Choo Chooo.... mofugga.

Paris to Ancaster is tomorrow.

So is a 45KM/h wind, and thunderstorms all day long. Remind you of last year a bit? Sure why not... minus the frozen fingers and shiat. Thunderstorms don't bother me really... its getting hit by lightning that'd be a bitch.

Anyway,

Today I'm at work for a few hours, then home. Its supposed to rain this afternoon, but I need to get out on my cross bike and make sure the left crank isn't buggered up. The stop bolt on it seemed to come loose. I greased it back up a bit and tightened it down pretty hard. There isn't any play but it still bothers me.

Apart from that, small tweaks to shifting and I should be fine. The tape on my bars seems to be coming apart, so I'm going to hockey tape them down for the ride, and replace once P2A is over.

Apart from that, out of all 3 bikes I have, my CX bike easily has logged the most KM... so I think it may be time for a maintenance run on it anyway, though I'm not sure how much damage I've done to the drivetrain... I'm sure P2A will make a good argument to replace a lot of parts. Balls.

The Goal:

2H 30M. This would be me 45min faster then myself last year. Over 60km.

Reasons I Can: I can hold a 25km/h pace. I've done it before, and I can push that pace for 3h on the trainer at home with some really solid resistance, and while constantly under power. I know P2A from last year has a couple of places I can really push down hills for added speed to help me pad the number for 25km/h. Also this is about the speed I'd require for any shot at a podium finish for P2A in clyde. Also during my Tour De Buttertart ride I pushed fairly hard and even with the breaks in there it was a 20km/h pace, including the crazy initial climb and some fun hills thrown in later. I have the legs and lungs for it when healthy.

Of which I am right now, and it feels good, given that 2 weeks ago I had the worst reaction to a cold ever.

Reasons I Can't: I can hold a 25km/h pace easy when I'm sitting next to a near infinite source of Gatorade, food, towel, music, and nobody is watching me. I'm inside, I'm not in any wind, and I'm totally content and warm. When you add in the "Have you HTFU'd?" question is where things get debatable. I did the ride 2 weekends ago in the cold rain and snow in Uxbridge, and got 60km out of it. I was also starting up what would be a hurricane of a cold in my chest. I pushed through. Believe me though, there were demons; lots of them once the gravel and sand started. It was a casual ride for sure, but Bill and I were pushing pretty hard to try to get some quality mileage in. Average speed over the crap.... 20km/h. No hills, flat ground, just rough trail, and 2 stops for a broken zip tie and a GPS recalibration. Once I was done the ride, I was cold, and had a massive fever. Looking back, my legs were still primed for riding. I was just getting very sick, and it was getting hard to breath.


What I'm Going to Do: Push. As hard as I can without killing myself but knowingly burning matches to stay with groups and to push up hills where my speed starts to drop a bit. I'll set an average speed window on my GPS and make sure that I'm pushing over 25km/h, and if it drops under, I'll push to make sure I'm over.

There are also area's last year where I did some dumb shit like try to ride the ditch, easily 5min of crashed time spent on the ground checking my bike and wheels. Losing a water bottle and continuing on like I'm some sort of professional with a team car... that was the biggest derp moment I had... then followed that up by stand and mash on every hill because I could, which ended up with me cramping. Just really dumb inefficient riding that I've gotten better at after a season on my SS, and actually taking the time to learn about the best way to ride for me.

Also, find a 24km/h group and stay with them. I'll be riding with Bill who can easy to hold that speed. The problem is he's 150lbs and I can't draft that, but it'll be good to have someone to ride with to push eachother.

Also, no cramps for about 2 months of really pushing myself, but once I start to cramp up, its effing game over. I do not recover from cramps well. Its just a fact. So I need to avoid that like the plague.


So really:

1. Good hydration and fueling.
2. Set the GPS for average speed.
3. Ride smart, ride S-Mart
4. Push. Its a race, and you have goals. Completion is so 2011.


If a 240lb'r can rifle through in 2:30min...... we'll give a gold star.

Tertiary goals.

Sub 2:45... *I'll be okay with 2:30-2:45 actually, 2:30 is extremely lofty*
Sub 3H.... *if I'm here, I'm going to be pretty pissed, unless I accidentally mechanical the entire thing*
No Crashes.... *That means you powerline mudpithellhole*
Accidentally all of Martin Hill

..... CHOOO CHOOOOOOO.