This past week was very quiet in term of training ... by this I mean no riding at all until the week-end because I was waiting to get the additional stopping power installed on my bike.  Finally our trusted mechanic showedup at the office Friday to perform his magic.  As you might recall I need to additional stopping power when pulling the Trail-a-Bike with my daughter on it. 

I can say that when trying to regain fitness after a long period of inactivity, taking 5 days off from riding or any cardiovascular activity is just the worst thing you can do to yourself.  I went for a short high intensity ride on false-flats on Saturday, small gear work and higher cadences (39x19).  I changed my cassette to a 12-27 and what a difference it makes coming from a 11-23.  All I can say is getting used to anything bigger than a 23 will take some time.   The other change this week was also a move to slightly longer PowerCranks, from 167.5 to 170.

Today, after a Nightmarish Halloween Party last night and very little sleep I took to the road with my neighbor who just thinks that PowerCranks are insane because you never get to take a break while pedaling.  We headed out for the 3 Bears ride, a 31 mile loop with some very nice hills.  Todays approach in pedaling style was different.  I used big gears on flats and descents while  on the 3 hills, Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear I used the smallest gear possible to climb in order to bring up my cadence.

Everything went to plan, until Papa Bear ... He's big, he's mean, and at time can be quite windy, luckily not today.  At the bottom of this hill my legs did not feel like spinning so I decided to go out of the saddle in slightly a bigger gear.  Fity Meters turn into 100 meters then into 250 meters then into 400 meters at which point I was feeling my hipflexors working extra hard!  Back in the saddle in a 39-27 I slowly pedaled/ground up the hills, today I just did not have it in the legs.  I felt like Paolo Betting in the Giro della Lombardia a few weeks back, of course he's got legs!  Was it because I did not ride for one week?  I think so!   While I thought I would not make it home, we finally rolled in almost 2 hours after taking off ... a long way away from the days in which I was doing this same route in sub 1h 20min; but there is hope and I am clinging to that hope.

I leave you with a picture of my modified steed!  My old and faithful Cannondale 2.8 from last decade sporting a new suspension fork and disc brakes!  It took a while to find a fork of this sort with a 1" steerer, but patience paid off.  While it looks like a sloping tube frame, it is not!   The extra spacers will come off as I regain flexibility in the back.  All I can say about the suspension fork is WOW!  It makes riding a training bike much more comfortable with much less road vibration.  If you are commuting on a road bike, I would suggest this upgrade!