Theoretically, a taper is supposed to be a period of time in which you let your body recover and rest for an upcoming race. The big ASSumption is that you have something to rest from...some sort of base, or hard efforts, or anything...I am not so sure anything during the training regimen in the off-season qualifies as such so far.
So what exactly do you do if your body is already rested? The Montana winters don't exactly let a guy put a lot of mileage in prep for an early season biking event.
I am still taking the taper approach this week for the upcoming True Grit this weekend. What do I have to lose? Any hard efforts might just tire out the legs for Saturday and if there is nothing to taper off of, then there is no harm done...hmmmmm
The course profile looks like:
There don't appear to be a lot of long hill climbs but given the elevation gain (almost 7K) of the event, there must be a lot of short climbs and descents which usually translates into some tekkie terrain which is only confirmed by an excerpt of the course description on the True Grit site:
"The total course is 51 miles in length with 46 of it on dirt. The course is very technical and should be pre-ridden, especially the Zen and Barrel Ride trail section. There are several steep drops, climbs, and turns that may require riders to get off their bike. ( please watch the videos )"
So far my formula looks a little sum'n sum'n like:
sub par fitness + single speed + first time on recently built bike + first long ride on a 29'r + tekkie terrain + 50 miles + 7,000ft of elevation gain + not many places to 'recover spin' + never ridden trails = recipe for 'UH OH'
yo' Charlie, hook me up with some of that 'Tiger Blood'...
So what exactly do you do if your body is already rested? The Montana winters don't exactly let a guy put a lot of mileage in prep for an early season biking event.
I am still taking the taper approach this week for the upcoming True Grit this weekend. What do I have to lose? Any hard efforts might just tire out the legs for Saturday and if there is nothing to taper off of, then there is no harm done...hmmmmm
The course profile looks like:
There don't appear to be a lot of long hill climbs but given the elevation gain (almost 7K) of the event, there must be a lot of short climbs and descents which usually translates into some tekkie terrain which is only confirmed by an excerpt of the course description on the True Grit site:
"The total course is 51 miles in length with 46 of it on dirt. The course is very technical and should be pre-ridden, especially the Zen and Barrel Ride trail section. There are several steep drops, climbs, and turns that may require riders to get off their bike. ( please watch the videos )"
So far my formula looks a little sum'n sum'n like:
sub par fitness + single speed + first time on recently built bike + first long ride on a 29'r + tekkie terrain + 50 miles + 7,000ft of elevation gain + not many places to 'recover spin' + never ridden trails = recipe for 'UH OH'
yo' Charlie, hook me up with some of that 'Tiger Blood'...
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