Guinea Pigging.....

Each year, I like to go where few riders have gone before in terms of training. I call it the "Guinea Pigging" training method. Essentially, it's a training schedule based on moronic chaos. For instance, so far this year, I have found out why it's not a good idea to do intervals three days in a row. Not only could I not walk by day 4.....but worse - I could barely ride the next three days.

Last year, I thought it would be fun and interesting to do weight training for the legs 2 to 3 days per week during the middle of the season. The workout? 1.5 hours, 20 sets of leg press, 15 sets of squats, 10 sets of calf raises, 10 sets of leg extensions, 5 sets of leg curls and a couple other legercises. What I found out? First off, again, I couldn't walk out of the gym nor could I walk the next day.....and second, I had a hard time riding the next day.....like my 39x19 felt like that 87x10 gear. So, after a few weeks(yeah, it's bonehead disease), I bailed on it.

The T-mobile guys use a 53x12 to climb hills during the pre-season??? Awesome - I'll go ahead and Guinea-Pig it. Result? Well, let's just say my bike hated me and my knees disowned me.

You mean, you're not suppose to double your mileage in a week??? Hmmmm. I wonder why? Guinea Pig it. My result? The week went great! The week after went horrible!! I was sick, tired, irritated. Another lesson learned.

So, yeah, this whole cycling thing is also a big experiment with me too. And although it's fun, there are many lessons to not only be learned - but believed as well.