Erik D. Jones’s Blog

For the month of March I rode a total of 482.0 miles during the month of March, averaging 96.4 miles per week (well below where I want to be). There is an explanation, however–the first two weekends in March were spent in San Francisco where I didn’t have a bike (this has since been corrected).

My longest ride was last Wednesday Mar 29th totalling 90 miles over 5 hours of non-stop riding (except for two 5 min stretch/water stops). I did this one solo after finding out my friend Jeremy had been killed. Boy… emotion is a terrific motivator. I weighed in at 194.4 lbs after this ride, which is down approximately 20 lbs since February 8th when the heavy dieting and training began. Where did Erik go!?!?

I would like to increase my average weekly mileage to 130mi/wk as a minimum, 150mi/wk as a goal for the month of April. Keep your fingers crossed.

One thing I’ve noticed is that my most significant performance improvements have occured after really long rides. I’m feeling stronger and getting faster. I’ve also increased my daily food intake although I’m continuing to follow the “approved” listed of food items from the original diet plan. One of the key factors has been elliminating excess sodium and all caffeine in my diet. I’ve also managed to cut back even further on the amount of alcohol I consume on a weekly basis. All of these factors have enabled me to make such amazing improvements in such a short time.

One anecdotal story I have to share occured last Saturday. I was on a 45 mile ride and around mile 37 a rider from Team Velosport passed me on Laguna Canyon Road. I didn’t change my pace immediately but he was about a bike length in front of me when I realized that he must have purposefully passed me up because his pace was about onpar with mine. So I decided to pull up and hang on his wheel for awhile. He looked back and I guess decided he didn’t like this casually dressed “weekend rider” on his wheel so he tried to drop me. I noticed this right away and was able to hang on with a bit of effort. He settled back in again and then checked back only to see me on his wheel still. So he tried again to drop me and this time he kept the pace up much longer. I wasn’t having any of that, so I kept up with him until he finally eased back a little.

I ended up staying glued to his wheel until he turned off at Cliff St while I continued on to head southbound on PCH. He looked at me as I passed by and I gave him a wave and smiled to myself thinking that I was able to hang on this guys wheel for 3-4 miles after a riding hard for 35 miles. Perhaps I’ll be ready to race before the season’s up afterall!!

Stay tuned for your next ride report…

Days to AIDS Lifecycle ride (530 miles-7 days): 61 days
Days to Gay Games IV: 97 days