Bicycle training in a tropical storm

Tropical storm Fay is making my century training interesting.  Friday’s planned mountain bike ride (my first real trail ride in almost 2 years) almost got canceled, but fortunately some people showed up.  It rained a bit, but that just makes mountain biking a little more challenging.  We had a grand old time slipping and sliding around in the mud, and drinking beer afterward.  Yesterday I spent an hour on the stationary trainer pedaling like mad and not getting anywhere.  Few things are as mind-numbingly boring as sitting on that trainer.  Rock and roll at high volume helps tremendously.  It was raining again this morning, and I was dreading a four hour stint on the trainer.  It stopped raining at about 10:00 so, optimist that I am, I hopped on the bike and headed out.  I got dumped on intermittently for the first 90 minutes or so, but after that it was just cloudy and humid, with a stiff wind from the east.  I followed the rules this time (good diet, proper hydration), and didn’t suffer the same ill effects as last week’s ride.  I won’t say that the ride three weeks from now is going to be a breeze, but I do think I’ll be able to finish it with strength.

This week’s mileage:

Monday14 easy
Tuesday19.2 pace
Wednesday27 fast
Thursdayrest
Friday20 (approx) mountain bike
Saturday20 (trainer)
Sunday76.5 pace
Total176.7