Busch Gardens Opening Day - (non-biking)

I mentioned last weekend that my family went to Busch Gardens. I followed that trip with a misguided distance ride prior to which I did not eat properly and thus semi-bonked midway thru the ride. Here are some pics from Busch Gardens.

Skateboarding

My son, 13 years old, is an avid skateboarder. He's pretty good. Here's a couple pics from a recent skatepark outing.

Bad Combination

There's a reason that it's good (IMO) to ride in the morning, especially when it's warm. Other than the obvious temperature-related issue one of the biggest hinderances to my performance on the bike is simply nutrition, or poor preparation of such.

Today was a good example. My wife told me that I was NOT going riding but was going to Busch Gardens (I live very near Williamsburg, VA) for opening day for season pass holders. Jack Hanna was there doing a special show with wild animals. Cool, I thought. Great show. After the show we walked around the park doing stuff here and there. It started out nice but got warm and sunny quick. I stayed until early afternoon and got home around 2:15 or so. I wanted to get in 60-70 miles so when I got home I got everything together and headed out the door.....without properly eating.

About and hour-and-a-half out I started to deal with some wind, was feeling kind of dry and thirsty,legs burning a bit... a bad combination of warning signs. 30 minutes later and I realized it was going to be hard to get home. I wasn't doing loops so that meant I had 2 hrs of riding before I could eat.

Lesson? Either ride early so you can control you nutrition or take some stuff with you - you will pay if you don't do either of these. Let's just hope it doesn't mess with me tomorrow on my ride.

Short Spin Ride in the Sun

Got out this afternoon for a short spin ride in the late afternoon sun. It's soooo nice to not be locked away in the basement doing a 2 hr Zone 2 base ride. May have a few more left but at least there's potential to get outside.

Warm, Sunny Weather

Wow, finally some nice weather. Sunny and 70s. Awesome. Need to make sure I use sunblock tomorrow.

Weekend Riding

Had some great weather for road rides this weekend. Saturday was fantastic and I even think I got a little sunburn. Did 70 miles on a route from home (Toano) up to 155, down to 5 into Williamsburg and back. Sunday was cooler and some weather rolled in just as I got within 2 miles of home - ride was about 55 miles. Route was from home out through West Point and Shackleford then up 14 to Truhart. Wind kicked up halfway through ride and made it a hard effort. All in all a good weekend. Nearing end of base training.

Snowball Crit 2 Pics

Here are a few pics from the Snowball Crit 2 held on 3/7 in Chesapeake, VA. The event was put on by Virginia Beach Velo.

Snowball Criterium 2

Did my first race in a number of years (we won't mention how many) at the Snowball Criterium 2 in Chesapeake, VA. Nice event, nice course, although a bit shorter than I'd prefer. I raced Cat 5 and my plan was to simply see what it was like racin in a group. I forgot about how most of the guys don't really comprehend bike handling so it was scary at times. Heard a few pedals strike the pavement but luckily they were all behind me and if there were crashes I didn't see them. I did plan to pull as much as I could as I don't see the point of waiting until the end of the race to try and outsprint the field - I'd rather be strong enough to pull away from the front. AT least that's the plan for the future. I'll post pics if I can get some from somewhere - I didn't take any.

Garneau Sonix Build

The new build is coming along. The new bike is a Garneau Sonix 6.4, all carbon. Nothing super-fantastic but should suit me for a while. I have been sick since Monday so the timing to get this built was great. I finished it up enough to do a 1 hour workout in Zone 2 to get the blood moving again. Here are some pics: