So, I decided this week that it is about time I start work on getting fast (getting some high-end fitness). My knee seems completely healed after my injury this spring, and I've got a solid base of miles in now.
I missed the track night this week because my throat was a little sore in the afternoon on Tuesday and I just didn't "feel right".
I felt fine on Wednesday, and I spent about an hour in the backyard and driveway working on some skill things. I mostly did cornering drills, but I also worked on hopping a little. I think practicing cornering in a controlled setting like that is really helpful for me. If things aren't quite going right, it's relatively easy for me to diagnose my problem and fix it. On a trail, the corner goes by so fast, so you might never realize what you're doing wrong.
I'm still struggling with a proper (flat pedal) bunnyhop/J-hop. I think my problem has to do with timing and the amount that I'm loading the rear tire. To resolve that, I've mostly been working on lifting the rear tire alone. It's been kind of a slow process.
Last night, after a short hike (still getting ready for Yosemite!), I rode over to a quiet neighborhood and did some sprint intervals. For me, this kind of very short, max effort work is the first step in building high-end fitness (once the legs are ready for it anyway). Ideally, I will work from these shorter intervals to longer ones. In the past, I've tried it the other way around, sort of tried to build a foundation from intermediate/long intervals and then top it off with shorter ones, but it doesn't seem to work as well for me.
The other interesting thing about my interval work was that I did them all from a complete stop (one foot on the ground). I wanted to do this because I've had some pretty miserable race starts lately (especially in 'cross last year). I need to work on getting that second foot clipped in... I think even if I have to look down for a while.
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