The Offseason has Finally Arrived

I put in my first session on the bike trainer today. This to me is the real start of winter. It's the point where I have to quit living in denial and set about the hard work of convincing myself that this will all be worth it in the spring when the snow melts, the roads become rideable and all is right with the world again.

This year discipline will be the name of the game. I've always had the luxury of riding indoors just to scratch the itch to ride and keep from completely losing my fitness. I recently agreed to do my first race ever which will be an ultra marathon bike race from the Wyoming border to the Minnesota border on Highway 212 in northern South Dakota. I'll be part of a two man team with Bryan Brinkman, my supervising manager at Scheels, Bryan riding the 230 mile leg of the race while I will be responsible for 190 miles. It is a continuous race, so we're looking at a lot of saddle time and a lot of suffering.

The race is slated for August 13 which means that I have eight months and one day to get myself whipped into shape. It's going to require a lot of time on the trainer which should set me up for a lot of time in the saddle in the spring. I decided to start the work in earnest today with a two hour session.

Two hours is a long time on the trainer for me. I would rather hit it hard for 45 minutes and get off the thing, but 45 minute sessions aren't going to help me build up for the challenge ahead. The trainer requires so much more discipline than going out for a ride. Because you don't have the natural motion that you would riding on the road, your body hurts more, sooner and it's harder to find relief. My butt hurts more after an hour on the trainer than it does after riding 100 miles.

I knew that I was going to hate doing today's session before it even started, but was determined to go two hours. I was really ready to call it quits after 90 minutes, but I figured that if I'm really going to be ready for the Gut Check then I'm going to have to get used to suffering and starting my training by shortening a session because I was uncomfortable probably wouldn't help build the discipline that I'll need to finish a 190 mile ride.

I managed to finish, but was looking at my watch about every 30-40 seconds hoping that the time was passing more quickly than it really was. I was definitely ready to be done. The only problem is, I should probably do it again tomorrow.