW bike path.

And, finally, I should note that the PMC has begun using the Intarwebs a bit more. There’s now a PMC Twitter and a PMC Blog, which is celebrating the 30th anniversary ride by summarizing each year with a post every Monday. Look for my rides—which started in 2001—to start appearing at the beginning of June.