Cult of the Big Ring

The days are getting nice and long and that means...Hello Fiesta Island. Read my lament from last year when the days got too long to continue riding.

Tuesday night is usually a spin session but I've always preferred actually riding my bike to using a spin trainer. Coach DJ (aka the sadist), the coach of the ACE team premiered a new training session tonight on the island called Big Ring Tuesday. Lately he's been very big on heavy resistance training to build power and endurance. Our spin work outs have included lots of big ring (harder to pedal) work. Joining in the fun where a couple of team mates, Tonya and Christine H.

First rule of the Cult of the Big Ring: You must be in the big ring at all times.

Even our warm up laps were done in the big ring. Luckily the island is mostly flat so once you get going you can really get moving.

After a few warm up laps around the small 2.5 mile loop, we pick it up to 16-17 mph and make our way around the large 4-mile loop. Then the fun really starts. Interval sprints between random "no parking" signs on the side of the road. Gather speed to the first sign and then just cut loose going as hard and fast as you can until you get to the next sign. Recover to the following sign, then repeat. 5 sprints total. I get to the end gasping like a fish out of water with my legs on fire.

Second rule of Cult of the Big Ring: you must feel like you are going to puke for at least 20% of the time you are riding.

Another big loop around the island to recover and then let's do it again. This time, the sprints are two signs long instead of one.

Third Rule of Cult of the Big Ring: You must feel like murdering your Coach at least once during the training session.

Recover doing a small loop then it's follow the leader. We line up behind the coach in a nice orderly paceline and then he gradually turns it up until we can't hold on any longer and drop off. We start at somewhere around 15 mph and all is well. Then 16, 17, 18, 19, uh-oh. Tonya drops back, then Christine. Then it's me and DJ, 20, 21, 22, 23...going fast and furious. I'm on his wheel like white on rice. We get to a slight uphill at one of the "turns" and I know he's going to try and lose me on the incline. I'm ready and give it some more gas and hang on. Fun fun fun. We continue on for a bit more and then I start cramping on my right calf and decide to finally drop off. We all gather up somewhere down the road do one last cool down lap around the small loop and call it a night.

Very intense work out and very enjoyable. We've been doing so much hill work that it is nice to get a variety and do some speed and strength work. More training variety means can only improve our overall performance.

I had forgotten my bike computer so I don't have totals for the night but it was somewhere around 20 hard miles. It was actually pretty refreshing to ride without the data input, just reacting to the riders around you. Very pure.