Lessons Learned

Tuesday night was spin class at Bow Cycle with coach. Now that we had the introduction to most of the moves out of the way we were concentrating on more specific moves and techniques. It was a completely different experience doing the class with a bike computer to tell me my cadence. I have a feeling I was slacking somewhat the week before... We spent a lot of time doing spin ups, holding the higher cadence for longer and longer intervals. We also did a bit of single leg work and some standing work. We rounded the class out with a team drill. The class was split in to four groups and when it was time for your group you would get into a really hard gear and spin hard for 30 second intervals, alternating sitting and standing on your go arounds. Afterwards my bike computer told me that I rode for 1:41 and the equivalent distance of 22.39 miles. As we cleared our bikes out of the way to get down on the floor for core work I was really surprised by how my rear wheel looked. It looked like I had really done a number on it with the trainer as it was looking pretty shiny now. Yikes! I most likely didn't have enough tension on my trainer and that caused some extra wear. I had my trainer set properly the week before, but I must have dinked around with it and not set it up properly before this week's class.

So, your wheel sits on the little roller I'm pointing to with the pink arrow. You can adjust the roller up and down against your tire, and you'll know it is in the right spot because if you are holding your tire, but try to spin the roller, the tire should have no play to move. Have the roller set too high - it wears out your tire. Have the roller set too low - it wears out your tire. I took my bike in to Bow after work yesterday and a couple of the mechanics looked at it and told me it wasn't as bad as I thought and I didn't need a new tire. Yet. I'm still okay to ride outdoors, but most likely I'll need some new tires come spring. It gave me a chance to peruse the bikes on sale and eye some of the wistfully. I took a peek at the aerobars but they weren't on sale, so no rush to buy those just yet.

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Once back home after my adventure at the bike store it was time to bust out a hill workout. I had 5 x 2:00 hill repeats on the schedule. Last week I was way overdressed, so this time I thought I would just head out in capris, a short sleeve shirt and a lightweight jacket. I just can't get the clothing right because I was almost on the verge of being too cold because things were getting chilly as the sun was going down. I took my first hill repeat way too slow and easy so I kicked it in to a higher gear for the remaining four and got in a really great workout. Each repeat was progressively faster than the one before, except for the last repeat. That one was just a few seconds slower. After that it was time to run home for the cool down where I ran into a very exuberant and friendly lab puppy. When I got home Finlay was very curious about where I had been since he could smell that I had cheated on him... All was forgiven eventually though and I sat down to enjoy some turkey left overs while watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada.