Monday, September 28, 2015

Vendetta built and I have reset my goals for 2016.

First things first. My Vendetta named Vixen is now road worthy. I did a test ride commute yesterday and she is good to go.

So now that this is settled I am going to be commuting and training on my Vixen. The other story is about what my goals are for 2016. I posted goals here but my trainer Thom advised me to reset given my target of 2019 PBP and my current fitness. He recommended targeting a fast century late in the 2016 season. So I went looking for a century ride that I could ride at a race pace. I eliminated the Red-Bell 100 by Cascade since it spends too much time on bike trails which are very nice but have speed limits and other trail users. Because of issues like this I eliminated a lot of rides. Most of the Cascade rides are pretty crowded and descending past uprights on twisty Eastside roads gives me pause. The early seasons rides were all eliminated as well. So with that in mind I looked farther afield. I found a great century route in Coeur d'Alene called Couer d'Fondo. It is a 108 mile route with beautiful roads. It has ~5900 ft of climbing and follows the local ironman race route. It also awards medals based on finishing time.
Finishers Medals: 108 miles
5.5 hours = 1st
6.0 hours = 2nd
6.5 hours = 3rd

This intrigues me. I won't set my target time until I get closer to the ride date but tentatively I am aiming at sub-6 hours with that amount of climbing. With that as my target in 2016, I will keep my other riding to shorter values through the year as well. I will not do any 200k rides and instead stick to 100k Populaires. I want to be working on speed all year. I will be following my training with power, endurance and aerobic workouts each week. I am also adding in core work, lower back work and some upper body work. I don't want to bulk up but instead be lean up top. I am considering joining LA fitness, they have less of the bro culture there and a good selection of classes. That is all for now. Enjoy one more picture of Vixen.
Vendetta with Seatbag

2 comments:

trplay said...

Go for it. 2019 will be here before you know it.

Duncan Watson said...

I hear that