Perkins Tower

I didn't finish the bike climb to Perkins Tower at Bear Mtn, NY yesterday. My friend Jim didn't have it in his lungs to make it all the way up. It was just too much for him.

Our group of 7 riders started at Mike's house, which was about 17 miles south from the peak. We biked 12 miles along the Hudson River through loads of rolling hills (at too hard of a pace IMO) and just reached the Bear Mountain area into a long climb when Jim couldn't take it anymore. He pulled to the side for a long gasping breather and then said he was turning back. He was really spent.

Jay accompanied him to make sure he was alright. I went ahead to catch more of our friends further up, told them to just keep climbing, and then turned around and chased down Jim and Jay for a threesome ride back to Mike's house. The 4 others of our group eventually reached the Perkins Tower summit, made a fast descent (40 mph max, they said) and met with us three about 90 minutes later at the house.

To celebrate, we grilled burgers and hotdogs, sat around Mike's backyard deck and listened to the guys' war stories of the day's climb. Oh, how I wished we all could've made it up there. Maybe before the end of the summer, Jim, Jay and I will do our own Perkins Tower ride to make things complete (and at a much easier pace this time so as to not burn out). Already, we were starting to plan a date as we were eating our burgers.

So the lesson learned this weekend: there's no 'i' in 'Team', but there's an 'e' in 'We'. :-). All for one and one for all. Birds of a feather stick together. We three kings of orient are. "In good times and bad times, I'll be there forever more ... that's what friends are for." Ummm, yeah. And I'm glad Jim's okay.

Now on to the next tour! Allez!

I'm ready to climb!

Okay, enough of the leg porn in my last post. I was getting tired of looking at that bloated picture. My apologies to the offended.

Last Saturday, I totally smoked up the hills in my last long training ride before tomorrow's climb to Perkins Tower at Bear Mtn, NY (1200 ft over 5 miles). My friend Jay and I did about 35 miles of ups and down, and my legs didn't feel weary at all as in previous rides.

It's probably due to my obsession with doing hill intervals on the LifeCycle at the gym for the past six weeks. And I do mean almost every day of the work week. Started out at level 13, upped it methodically (and painfully) over the days and now I've tapped it at level 22, all with an RPE of 17-18. Tour de France, here I come! :-)

It's a rest day today and I've taken the day off for a doc appt and to watch the kids while mommy's taking an important nursing certification test. Tons of stuff to do around the house, though. Mowing the lawn, laundry, staining the deck, cleaning the garage, etc-- whoopie (sigh). I just hope it'll be beneficial to my endurance. :-)

Chore on!

Workouts, baby!

"Shave and a haircut. Two bits."

A yearly physical ritual to signify the start of outdoor riding: the shaving of the legs. Plus, Melinda thinks I look sexier. Although in my early twenties, I deluded myself thinking it'd make me go lightning fast in the swim leg of my triathlons.

Since the Bloomin' Metric 100k, it's been workouts galore. I've been hitting the gym every day of the work week, doing tons of cardio on the LifeCycle exercise bikes, and then hitting the weights every other day.

It's all methodical. I keep track of my progress and try to up it just a tad in the next workout. In theory, I'll be running a 4 minute mile at the end of the season, benching 500 lbs in no time and competing in the Tour de France by next year. Well, that's just the theory. But I really am getting better in my personal bests for this season, which is good enough to keep me coming back to the gym for more.

BTW, the foot still hurts but is slowly getting better. Slowly.