:: seanlangford ::

The first camp of Strong Like Bull 2010 has been amazing so far. We have a group of very fit, very serious athletes. The first 3 days have been a challenge because of some inconsistent weather, but we were still able to get out on the bikes every day and consistent 3-4 hour rides. On Sunday we were able to explore a new route which descends down from Colmenar down to Malaga over 19k. The day was epic as we climbed out of Colemenar into a cloud then descended out of the cloud over many switchbacks down to a clear view of Malaga. The climb back up was super challenging. Today we are visiting Granada where we hiked up to some gypsy caves on the outskirts of the city where we had our morning coffee. Tomorrow we are planning to do the Puerta del Sol 8k time trial.

Did an epic hard ride today with some new england’s strongest masters. Was super hard but fun to wind it up in the mild weather.

The weather is not favorable. The plan calls for “Lactate Threshold Stimulation” – therefore let’s suffer a bit on the rollers, shall we?

Happy New Years!!

The Spain trip this year was ‘off the (proverbial) hook’. We had a fantastic crew and had a great time. I love getting to know all the campers; having all the meals together creates a unique social atmosphere. The riding was unbelievable. The Pico, The Sanctuary, El Torcal, the Puerta, the Villaneuva del Conception climbs and others were simply breathtaking. The best riding on the planet, I’m thoroughly convinced. Mostly sunny, warm, and hours of riding with maybe seeing a handful of cars (certainly saw more goats than cars on the roads). Food was also amazing. We are lucky to know the Idles and really love their hospitality. After all this adventure, to come back home lighter and with more fitness is particularly great. I am proud of what John, Mandy and myself have built and hope to continue to refine it. I will post some pictures and some ride profiles soon.

Today is the 1 week mark for my departure to the fun and sun of southern Spain where I will get to live like a bike bum for 2 weeks with some of my best friends. Stay tuned to this space for updates from the road. Yahoo!!

So I got 22nd out of 120 starters.  This is a good result for me.  I was looking at last year’s Fitchburg TT where I got 77th and have been thinking about the past 12 months; riding mountian bikes through the winter midweek just before dawn, training in Spain, and the countless hard rides with good friends who have encouraged me, pushed me and given me guidence.  Its working.  Its paying off.  I *am* getting faster.  This wasn’t some local TT; this is Fitchburg.  Folks come from all over for this and I managed to beat 98 of them.

So the big race is upon us.  Been tapering for the past 10 days.  Trying a textbook taper this time; we’ll see how that goes.  Went for 1 hr spin last night and “like wow”: some of the deep soreness I’ve been accumulating over the past few weeks is gone.  Now I sit here with my number packet (Thanks Karen!!!!!) contemplating the race.  Tomorrow is the big TT and I am planning on going full gas.  Fitchburg baby!  Get psyched.

Felt good at tonight’s ECV time trial over in Hamilton. Beat my personal record there by over 20s! Special thanks to Paolo Mion for the encouragement at the top of the climbs when I needed it most. I am psyched as I’m getting closer to some very fast men. I somehow got within 25s of guys like Jim Nash, Andrew Durham, and Scott Carrier. My goal for the year is to crack 27:00. Nice to see all this TT and strength work is paying off.

This weekend was hard.  The Mount Sunapee race was quite literally a washout.  It was pouring rain and pretty miserable.  Suited up and tried to get a warm up in, but these old muscles weren’t cooperating in the 40F rain.  Less than 30 of the 50-odd registrants showed up at the line for the 35+ race.  I *really* didn’t have my head in this race; I had a bad crash once in the rain at Bow and that had me a bit freaked out.  Anyway, pace was reasonable at first and until we hit the hills.  The strongmen wanted to break it up early because of the downpour.  That didn’t bode well for your humble narrator as I never got warm nor loose and never felt good.  Eventually packed it in before finishing anticipating today’s effort.
Today was alot more fun.  Rode down with good friends JF and RK to checkout Stonington.  Great also to see JH, MB, and JO.  This race is tough also.  Got there a bit late and again with no reasonable warmup.  This race starts at the foot of a climb and is kept neutral by the pace car until the top; the race director did a good job of keeping this first climb civilized.  The next time up the hill though was a different story; the race was definitely ‘on’ in a big way.  Each time the climb shattered the pack until there were small groups scattered around the course.  I was able to get into a small group and reel in quite a few people until we had a group of about 15; one of whom was Silka, the newest JH.org athlete.  We worked in this group and reeled in quite a few people getting shattered from the climb.  Had a respectable finish somewhere in the middle.  Was definitely nice to escape the rain of northern New England and steal some sunshine.
Here is a snip of the p123 race which followed ours.

Put some miles both indoors and out this weekend. Can’t wait till next week when i’ll be in the mountians of Spain. Keep checking for some updates as Ill try to make some remote updates with pictures.