Why Blog?

My aim in starting this blog is to create a record of my attempt to prepare for the 2010 Gatineau Grand Prix, a bike race that takes place in the Gatineau Park, Ottawa, Canada. My aim is to race in my age group (30-39) which is the second most competitive age group after Category 1-2. As I write, I have almost precisely 7 months until race day.

I thought it might be interesting to create such a record simply because I am not especially gifted as an athlete. Indeed, I have asthma which doesn't bode well for high level cycling because it limits my lung capacity. With respect to the Grand Prix, I've done it once as a novice and finished in the top 20. But that was only 2 laps (41km) and it was hard. To race in my age group, I will have to race 5 laps over rolling terrain, including rolling over the Fortune Climb, a bastard of a climb that may well decide my fortune in the race.

Still, I believe have a few things going for me: a) I love the sport; b)As will become apparent from my blog entries, I'm a cycling nerd and will attempt to train intelligently (with the key word being "attempt") c) I believe that my athletic ability and potential is largely untapped since I'm not sufficiently disciplined to max it out.

However, due to a very full professional and personal life, I only have 6-8 hours per week to train. This should make training an interesting project since, ideally, one would require 12-15 hours per week to properly train. Still, Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong's coach, has given me hope. In his recent book, The Time Crunched Cyclist, he argues that one can get into shape on the basis of 6-8 hours a week though that fitness will be of a very limited type. The best it can do is get me race-ready for any race that lasts up to 3 hours. Since the Grand Prix will take about 2.5 hours, I'm banking on the TCP to work for me.

Ultimately, I have no idea if I can get fit enough to race at the necessary level. But that's precisely what will make it interesting to see how this pans out!