Return to Training

I got going on my training again last night. I went out to the track with the club. It seemed like there were a lot more people there than I remember; I think the club has become much more popular the past couple years than it was when I joined. A lot of my cyclocross racing friends were there, so it was nice to see those people.

My plan was to take it pretty easy and mainly work on just being relaxed and riding smoothly with the group. It was basically a success, I kept myself to only two hard (but short) efforts.

I did a nice, easy, long warmup. I'd been breathing through my nose all day; it was kind of an interesting experience, a few times I felt like I just needed to open my mouth and take a big gulp of air. Breathing through the nose worked OK on the bike, until I tried to increase the intensity at all. Even climbing up the little hill at the track at a moderate pace was enough to put me into some breathing difficulty. I largely abandoned the nasal breathing after my warmup, but I want to keep experimenting with it.

I joined the second fastest group for the formal riding. We mainly practiced just keeping in line while the leaders accelerated and slowed a little. It was good for me to do this a little. Holding a wheel and keeping gaps from opening is something I need to work on.

I thought I could feel a difference from my work this Spring on riding relaxed and working on cornering. While in the group, my shoulders stayed relaxed and I kept a nice bend in my arms the whole time. I also felt more comfortable cornering in the group. We weren't going too fast, but, since I'd been working on tighter and faster corners in practice, I felt confident with what we were doing.

Anyway, it was a good ride. My knees felt fine during the ride and afterward. So, it looks like I'm off to a good start.