Pounding Away

I have been putting some decent miles in lately and doing as much climbing as possible (within my current constraints). I also had a chance to ride with my son Zev who was in from Israel for a couple of weeks (though saying I rode "with" him is a bit of a stretch).

Nothing is really new. I am riding hills reasonably well and coping with the winds as well as I ever have. I have managed a couple of rides out to Point Lookout at very encouraging average speeds, even when faced with nasty winds on the way back. Yesterday I did 48 miles including 2700 feet of climbing in a bit over 3 hours.

The only quasi-significant event is that I replaced my chain and cassette last week since both were shot. I stayed with the Dura Ace but moved to an 11-28 rather than 12-27. This will give me a slightly easier gear when I get to Maale Akrabim and other nasty hills and a little bit more leverage on the flats. As my mom would say, "It couldn't hurt".

I have also focused my spinning sessions on very hard interval training, alternating between two and a half to five minutes of near threshhold level riding with 2 minute rest periods.

The weight is still an issue. I'm at about 118. Tomorrow I'm seeing my doctor and will ask about it.

With two and a half months until the ride, I'm feeling good about my ability to hang on.