Getting Serious

CarboRocket 333 + Elete Electrolyte Add-in

I turned in a semi-repeat of Saturday's ride again early this morning.  I started before sunrise and headed out into the dark with riding light. The weather was perfect, no wind, dark, the moon was out, and the stars.  It was well worth getting up at (too early to mention) to take it all in.  The ride was a repeat of Saturday in the sense that I took on some of the same trails in the same general direction.  It was different because I dialed back the intensity and increase the ride time by about an hour.  Some good advice I am trying to follow this year is to define a purpose to every ride in advance (Annual Training Plan) focused on the goal of having fitness (peak) at the right time (race day).  My goals for the day were 4-fold.

1. Test out some demo riding lights - didn't go as planned.
2. Spend some quality time on my new ride working on speed / handling skills.  My backyard trails are filled with tight turns, small hills, ice patches, climbs, everything I need to get to know the bike.
3. Work on muscular endurance by riding steady in HR Z3, staying seated up the hills, etc.
4. Start to test various mixes of endurance fuel. Today was CarboRocket 333 mixed with Elete Electrolyte Add-in

As for goal #1 hopefully I will have more to add after I take on another morning ride Wednesday AM but for now that plan failed due to cockpit error (me).  #2 was even more fun than it was on Saturday. With the calm of the darkness and lack of wind I could really feel how the bike performs on the trail.  SRAM has something going on with the 2x10 setup and the X0 shifting is smooth and precise.  #3 and #4 worked together.  I didn't eat anything before I headed out so my stomach was on the secret brew cold turkey.  After 3 hours I was riding strong and felt like I could have done another 3 at that pace.  I've put 333 through the ringer for the past 2 months and I can say (all sponsorship aside) that is is the best I have used.  Elete I am still testing out but so far it passes with two thumbs up.

My first race of 2011 will True Grit in late March.