musings.

I've been riding a little bit lately. Hour here hour there, road or mountain. One thing I noticed is that my lower back is quite fatigued after just a short time on the bike.

Obviously the squats, deadlifts, core work have been keeping my lower back busy. It's interesting how something that is located above the legs can have such a huge impact on the transfer of power to the pedals. The lower back is like a conduit for power transfer.

When riding during these months, it's so easy to compare performance to just a few short months ago. Especially if you ever ride with someone who keeps similar fitness year round as compared to someone like myself who is very periodized.

I just have to remember to keep the eye on the prize. Late April, May, June..September. It's going to be a better year than last year. I know it. Which was better than the year before which was better than the year before. I know I'm not that fast compared to a lot of people. But what's important is that I'm faster than I was.

The weight room work is going well. This first Strength phase has felt too easy. But I've noticed that I'm eating a ton. And am pretty tired. I've put on a few pounds but only just recently. I've been having fun with upper body stuff and core things. I really should follow a well designed core plan such as Core Performance but I'm, just randomly doing stuff. He's got a new Core Performance for Endurance sports coming out at the end of the month that I might check out.

I've been doing dips, pullups, reverse rows. Some woodchops


And some fun balance oriented stuff like this. I'm going to thy these next.

I just can't stand any type of crunch movement anymore.

My eating has been on track since August. My stomach just can't handle much refined sugar. Except for energy drink (Gatorade, Power bar drink) that I have during riding and working out there hasn't been much sugar. I'm actually really dependent on energy drink especially mountain biking. It just seems to provide me a constant intake of carbs that keeps my blood sugar more stable. For some reason on the mtb I bonk much easier if I only eat solid food. On the road bike I can handle more solid food.

I haven't been able to finish a whole beer since before August. It's weird I know.