3 Day Bliss

It's been 70 degrees and sunny for three days, which means one thing, it's winter time in Middle Tennessee! Nobody should have been reading this blog from Saturday through Monday due to your deep sense of obligation to ride your bicycle. Even if you did visit there was nothing new since I racked up 10 hours of training over those three days. Add to that a couple of Christmas parties along with church and there goes the weekend!

Don't get too excited, it was actually in my plan to put in that amount of time. While most of you were working for the man on Monday I was out on my bike for three hours of glorious ride time. I saw quite a few people out on the road, which is unusual for a Monday afternoon. Sadly they were all coming towards me from the other direction and not going my way. I did pass one guy near Thompson's Station (sp?), but he wasn't able to hang on for very long. I was hoping he could suck my wheel for a longer period so as to give me some motivation to work harder.

This brings up a point to emphasize. Don't ever let the weather dictate your training plan. If my plan hadn't included a Monday ride of three hours I wouldn't have ridden as long just because it was 70 degrees. Plan your work and work your plan. Stick to your plan and in the long run you'll be more successful.

To top off those three great days of training, actually day four of bliss, I rounded out Tuesday with another awesome pilates class at Simply Pilates. I was blessed to have what turned out to be my own personal session with the owner because nobody else showed up! She put me through an awesome workout and even helped me pinpoint a hamstring issue that I should be able to correct on my own. Anything this good I feel compelled to share. So if you want to learn more about your body, stretch its limits and make it stronger then I highly recommend Simply Pilates.

Oh, it'll greatly improve your cycling too!

During one of my weekend Christmas parties I got to speak to part-time Nashvillian, full-time natural Aussie citizen and Jittery Joe's pro cyclist Mr. Jeff Hopkins. We got to chat it up for about 10 minutes on Friday night before he and Trent were going out for a few brews. Jeff has taken up the skill of brewing his own beverages (imagine that!) in Australia, which I am sure he'll bring to Nashville when he arrives in early February '07. He's still following the Titans and has watched all their comeback victories lately at a nearby pub where he lives.

Jeff and Trent have already begun doing a few crits in Australia. He mentioned that a lot of the big boys such as Robbie McEwen, Graeme Brown and Matt White have been showing up, which he said was a lot of fun to be mixing it up with those guys. They actually raced this past weekend at the Cronulla International Grand Prix in Sydney.

You can see the starting line HERE with McEwen in the center and Jeff on the far left. Note the token Credit Agricole, Rabobank and Discovery Channel jerseys while noticing Trent Wilson just behind Jeff. Do you think this race was fast? Gee, I wonder. I mean, it's no Be There or Get Slower training, but it's fast nonetheless.

Some fortunate Goldman Sachs' employees should start a US based professional cycling team. I know you dream like I do and imagine winning the lotto, but the dream isn't winning it for me as much as it is giving it all away. I began with nothing and will leave with nothing.