2017 USA Cycling Marathon Nationals Week: Tuesday

Tuesday 5/2/17

                Today’s purpose is to sharpen the skills on the bike. I prefer fast and flowy single track, tight and technical trails frustrate me. I’m not a fan of the slow bump and grind with trees and rocks. However, I acknowledge in order to be a menace of a mountain bike racer, I need to eat my vegetables and ride the techy stuff... It’s what’s good for me. Today wasn’t painful, Highland (the closest techy craphole trail) has a unique vibe to it. Since it is pretty hard to hit warp speed out there I found myself really taking it all in and enjoying the fresh leaves. It really makes one wonder why more people don't do this. Disclaimer: I recognize that sounds really Eco-douchey but it is what it is.

"Why travel all the way to Arkansas to just ride 50 miles?"

Here’s the numbers:

Miles: 12.7

Time: 1:25:25

Average Watts: 150W

Average Heart Rate: 132 Bpm

Total Climbing: 1699’

KJ per Hour: 543Kj

Green AF

Wet and Green AF

2017 USA Cycling Marathon Nationals Week for Scotty: Monday

Monday 5/1/17

                Monday’s training started with picking up a brand new Specialized Epic from Cycletherapy in Waterford. Cycletherapy is my hometown bike shop and has treated me very well over the years so I am really excited to partnering with them for the 2017 season in addition to 3T Q+M Team. Additionally Uncle Sam (Tax return) bought me the bike so that is extra exciting. Training was short and had the purpose of spinning the legs, getting a little sweat going and getting me bearings of the bike. One 46:00 minute lap at Pontiac Lake was all it took to get a good feel for the bike and play with the suspension settings. Today’s average heart rate was 143 bpm, I haven’t put the power meter on so a kilo-joules per hour count and average watts data was unavailable. Weather was brisk and rainy… but that’s Michigan. It is easy to overthink a race during the week, leading to mental fatigued without even pedaling. I combat that by keeping my mind occupied as best I can by taking each training session one day at a time. Obviously this is easier said than done, then I must remind myself that the race is Sunday and i'm not measured till then... so keep it in your pants chief.

Stay thirsty my friends.

Dane, my apprentice mechanic giving it a once over.

Hometown kid goes back to where it all started.