My cycling and fitness goal for the year is to ride 3000 miles. That’s nearly double what I rode in 2005, but I know I can do it, I’ll just have to ride a lot more this winter. Last year, I got back in to cycling quick, giving myself only about three weeks to train up for Chain Reaction’s Dam Ride of 65 miles. That ride was pretty difficult for me, but I made it, and was in good shape afterwards.
A few weeks after the Dam Ride, I had my gall bladder problems, and I let them stop me from riding from mid-may until nearly the end of June. After that, I joined in on the Chain Reaction Tuesday/Thursday rides, and often managed to get a ride in on the weekends as well, so I was doing at least 70 miles a week of maintenance rides.
Since I don’t ride that much year-round, those numbers aren’t going to get me to my goal of 3000 miles for 2006, so I need to step it up!
I’m going to plan on one event-type ride every six weeks, plus training and recovery in between. An event ride, to me, is anything over 60 miles that I do in addition to the normal training rides. The calendar is a bit sparse right now, but I know it will contain two centuries: the Tour de Columbia (THANK YOU Lance for bringing a little French to Georgia) and the Claxton Century. Last year, the mid-April Dam Ride had a “Hammerhead” option of 85 miles, and that sounds like a good first real goal for the season.
I’ll fill out the schedule as I learn about more good rides!