How tough is it to not ride for a week?

Well, it's certainly not easy at all. Personal happenings have prevented me from stashing myself away on the saddle and putting in any decent road miles lately. Well, I've gotten NO miles lately, road or trail. It's really killing me, but still, at least I'm having the time to sit down and do some reading to get my training for the next couple weeks in line.

After the early part of the season I've picked up a Garmin Edge 305 (which I highly recommend, by the way) and I've been spending some time seeing what I can do with that. I'm reasonably sure I've got some values on my lactate threshold, which is really what I need to be training around. I've decided that my focus this year will have to revolve around vertical: I need to work on my climbing, and I've been doing a fair job so far on the road bike. It's certainly tough to do since I live in an area that's nearly as flat as the midwest. It's especially tough when your "hilly" route is only about 600 feet of vertical. I guess I'll have to have those big days on the weekends when I head downstate to ride around New Paltz.

Oh, and since I mention New Paltz, I'll be riding the 50 mile Ride The Ridge charity tour (http://www.ridetheridge.org/) on June 1st. If you're at all around the area, I highly suggest you give it a go. It's going to be a blast.

It looks like I'll be riding my Cannondale CAAD4 for this one, outfitted with Dura Ace shifters, Ultegra derailleurs and cranks and Sram cassette. I think the 39x25 low gearing should be more than fine for the hills we'll be hitting, but I'll know within the next week when we pre-ride the steep part of the route. Here's hoping that climbing and recovery work pays off!