It stands to reason that if you follow a proven, methodical training plan, you should see results. Those results should be measurable objectively and felt subjectively. Since opening Global Ride Training Center, I’ve been following steady Heart Zones® and Cycling Fusion Power training routines. Results translated to doing the Giretto in 2009 (4 back to back stages of the Giro – over 400 miles and a ton of climbing in the alps) with 85% of that training indoors. Not just my results, but results abounded all around me in my students and team members – this stuff works!

Yes, I do love indoor training when it is done right, but the weather has finally turned consistently warmer (at least in PA), and it’s time to get outside and soak up some of that beautiful sunshine. Especially if you have been training for a big outdoor charity ride, like one of the MS 150s or even a 30 or 50 mile Epic ride of sorts, it’s time to log some outdoor miles.

Most people probably don’t know that I wasn’t sure I would be doing the Giretto again in 2010 under the Livestrong banner.  Their office was disappointingly unsupportive of us through a very difficult first year launch of our grass roots event, the Giretto d’Italia (Little Tour of Italy).  However, when my aunt, sister-in-law, and a half dozen other friends and family were diagnosed with various forms of cancer this year, that changed everything.  I needed to put my pride aside, and look to the bigger picture.

I’d like to strap the guy down who convinced our state’s D.O.T. to use Tar and Chip, open his mouth wide, pour hot tar down it, then pour the rest over his entire naked body, and roll him in a dump truck of hot sharp gravel. Then, after throwing him to the ground, I’d borrow the nearest SUV and run over him, backing up several times to make sure I’ve got all the chips well sealed in his mangled flesh.

So finally after about 7 years of road riding I can stop avoiding the phrase “I’ve never crashed on my road bike”. Saying that would be the kiss of death, and a sure fire way to “fix” that statement. I managed to make my road crash look more like a MTB crash (check out the mud on my left side). I’m tossing this one into the category of Too Much Testosterone. Yeah, it was my fault and entirely avoidable.

Reflecting on the Giretto, after being home for more than a week now, I feel like I’m still waking up from one of the dreams that you could swear was real. It was grueling, exhilarating, exhausting, rewarding – each emotion at its peak. The overwhelming feeling I am left with is “I can’t wait till next year!” The logistics were as challenging as the training. The fund raising was as challenging as the riding. But the experience was well beyond what I had expected, even though I had previously ridden in Italy on 5 different occasions, including once following the Giro with a tour group.

Sounds much more “medical and ominous” than just saying “cramps”doesn’t it? Well, while I was experiencing it, ominous wouldn’t even have come close. Something like excruciating, nightmarish pain; completely off the charts would have been a bit more accurate. I simultaneously had both hamstrings, my left quad, and my right calf all sieze up like someone pulled the emergency cord on a bullet train. In my 10 years of riding, I never had a full blown cramp – only slight cramp type feelings that were able to “work out” by spinning in a lower gear.

It was easily the most beautiful day in Pittsburgh in 2009. Temperature a perfect 70 degrees, little to no wind, sunny skies, and a group of riding buddies all psyched to ride. The beauty though was not limited to just the weather. My daughter Nina was riding as strong as I’ve seen her. Her “Cycling Fusion” training – of 70% indoors and 30% outside – was proving to be the secret sauce we’ve been talking about for months now. She was fast on the flats, solid on the descents, and a monster on the climbs. I was a proud pappa.

… and the what? … and the psyched, the sore, the sorry and the satisfied. Let’s start with the psyched. It was just me and my Buddy Bill again (see my previous post) on my outside training ride. I’m always psyched to ride with Bill. We still had to wear arm & leg warmers, base layers, long fingered gloves and the works as spring is not as much “Springing” here as it is Sputtering. This week we’ve had snow and consistently low temperatures all week… and of course our typical gray Pittsburgh ambiance; not very motivating to say the least. However, this is a “proof of concept” as much as it is a charity ride right – having horrid conditions that prevent me from doing real training outside is why Cycling Fusion was inspired in the first place. This is the exact condition that we want to use to prove that we can indeed get ready for something of the magnitude of the Giro by using our combined indoor/outdoor training principals.

This is my buddy, Bill. Everyone should have a Buddy Bill. Bill is the kind of buddy that I want to be to my friends. He’s the guy that is always there for you, ready to help, never expecting anything in return, and genuinely interested in what you do. He’s the guy that considers sacrifice just something that happens along the way when you are somebody’s buddy. He’s the guy that will always point out your strengths, overlook your weaknesses, and find a way to make you feel way better about yourself than you probably should. I can’t help but smile when we are together. That’s my Buddy Bill.