Tuesday Night Worlds

Tuesday Night Worlds is the fastest group ride offered by my club. The "Worlds" part of Tuesday Night Worlds means world championships. While this ride isn't actually the world champs of course, it sure does feel like it. The ride is basically a race. People are trying to get to the finish first, just like they would in a race. Tuesday Night Worlds, or TNW for short, is a great way to get in shape. A local pro cyclist, Ben King, gained his initial fitness and love for riding when he was 15 and doing TNW. TNW starts in March, and goes on until daylight savings time starts. (Around November) I just started doing TNW, and it's as hard as everyone says it is. I ride in the "A" Group and it is as fast as a full blown race. I can hang on to the group for most of it, but I get dropped on the last hill pretty often. I'm already seeing improvements after going to TNW and I'm sure that I'll continue to see them as the year goes on. TNW happens every Tuesday, which makes it easy to try things out. TNW has been around for generations. My dad, when he was a racer, also used TNW to get in shape. It's a lot of fun and a great ride that super helpful for everyone.

A week as a bike racer (In winter)

Bike racing is a lot of work. Here is a quick rundown of what a regular week in Winter may look like for an average bike racer.

Monday
Resting is just as important as riding. If you ride and don't recover, then you will never progress. To recover better and faster, many cyclists take one day a week completely off. My day off is Monday. A typical Monday for me is going to school, getting home, going to work, and then relaxing until homework time. I also try to go to bed early on Mondays.
Tuesday
After a nice rest day, I work hard on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday in winter the local bike shop and local riding club get together and host a trainer session. For those that do not know, a trainer is basically a stationary bike. On the trainer, we do intervals. We work very hard for about an hour. Unluckily for me, the leader of the session is a riding buddy of mine. Since he knows me, he likes to give me extra intervals. At the time, I'm silently cursing him, but in the long run, that extra work will make me faster.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, it's time to recover again. I generally grab my mountain bike and go out for an easy hour long ride to get the lactic acid flushed out of my legs. I also do a strength workout on Wednesdays. I generally do weighted back squats, lunges, leg lifts, and some other core and leg workouts.
Thursday
On Thursday, it's time to go hard again. I do another set of intervals on Thursday, but at home this time. I use a virtual riding program that I hook up to my computer that makes the session a little more enjoyable, but it still sucks.
Friday
By Friday, I'm usually pretty worn out. My legs and arms are sore from the strength session, and my body is worn from the intervals. I am also generally pretty sick of riding inside. On Friday, it's time for another recovery trail ride. I also do another strength session of Friday.
Saturday
On Saturday, it's finally time to ride outside. I usually go out with just my dad, or both my dad and our friend Eric. We usually ride for around an hour and a half or two hours. We don't go super hard on Saturdays, we usually just do some tempo, which is basically right in between easy and hard, with some hard efforts mixed in. I have to wake up around 7 on most Saturdays, since I go to work at 12.
Sunday
On Sunday, I usually go on a long, hard ride. The key part about Sunday rides is that there all very fun. I never really get bored and we usually ride with a big group. The rides are pretty fast paced but definitely manageable.

Revisions for 2016

2016 will be very different for me. Not only have I moved up two categories, but I also have taken up road biking. I recently bought a road bike and I am planning on racing road this year as well as mountain. I've never done a road race but I've been dying to try one. This year I am also going to try to be strict about how I train. Last year, I was lucky to be able to win without a strict and structured plan but this year will be much different. I have already created my plan and I am working hard to stick to it. So far, I have been able to work hard consistently and the only thing that makes me stop is bad conditions. For example, this past week, the trails were covered in snow. The huge amount of snow caused me to ride my mountain bike on the narrow roads, which was a little sketchy at times. I could only complete half of the time that I set out for. I am hoping for some good results this year on mountain, cross, and possibly even road.

The beginning of 2016 training

It's the new year, and it's time to start training again. January 4th was my first official day of training, and I feel well recovered and ready to work hard again. This year, I'm racing JV instead of freshman, which will be considerably harder. The harder category would mean harder training, which can be a pain at times but I'm determined to do well. My goals for this year are to become a stronger rider since I don't have much power and to also to be better at starting races. In early January I'm planning on working on strength and as the year goes on and the race season comes around, I'll start working on my fitness. I also made a specific schedule that I'm going to stick to so I can make sure to be doing the right type of exercise. I also made a list of all of the races that I want to do so I have a specific schedule and also so I know when important events are coming up.

Getting a Job

Along with being really fun, cycling is also really expensive. It's almost impossible to not spend any money while cycling regularly. Things on bikes wear out pretty quickly, such as the drivetrain. A new drivetrain can cost up to 500 dollars which most people don't have lying around (especially not me.) Sometime in fall, I decided that I needed a job in order to keep up cycling, so naturally I went in to the bike shop to try to get one. I walked in my favorite bike shop (Blue Ridge Cyclery) and found one of my dad's old employees. I basically just mentioned that I needed a job and since they just opened a new store, I was wondering if I could apply. He told me to email the manager and I did. She responded a few days later and told me that she'd be happy to have me aboard to help out. I now work two days a week (not much, but a start) and I clean, build bikes, and help the occasional customer. I also get discounts on the merchandise at the shop which makes cycling much more affordable. I'm planning on keeping that job for a long time and working more hours in the summertime.

Resting for the next season

Both the mountain bike and cyclocross seasons are over, and it's time to start resting. Rest after a hard race season is very important so you are fresh and ready to go next year. The rest period is a time where you would ride only once or twice a week and only for fun. Sometimes, race season can be so hard that you forget why you're training in the first place, but the rest period is a great time to remind yourself. There is no training in rest season. All rides that are done are meant to be enjoyed. A rest period ride usually consists of grabbing any bike and going out on an adventure with no plans or worries. The rest period is also great for riding with friends and family that may not be able to go the same pace as you do. The rest period usually is between the last race of the season (November) lasting until January 1st.  You can also do things in the rest period that you wouldn't be able to otherwise such as doing other sports or eating some junk food. Despite being able to do those things, it's also really important to not get completely out of shape during the rest period.

Cyclocross Racing

A really great way to stay in shape and to practice racing skills is to race cyclocross in the off season. Cyclocross is primarily a winter sport which means that it won't interfere with mountain biking. Cyclocross is a sport where rain and snow is accepted and even encouraged and the toughest of the tough persevere. Cyclocross is also very versatile in the sense that you can use a specific bike for cyclocross, a mountain bike, or even a road bike. Cyclocross is considered too hard by many, yet some love it and it is their main focus. The courses are usually around a mile or a little more and they have barriers that you can either run over or bunny hop. Cyclocross courses also generally have one or more very steep hills and some very twisty and tight turns. I have done 3 cyclocross races and it is very hard. I would've gotten 4th in the state championships but I got a flat tire. To be completely honest, racing cyclocross isn't actually very fun. I didn't enjoy my first race but I slowly started liking them more and more as the season went on. I ended up selling my cyclocross bike because half of the time it was broken. Next year I plan on racing cyclocross on my mountain bike.