Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing

It's been snowing for 10 days with two more to come. We will have accumulated close to seven feet of snow by the time this storm cycle is finished. Wow. Though we are living around the turn of the century that century happens to be the 21st. Modern times allow for modern preparations. Like housing, snow plows as big as a house and sorrels.

It's not 1840 up in here. We are not eating ourselves. The highways are open. A five minute walk from my house, in full blizzard, finds you at the local health food store where you can take a wheat grass bath if you fancy. We relish this kind of weather. Snowboarding nirvana. Dropping!!!! But how do I ride my bike and train in this kind of craziness? Driving to the warmer lowlands every week is a bit extreme on the environment and quite frankly my pocket.

Back when the Donner Party reenacted the last supper the modern day bicycle had not even been invented. Fred Flintstone could have handled a bike from the 1840's. There were no pedals and cranks. Just a seat, frame and wheels that Fred could push with his feet. That would have made indoor training for us cyclist useless. Really you would have been training for a marathon or that quick getaway when you realized that the third course on the last suppers menu was YOU.

But I have pedals, cranks and an indoor stationary trainer. So a few times a week I lift the back wheel, lock my bike in place and go mental spinning like a gerbil. I am my own pet. That's not a photo of icicles. It's a microscopic detail of my brain fibers after a session on the old indoor. Frozen and mangled. Rendered wet yet not as dull as a sack of wet mice. And brittle.

On paper a workout looks like this:

• Warm Up: 15 mins
• Max Heart Rate? N/A
• Reason: Increase anaerobic power, lactate threshold performance and your repeatability during short intense efforts. High Cadence / maximal intensity 9.00mmol/L and up
• Method: Indoor trainer for better comparison between sesions or on a relatively flat section of road.
• Intensity Level: High (your heart rate will remain extremely high and you will train your muscles for power and repeatability). Each interval will be shorter and recovery time between efforts is limited. You will NOT fully recover between intervals. Heart rate is not applicable because each interval is at maximum effort.
• Practical Application: Your gearing should be moderate, but pedal cadence should be very high (105 - 115) during each interval. Attack each interval as hard as possible Jump out of the saddle and continue to build speed as the interval continues. If you need to, shift into an easier / lighter gear to maintain cadence, but do not let the intensity decrease.
• Workout: Perform 4 sets of 3 consecutive intervals according to this schedule.
• 2mins at maximum effort possible; 2mins rec
• 1min 45secs at maximum effort possible; 2mins rec
• 1min 30secs at maximum effort possible; 1min 30secs rec
• 1min maximum effort possible; 1min rec
• 30secs at maximum effort possible; 30secs recovery
• Recovery is 5mins between sets.
• Cool Down: 15 mins

So there it is. Winter training not in a nut shell but from a brain the size of one.

"Those" people are at it again. They are predicting the kind of snow fall that leads to cannibalism. No kidding. So before the fib and tib sandwiches are served up next week I decided to make one last pilgramige from Truckee to Colfax by way of Donner Summit in honor of the Donner Party.

A forty five minute drive and three thousand foot drop in elevation gets you 55 degrees, no snow and a sunny training ride in mid January. California baby. Of course everyone is on acid out here and writing their name in blood all over the walls.

Some bike ridding and pan handling on a rainy day in Colfax. Peace.