Riding in the gaps

One of the skills supposedly covered this week in the Early Birds was to ride into and fill gaps in the pack. For me this week has been all about trying to ride in the gaps between storms. The National Weather Service doppler maps have been yellow and orange far to much of this week for me to get out for serious riding much of the time. I worked from home on Monday, then commuted on Tuesday through Thursday, but then opted for staying off the bike, and drier, when the heavy, sustained rain of Friday reared its head.

The small startup for which I work just got access to the ‘gym’ in the business park where we rent office space. I thought that taking a day off the bike on Friday and doing some weight work would be a good idea. Then I got into the gym on Friday. Let’s just say I have friends with better setups in their garage than is in the so-called gym. Oh, well, at least I did a bit of weight work and some work on the abs before using the shower, the only bright spot in having access to the gym. With access to the shower I can now do training rides on my way to work and not offend my co-workers.

Saturday was supposed to be more of the same weather; our friend (and teammate of The Wife) Erika decided to host a garage trainer workout party for the team but invited some of us with Y chromosomes to participate, too. I was thinking I would take the rollers and demonstrate my skills, similar to the guys in the video (yeah, right …), but the weather was clear, calm, and warmer than the past few days, all leading to the decision to do the workout on the road. It was great out, doing hill intervals until the legs felt like mush, then a nice tempo ride on a southern loop back home. The hills to the east, which had been covered in snow and clouds all week, were clearly visible with only a couple small patches of white stuff left near the top of Mt. Hamilton. I was wishing there was something left in the tank so I could go ascend that monster, but opted for home and lunch, instead.

The rain had started again on Saturday night, so I was expecting a possible ‘pass’ on the Early Birds, especially since ‘Meet the Teams’ was delayed a week so The Wife was not obligated to go and sit for hours under the big top while handing out food and beverage to potential recruits. Sunday morning we awoke to dry roads and partly cloudy skies, with nothing of interest on the doppler. So a quick, carbo dense breakfast and we loaded up and headed to Fremont. The Wife participated in the Women’s clinic while I socialized and watched the growing gray mass to the south. The rain held off … until about 30 seconds after my group started on the road. Perfect timing! Sheesh. The shower was brief and after a couple of laps the only weather issue was the stiff 15-25MPH wind out of the southeast. By that time I was in caloric deficit mode, having left home in such a hurry that I neglected to grab any extra food items, which meant digging deep into the reserves to stay with the yellow ‘mice’ who kept punching the pace up. In the end I was able to keep integrated most of the time (one brief bit OTB) and got a pretty good workout.

Next week I plan on returning for the last Early Bird of the year, in part to do some interviewing with some of the local teams to see if I stay with Team Unattached or opt for one of the more structured groups. The requirement for a Master’s program and that training rides be in the geographic area I live and/or work in has narrowed the field to three candidates. A fourth squad, the green and whites is out as the anti-social aspect of some of the membership which has made the team a bit of a pariah in the bigger community; wearing the green and white would make some of my friends loathe to ride with me and might harm some of my advocacy work in the region. So it is down to the black/blue/whites that carry the name of the largest city in the region (and which I must join, anyway, to ride in their twilight crits), the red/yellows which has the most extensive sponsorship (and biggest track presence of the three), or the red/whites which are centered near where I work. I had crossed off the red/white group, The ratio of X chromosomes to Y’s is way too close to 1, but two of my friends have reportedly committed to the team. Decisions, decisions. All to think about while I do circles of the business park.