No rides in the last three days. I attended a wedding on Saturday, I wanted to ride into work, work for a half day and take the train to meet up with Amy. But the train was canceled over the weekend for rail maintenance. Luckily I noted this valuable info the night before, thus driving in to work instead. Sundays have lately become my days off the bike and it remained that way again. Today I was all set to ride into work and then ride home, but realized my shoes were in the car, parked at Amy's parent's house. I thought I could jump to the backup shoes, then remembered pillaging a cleat from them last week. I was upset that I was disorganized and missed a ride, but at least I remembered two minutes before Amy left so I carpooled to the train station.
I will no longer be able to leave things in my car, I am selling it. I had planned on buying a cheap motorcycle and saving up my car payments for awhile. But I may be buying a nice roadbike instead. Banning (the shop owner) offered me a spot on the race team, which would also mean a free carbon frame. I would still have to put a few hundred dollars of parts into it, but they would be at wholesale prices and could be paid off interest free over a few months. This off course means I would have to start having to taking my riding rather seriously. I wouldn't have to change my mileage by a huge amount, but I would need to stick to a regular training schedule. Of course if I have no motorcycle, then well...
I worked out a schedule:
Mondays I would ride at a hard pace into work (1 hour 20 is my best time right now, 25.5 miles) and them hard home (1 hour 40 thanks to climbing the hills.)
Tuesday is my day off and I normally don't ride much lately due to school, but I would add a long mountain or road ride of 3 hours or more at a moderate pace.
Wednesdays I would drive my bike into work, but leave it there and ride home at an easy pace. I think it will be about 2 hours 10 a night.
Thursdays I would ride into work at a moderate overall pace but turn certain sections into mini sprints or climbing each hill as fast as possible to keep my time within 1 hour 35. Then I would drive my bike to school (Or pedal) an d then home (or if pedalling, have Amy pick me up after her workouts).
Fridays would be an easy ride into work, taking about 1 hour 50. Then I would probably have Amy meet me for dinner or a ride home. I took Friday nights off for years and it is hard to ride or workout still.
Saturday i would leave open to either the motorcycle or a ride at "Saturday pace."
If I have a motorcycle, I would still have to pedal every other Saturday. "Saturday pace" varies and depends on the other bike traffic. There are always more rides on my route than normal, but sometimes I still only see riders on the opposite side of the road. But sometimes I see four or five riders and end up chasing them down. And I never like to be passed. Saturdays on the way home are the same, but I generally back off the pace, but the other riders out seem to be doing the same.
That adds up to a weekly total of 230 miles plus another dirt ride or 40 road miles if I don't end up with a motorcycle, which is actually pretty close to the amount of miles I should be riding to compete at the level I want to.
Anywise, I need to get some sleep and ride in tomorrow morning and then off to school.