Preventative Maintenance

Last night was the weekly Thursday Night Ride. I decided I needed to ride with the faster group since I haven't ridden since ORAMM. I did run Tues though, but no bike. It was a fairly easy pace til..... drip drip drip. The rain snuck up on us near the river bridge heading over to the backside of Buffalo. The pace went from mild to wild instantly. I hung in til the first little climb. I got up it ok but half the group pulled away. My legs were feeling it bad! Lactic acid pain all the way down the flat before buffalo. I pulled a couple of guys to the base at about 22MPH. My legs were throbbing too, by then the rain had let loose. Heavy, splattering, warm drops of H2O. I just sat up because I couldn't hardly see anything. Mark from Larry's did the same. We just chatted as we casually turned the cranks over to the top. We caught back up with alot of the group at Cherokee School too. The rain slowed us all down. Got back to the parking lot and waited onAngie to return the went went for a bite to eat then home. I feel much better today! I should have ridden before that ride.

Tomorrow theres a 5K in Elizabethton that we all three are going to do. I hope the running I'm addingin to my exercise will help some (can't hurt,except for when I'm running...lol) Nice road ride lined up for sunday in the mountains.

For my title.... a bolt broke on the alternator on my semi this morning. I was lucky to have been at one of my customers (Home Depot). I ran in and got the needed hardware and repaired it. It made me think. To stay competetive you must maintain yourself with PM (preventative maintenance). I haven't done so well at that this year. I'm not climbing as well as I did last year nor do I have the stamina either. I'm not in bad shape but I have been better. Also 5lbs heavier than last year....YUK! I'm usually 195lb in the winter and then around 185lb throughout the summer. Last year I worked it down to 178lbs! I felt really good when I rode at that weight too. Im going to be working on my "maintenance" a little harder for the rest of the season. I will see where this puts me in about three months. Hopefully CX season will hit about the same time. I'm looking foward to racing in the SS class with the pros......that's so wrong ain't it? I will also be campaining another class CX4. 2 classes sounds like work.........

Later G.....................................