Training in the Rain
What a pussy - a little rain and I'm crying foul. Back in the summer, I was reading a posting on the "slowtwitch" web site. The writer was complaining about not being able to ride what with all the hurricanes that were blasting Florida and the South Eastern U.S. I posted back that I would give anything to ride in the rain. Hell, I had just finished a typical summer desert ride; 105 degrees F and dry as a bone. We hadn't seen rain in 7 months. Now I would give anything to see a little sunshine. If you read my post on the latest road race cancellation then you already know what I'm writing about. Southern California is about to set a record that has been around since 1884. I live in the high desert of Los Angeles County, we're lucky if we see 9" of rain all season. I think we're going on 20" right now. So what is a rider to do with all this rain.
First of all, any rider worth his rubber is going to ride in the rain. But that's not the problem. The problem in the desert is that the ground here can't handle 20" of rain. Streets just disappear or appear to be moving. It takes me forever to get home from work in my car because of all the street closures around here. Most of the great riding areas like "3 canyons, 3 Points, etc. have been wiped out - no roads anymore. This last week, it started raining on Friday and didn't end until Thursday, two days ago. So what do I do?
I usually set up my trainer and hook my bike up to it. But I lack the patience to deal with the trainer. So on Sunday, during a downpour, I got in my truck and headed over to "24 Hour Fitness" one of the local gyms in town. I like to use the "Lifecycle" as I can program it to be a pretty tough ride. I can also look at the "scenery" in the gym. I find looking at women with tight tops give me another 15 minutes on a trainer. At home, with Laura Diaz - my favorite news lady, I can last about 35 minutes. At the gym I can make it 45 to 50 minutes (I'm glad my wife thinks this blog is a waste of my time, "don't you have better things to do.", and doesn't read this thing.) Anyway, I set the life cycle for a hill workout, put it at level 12, the maximum and then sweat all over the floor. I'm sure other gym members think I'm a bit strange with my tight black shorts and the diaper that appears to be in my crotch. But they usually have the life cycle set to level 2 and are reading a People magazine or the like.
On Monday, during a downpour, I just lifted weights in my garage - no bike, no trainer.
On Tuesday, during a lull in the downpour, I did some hill repeats about 4 miles from my house. My workout called for 8 repeats on a 3-5% grade, at full speed. I got about half way through them and the skies opened up again. I finished the workout with 7 repeats and biked the 4 miles home with sweat and rain in my eyes.
On Wednesday, during another lull in the downpour, I set out on 23 mile easy ride - the sun was actually shining. I got about as far away as I could get in the ride, when I noticed some real nasty looking dark clouds heading my way. Lightning was lighting them up and the wind just came out of the blue. It looked like I had ridden into Kansas, and I was waiting for the twister to drop out of the clouds. The next lightning strike reminded me that I was rolling around on a bunch of aluminum and would probably make a tempting target for the rain gods - I did a quick U-turn and started back home at full speed. The rain was right on my heels. By the time I was 3 miles away from home, it hit me with a vengeance. But I was literally laughing with the storm. It actually felt good to be drenched by the downpour until the hail started...with about a 1/2 mile to go the hail came down - damn, that hurts. I raced into my garage just as a tremendous hail storm started. It seemed like 4 inches of hail came down in 10 minutes. Too bad I wasn't 20 miles out in the middle of nowhere - what a story that would be for the blog.
First of all, any rider worth his rubber is going to ride in the rain. But that's not the problem. The problem in the desert is that the ground here can't handle 20" of rain. Streets just disappear or appear to be moving. It takes me forever to get home from work in my car because of all the street closures around here. Most of the great riding areas like "3 canyons, 3 Points, etc. have been wiped out - no roads anymore. This last week, it started raining on Friday and didn't end until Thursday, two days ago. So what do I do?
I usually set up my trainer and hook my bike up to it. But I lack the patience to deal with the trainer. So on Sunday, during a downpour, I got in my truck and headed over to "24 Hour Fitness" one of the local gyms in town. I like to use the "Lifecycle" as I can program it to be a pretty tough ride. I can also look at the "scenery" in the gym. I find looking at women with tight tops give me another 15 minutes on a trainer. At home, with Laura Diaz - my favorite news lady, I can last about 35 minutes. At the gym I can make it 45 to 50 minutes (I'm glad my wife thinks this blog is a waste of my time, "don't you have better things to do.", and doesn't read this thing.) Anyway, I set the life cycle for a hill workout, put it at level 12, the maximum and then sweat all over the floor. I'm sure other gym members think I'm a bit strange with my tight black shorts and the diaper that appears to be in my crotch. But they usually have the life cycle set to level 2 and are reading a People magazine or the like.
On Monday, during a downpour, I just lifted weights in my garage - no bike, no trainer.
On Tuesday, during a lull in the downpour, I did some hill repeats about 4 miles from my house. My workout called for 8 repeats on a 3-5% grade, at full speed. I got about half way through them and the skies opened up again. I finished the workout with 7 repeats and biked the 4 miles home with sweat and rain in my eyes.
On Wednesday, during another lull in the downpour, I set out on 23 mile easy ride - the sun was actually shining. I got about as far away as I could get in the ride, when I noticed some real nasty looking dark clouds heading my way. Lightning was lighting them up and the wind just came out of the blue. It looked like I had ridden into Kansas, and I was waiting for the twister to drop out of the clouds. The next lightning strike reminded me that I was rolling around on a bunch of aluminum and would probably make a tempting target for the rain gods - I did a quick U-turn and started back home at full speed. The rain was right on my heels. By the time I was 3 miles away from home, it hit me with a vengeance. But I was literally laughing with the storm. It actually felt good to be drenched by the downpour until the hail started...with about a 1/2 mile to go the hail came down - damn, that hurts. I raced into my garage just as a tremendous hail storm started. It seemed like 4 inches of hail came down in 10 minutes. Too bad I wasn't 20 miles out in the middle of nowhere - what a story that would be for the blog.
posted by Bob Grove at 5:49 PM
<< Home