Set up goals, knock 'em down!

I knew it was going to start raining around here on Thursday of this past week, and continue on and off for three or four days. So that meant one thing: Ride as much as possible before it starts raining. I did a long ride in the rain once and discovered then, that it really was no fun at all! Definitely something to avoid from then on!

I decided to do three rides in the last three days before the predicted rain. A 51-miler, a 33-miler, then another 51-miler. All three rides are relatively flat and cut through a beautiful riparian forest along the American River in Sacramento. I figured if I got in 130 miles in the three rides, I’d be getting the most in before the rain. I told myself to take mental pictures while on the rides, so I could remember them when I was home staying out of the rain. Then maybe I wouldn’t get cabin fever! Because knowing me, if I didn’t get those rides in, I’d kick myself when the rain came and riding wasn’t in the cards – unless I wanted to become a drowned rat on the bike!

I was pumped up for the first ride on Tuesday, since I hadn’t ridden for a week. After seven days I was antsy and ready to pedal.

And from the beginning of the Tuesday ride, I had energy to burn. I timed the various splits I do regularly over the 25 miles from my house to Folsom Lake. And as I continued, it felt like I’d get one of the faster total times I’ve had on it.

Usually I have a fairly fast first 14-mile split, then on the much shorter eight-mile leg up to the lake, I slow down since I’m tired and there’s more climbing.

But on this ride all the splits were fast out and back, and when I made it back to my house, I’d knocked a full eight minutes off my fastest round trip for that ride! Nice! It helped that there were no headwinds on the way home, as there often are.

The next day, I did the short version of the same route and just spun through it at a medium pace, since I needed to work out some quad soreness from the day before.

But hey, a spin ride didn’t come close to loosening up my muscles as what I did that afternoon.

Time out for Thai massage

I went to a Thai massage for the first time to get some knots and kinks worked out of the bod. Have you ever had a Thai massage? It’s a lot different than a typical massage. OK, no, no happy endings! But much more stretching of your arms, legs and shoulders than in a typical deep tissue massage.

Instead of getting on a table, you wear loose clothing and get on this big pad on the floor. Sherri, the masseuse, then kneads, pushes and pulls your toes, feet, legs and arms into intense leveraged stretches that she modulates by your muscular reactions and/or occasional blurts of sudden pain!

But it’s good stuff. She pays close attention to how your muscles react to her manipulations, and works on getting the energy flows in the body, or chakras, unblocked for maximum circulation through your muscles. She encourages breathing through the slighter pains of stretching, but is quick to back off if you feel the sharp pain of a cramp, for example. Sherri is physically focussed all through the massage, working up a good sweat as she puts your limbs through the paces.

She pushed on one of my hammies with her bare foot, using her leg to turn me into a human crossbow as she pulled on my foot. While working on one hammie, the other one started to cramp, and I had to tap out. Holy mackerel, hammie cramps, as you may well know, will make your leg seize up and you have to set about the task of quickly figuring out how to relax it to ease the searing pain.

Sherry quickly backed off and massaged out the cramp, and then kneaded out most of the leftover lactic acid out of my quads. After 90 minutes, she’d stretched all my limbs to extensions I didn’t think they could do. I gotta tellya, if you haven’t had one of these, try it out! It’ll loosen up your hard worked cycling muscles.

Back on the bike

On the third day, I hit the bike trail for the third 51-miler, and figured I’d just ride according to how strong I felt. When I got to the first split, the 14-miler that I usually try to hammer all the way, I felt strong, so I let it rip. I got my best time yet on that stretch, but had just above average speeds for the rest of the splits. I still had a fast overall time, but was happy just to get back home in one piece. Especially since there’s a stretch of nerve-wracking traffic to make it though at the end of the ride to get home!

So now, as the rain comes down, no worries. Got the rides in, with full effort, and made the most of the riding time before the rain. Love to set up goals and then knock them off one at a time. It’s not always in the cards. But when you do, it rocks! Especially when the rain comes right in time for some rest.

And now something completely different. Here’s a young Jack Nicholson’s “Five Easy Pieces” bid to order toast in a diner without breaking house rules. Check out some classic Jack:

Jack rocks!

So until next time, remember to put on a helmet before every ride. And then, do all in your power to keep the rubber side down!

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf