With some of the interruptions over the holidays to the training, I replanned the first two weeks of the Race Block to be more Endurance... sort of a addendum to Endurance Block 2. The first week was a bit of a bust, I missed Saturday completely, just did not feel like sitting on the bike for 8+ hours, and just stayed home. So I didn't. Somedays are like that. The next day I got in a ride around Park Link, 78 miles. Six months ago, this would have seemed like a long ride, now it seems like not much at all. This week, I got the wheels back on. My mood improved as the new RAW 2019 custom jerseys came in, Light & Motion offered to support me with discounted lighting, and I'm likely to be adding a charity partner for RAW 2019 supporting cause Cathy and I both feel passionately about. Uplifted by all of this, I finished up the block with back to back 7-8 hour rides, the first with 6400 ft of climbing, and the second with 5.5 hours of headwinds. It was a 503 mile/29 hour week of training. I'm tired.
The progression to 10 h rides has been elusive with the cold weather and short days. I need that to improve. I've managed to work the on-bike feed up to 400 calories an hour, and now half my calories on the bike are from the homemade Keto-Butter/Honey Stinger Gel/MCT oil. Its tasty, amazingly calorically dense and easy to carry on the long unsupported rides. Now I go into five weeks of racing, with alternating weekends off and open for more endurance.
There are only 134 days left until the race. The vehicle inspections and photos are scheduled in Oceanside, and there is so much more to do. Cathy will be organizing crew meetings in the next weeks. We are going to put up an Amazon wish list soon... ultracycling needs a lot of stuff. It will help us organize, and several people have asked how they can help. Soon we can say, "well, there is this Amazon wish list..." And there is a lot of training to do.
My RAW Story. Day 78. 134 days, 16 hours to RAW 2019.
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Eric PearceMy interest in ultracycling dates back when I first started seriously riding a bike in college in the early 1980s. This is my RAAM story preparing to compete in the Race Across the West in 2020 and RAAM 2021. Archives
April 2023
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