Looking Ahead …

Now that my ride across the state is done, I am officially declaring the training season over. I’m done. Spent. Kaput.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be riding this Fall and some in the Winter. I have three rides remaining, however I am not pushing my training for them. This weekend’s Carolina COPS ride will be a quiet, social ride, as I am still recovering from the long ride. The weekend following will be the Tour de Franklin aka ‘The Halloween Hunard,’ which is a mountain ride with considerable climbing, but again, not going to push myself. I’ll take it easy and enjoy the scenery. On 11/5 will be the Orangeburg River’s Bridge Ramble, which is a flat-as-a-pancake century ride. I might try and go fast for this one, just for fun.

With the season mostly over, I am now looking towards and training for next year. It looks like we will have a good sized group for Mitchell training, so that will occupy the early going. From there I would like to do some mountain rides that I didn’t get the chance to do before. I have my eye on Roan Moan, Blood Sweat and Gears, and Six Gap Century. I would also love to ride Three State Three Mountain in Tennessee, but there might be calendar conflicts because it comes right before Mitchell. I am also making tentative plans to ride in Colorado in early August. I am looking at Cooper Triangle, but a lot can change before then. The rides I did in 2011 that I would love to do again are Blue Ridge Breakaway and Bridge to Bridge.

That leads me to the Fall and Winter. At first I planned to get off the bike completely and complete the P90X program. Due to other time commitments, I am now moving away from that plan. Winter is a great time for strength and cross-training. Weight training won’t be a problem, and I’m already in the process of re-upping my gym membership. Cross-training, on the other hand, could be an issue. I will probably have to run. Even though I am in great shape, I’m still wary of injuries, so we’ll see. I will be riding occasionally as weather permits and spending some time on the trainer. This will mostly be to maintain my riding fitness and not gain more. Once the weather starts warming up, probably in February, I will start putting on base miles again and start hill training shortly thereafter.