Training at the Big Field

An example snowy ice patch

Training for the Singlespeed-a-Palooza has been tough.  I need to ride a lot, but this has been the longest winter since the ice age and spring is only just starting to show itself.  I continue to work out but less regimented than Insanity.  Each day I've just been choosing a workout routine I feel like doing.  I've done some P90X, Insanity, and some good  routines from Fitness Blender.

Today started out way below freezing but this afternoon it rose into the 40's.   I took some time off from work and rode.  The wooded trails are all still very snow covered and icy, and I figured the Gosnell Big Field trail would probably be clear because it gets more sun.  Unfortunately there were long patches of snow and ice that I'd say made up about 25% of the trail.  The Big Field trail is not much fun to begin with, and trying to make it through snow made it worse.  Dustin joined my ride, so at least I had someone to complain to.

Last night I did Fitness Blender's "Brutal HITT Ladder Workout".  This one really burns the quads and takes some serious willpower to get through at full intensity.   My quads were screaming at me for the first few laps of the Big Field, and I assume it's because of this workout.   On the latter half of my ride my lower back was especially screaming.  Dustin mentioned the same.  It might be the bumpy nature of this trail that causes us to make a lot of micro balance adjustments as we ride.  I rode my 29er and left in in low gear, since the wheel I'll use for the race will only have that.  I rode 7 miles with a bunch of dismounts and several breaks to talk with Dustin.  That's not exactly good training, but better than nothing.

There are only about two weeks left before the race.  The race is just south of Poughkeepsie and their weather is likely comparable to ours, but I hope they've gotten less snow this winter.  If the race was around here, the trails would not be in good condition for racing in two weeks.  Muddy at best.
Bad trail conditions will make the race slower and more difficult.