First day of the Coach Program

Here we go. So I did hire a coach. Today was the first day on the program. 2 hours of endurance riding. No problem right. Well I took my wife to work this AM and it was cold, 34F actually. On the drive back to our house it starts rain/snowing. I have a meeting at work and hope that it starts to warm up and dry up. Wishfull thinking apparently. By 1045 it was 33F and the streets were wet. I am supposed to do this on the dirt, singletrack if I can find it. I figure that I know its wet and cold here so why not head to Castle Rock and see what its like there. I load up the bike and all the cold weather gear, and the dogs want a field trip as well. They will stay in the car, but they dont care, its just a mobile doghouse really. I crest the hill leaving south Denver and it looks like Castle Rock is clear. Cold but clear. There is nobody at the trailhead and its dry. Perfect.

I head out and get the workout that I was supposed to get. The trail had enough moisture in it that it was very tacky. There were some sand corners that kept me honest though. This trail that I rode is the race course for this coming weekend. It is a pretty difficult course. There are no climbs over 200ft but in one lap there is about 1000ft of climbing. So 6000ft for the race. Ouch. I felt really pretty good today but I am concerned about the distance of 60miles and the weather. This is a picture of my bike right now out back.

Yep, about 6inches and its still falling hard. I am excited to test myself this weekend.

Coach Dunlap. My coach is Alison Dunlap. I am very excited to be working with her as well. We had a phone meeting yesterday so she could go over my plan for the next month. Like me, she likes to have scientific support for the techniques that she employes. Inserted into my plan are reasons for why she is having me do a specific workout at a specific time. We were on the phone for a little over an hour. She never seemed rushed and allowed time for me to ask questions. She explaned things so well though that I didn't have many questions. I think that this is going to workout pretty well.

I work the next two days so no riding until Thursday. Happy trails.