Sunday, January 3, 2010

2009 Year in Review

Well 2009 in is the bag. It is time to look back and see what went right and what can be improved. It is also time to set goals for the new year and plan key events.

2009 in Review: 13,000 miles total. 11,328 road bike, 1083 indoors, 589 mountain bike. Average week was 249.3 miles, average per day was 35.6 miles, 50.6 miles per day for the 256 day I rode.

What went right: The 24 hours of Sebring had a few bright spots. It was the first race I used Succeed by E-caps. I cramped at the 150 mile mark because of sporadic use of the pills but once I got on a schedule of one every 20 minutes I felt great and came back to finish strong. This helped me establish the need for 3 an hour in the hot conditions. I also discovered that the new shoes I was trying were not going to work for ultra rides. They were too tight. I had a good training plan leading up to RAW. My mileage increased gradually peaking with three 200+ Saturday's in a row. The last one being the Balltown Classic that featured 11,000 feet of climbing. I finished feeling real good and confident that my spring training was solid and my nutrition plan was going to work well. A first place at the 200 mile Metamora in August was my best race of the year. The heat and headwind shattered the group but once again my nutrition and hydration was right on and I finished feeling like I could have kept riding.

What went wrong: During Sebring along with the foot issues I had seat issues. This set in motion me changing seats, shorts, and chamois cream. I thought I had it all dialed in but RAW showed me otherwise. I should have had at least on 24 hour ride in May for the final tryout before RAW. There are some issues that just don't surface in a 12-15 hour ride. Not finishing RAW was the biggest disappointment of the year. I kick myself all the time for quitting.

What to improve: More core and strength training. Early in the spring my weekend rides need to be longer. Not so much focus on miles during the week but focus on the long rides. I had 109 days off the bike in 2009 and that needs to be less. August was my lowest mileage month which is just way wrong. I need to have a 200 mile day on RAGBRAI.

2010 Goals and Key Events: Yearly goal is 13,000 miles. My key events will be: Trans Iowa IV on April 24-25th. This is an unsupported 300+ mile gravel road race in central Iowa. HooDoo 500 at the end of August in south west Utah. This is also an unsupported ride.

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