Vacation!

Loaded er'body up and went to Kentucky and Tennessee for the week!

Week of the 4th

I went into last week with back to back 200 mile/6 day training weeks and some sore legs. Like a genius, I have been increasing volume and not reducing intensity. Not sure where this is getting me, but I didn't have good legs on the group rides Tuesday and Thursday. I didn't spend as much time at the front and petered out in the sprints at the very end (but I still managed top 5 finishes.) Instead of my normal recovery spins between the hard rides, I took the days completely off looking for additional rest. I only logged 130 miles and 3 rides for the week. What I did enjoy about this was my early morning ride while we were in Gainesville on Saturday. I went on a mellow 40 mile spin out in the country through the little towns of Archer and Newberry. It was therapy on wheels. It was also hot as hell. Anyhow, I can't remember the last time on the bike that I saw more horses and cows than cars.

Saturday morning spin around Gainesville

Ok, so we had a few days off last week for the 4th. We planned to get stuff done around the house and ended up getting things done- just not many things on the list. Oh well, such is life. Anyhow, we did do some serious clothes shopping for Avery. Her summer wardrobe is now complete...

The girls shopping

My shopping partner

Since Riley goes to bed so early, we didn't do anything for the 4th. We actually had some plans, but they fell through. And I think it stormed. But this didn't stop Riley from dressing for the occasion:

Happy 4th!

Hanging out on the 4th.

I managed to hit Total Wine and grabbed a few good brews for my time off. I didn't drink nearly as many of them as I would have liked, but they were good nonetheless. While I was at TW I noticed that there is a lot of good stuff up there right now. I need to grab a few more new brews to sample this summer.

4th of July Selection

Oh, so Friday night we rolled down to Gainesville to hang out with Char's brothers. There aren't too many times that we get to kick it with both Al and Damien, so it was nice for us to get to spend the weekend with them. We didn't do anything too crazy, just went out on the boat, swam in the pool and ate a LOT of good food!

Damien, Char, Riley & Al

Avery tubing on Lake Sante Fe

And last, I said goodbye to Avery as she stayed behind for a week of University of Florida soccer camp.

Me and my sidekick

The Tour and Stuff

The Tour de France started Saturday and...well, this year I'm not making picks. I'm just going to watch it, enjoy it, and pull for whoever grabs my attention as the race rolls on- like maybe former mtn bike racer Ryder Hesjedal. I did think the odds to win the tour were pretty interesting- check 'em out:

Bradley Wiggins -- 5/4
Cadel Evans -- 9/4
Vincenzo Nibali -- 20/1
Chris Froome -- 22/1
Denis Menchov -- 22/1
Jurgen Van Den Broeck -- 22/1
Ryder Hesjedal -- 22/1
Frank Schleck -- 28/1
Robert Gesink -- 28/1
Samuel Sanchez -- 33/1

I had an excellent week on the bike, logging right under 210 miles. Not a ton of mileage, but building some solid fitness for sure. I had 2 good rides to end the week- you can check out Saturday and Sunday here on Garmin Connect. Or you can check out the Strava links on the left side of this page. I've also managed to keep my unofficial streak of top 5 sprint finishes in the group rides going at um...several. I've actually won every sprint in my solo rides but who's keeping tack? Anyhow, these strong finishes should help the cause when races roll around. Oh, and after slicing 2 road tires from 2 different sets this past week, I had to use my last set of good tires in the garage instead of buying yet another set, for now. Not sure if these guys have bad rolling resistance, but the Bontrager RXL All Weather tires seem durable (and flat resistant) as hell. Either way, they are good training tires.

I also added some bike stands in the garage to make it easier to deal with the bikes that are used the most- and for girl bikes. Anyhow, 10 bikes in a single car garage is a stretch...

I had a couple more good brews this week. For fun, I've been snapping shots of them in the garage with bikes in the background. I cleverly refer to this as bikes n beers. Anyhow, I don't drink a ton of beer, or usually more than one at a time, but I love trying new craft brews. And I especially love them after hard efforts on the bike. Oh, and I also like to keep trying the ones that I really like again and again. If I have a picture of it, I like it. So here's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:

Besides riding bikes, this weekend was rather mellow. Avery is at her mom's this week so I didn't get to hang with her besides seeing her Friday night after soccer camp at UNF while I was riding. I'll have her all next week before she goes to soccer camp at UF. Riley got a bunch of new toys via a gift card from grandma Kathy this weekend. One toy is a true sign of the times- an iPhone case for little kids. We supplied the iPhone, but wow...

And here are my lovely ladies this morning before I hopped on the bike. Riley is rocking out all of her new toys...

This upcoming week we have a few days off (6 in a row for me!) so we are going to get caught up on a few things around the house before heading to Gainesville to kick it with Char's brothers. For the 4th we plan to hit Jax Beach for our traditional celebration with the Crichton's. We've spent the 4th with them since Char and I started dating- so 6 years in a row now. Anyhow, I look forward to both trips- should be a great time!

As for the bike stuff- should be a somewhat normal training week with less volume based on this weekend's trip. Tomorrow is an off day and I really need it- legs are a little tender from the past few weeks. I am still winging my training plan but that may change as things unfold over time, but we'll get into that later...