great spring rides...

[gretchen]

Hey, share with me your great rides of the new season...
I still have two weeks before the dr. says i can get back on my bike (after back surgery )...and i keep seeing people out on their bikes....it's killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought i could live vicariously though you all!
Ok, bring on those stories of really great rides and get me psyched for being "back in the saddle again".

gretchen
all i can think of is fresh pavement that goes on forever....

[doctorfrau]

Hi Gretchen,

Well, since you asked.....

My ride yesterday was not particularly challenging or technically difficult, but boy, did I enjoy myself!

I decided to drive over to Cumberland Maryland, to the terminus of the C&O Canal Towpath trail. The whole thing is like 185 miles from Cumberland to DC/Georgetown. I was scouting a bit 'cause some friends and I were thinking about biking it thru at some point.

I only biked about 32 miles of the trail out and back, but the weather was glorious! The spring is greening things up, the wildflowers were blooming, the Potomac River was pretty, and I saw horses, a deer and a beaver.

I was deliciously tired at the end, and treated myself to chocolate ice cream!

[Hillhugger]

Hi Gretchen,

I just came back from a one-week triathlon-training-camp in Florida and must say - I loved it!

Our club was stationed at Vacation Village in Clermont, Florida, a bit north of Orlando. The weather was fantastic, every day around 80 degrees. Cycling those quiet roads around Lake Louisa and in the State Park was just great. Nice new pavement, hardly any cars!

Now I'm back in Canada, still waiting for spring...

I hope you are back on the bike soon!!!

All the best!

[gretchen]

Your camp sounds so great! I would love to hear about what you did for training...
When's the triatholon? Are you ready?
gretchen
ps...one more week and i'm outside on my bike again...
let the countdown begin!!!!!!!!!!

[Hillhugger]

Hi Gretchen,

I'm sure you can hardly wait for next week to come around! Good luck!

Yeah, our training camp was pretty exiting. We did biking, running, swimming and yoga.

The biking would be up to three hours in the morning, varying between speedwork, hilly rides or just plain long rides.

We did the running in the early morning in that wonderful orange groove just around the corner for about an hour on red clay. But running was not a priority, we only did it twice.

Once we did a BRICK workout: Biking - running - biking one after the other several times.

Swimming took place, normally in the afternoon from 3 to 5 pm in the National Training Center in Clermont. They have a wonderful outdoor 50m pool - best of all: no clorine but ozone. The swim (4 Km) was normally about endurance, speed and technique.

Yoga took about for an hour.

It sounds like a lot of work but it was just great. Between the workouts you normally had 2.5 hours to recover and eat before you had to get to the next event.

The group was divided into the elites, marathoners and beginners and we had really excellent coaches for each specialty. Some of our people were doing the final preparations for the Worlds in Madeira in May, others were preparing for the Ironman in Sweden in the summer and then there were those who just wanted to get a headstart for the season.

I am preparing for my very first Triathlon at the end of May here in Canada. If I'm ready by then - no idea. But I'll do my best and will have a lot of fun.

[gretchen]

WOW! that sound unreal! What a great experience! Thanks so much for sharing it! Now i have to rest after reading it!!!!!!!