Last Updated on July 15, 2020 by Cory Kawa
Coming off of my Father’s Day Long Ride, I have been feeling pretty good about the return from injury. I do miss running, but cycling has at least been filling the void.
Summer goals
In the absence of any events, I have been putting some thought into what my summer exercise goals should be. Coming into the summer, I was looking to do two things, my first overnight backcountry camping trip and potentially a Boston qualifying attempt.
Those plans have changed, so my thoughts are now trying to see if I can figure out the logistics for my first bikepacking trip the Cannonball300.
I like how this is almost a logical extension that builds nicely off last year’s 220k ride home from our rental cottage near Red Stone Lake. I will post more about that trip in another post, but to quickly recap, it involved a 160k ride via the Haliburton, Victoria, and Trans Canada rail trails on day 1, followed by a 60k road ride home after staying at friends in Uxbridge.
Week in review
With the bike packing trip in mind, I have focused on building out my cycling strength, endurance, and comfort on the mountain bike.
Here is what the week looked like:
All in all, not too bad. Probably the most significant accomplishment was finishing Zwift’s The Gorby at 100% for the first time this year. If you are not familiar with it, The Gorby is a series of five, five minute intervals, switching between 110% and 55% FTP. Two weeks ago, I only made it 50% of the way through before I had to dial back the power, which was followed by making 70% of the way through last week.
I set out on Saturday with the intent of attempting a double loop of Albion Hills. With a late start, high humidity, and some poor hydration planning, I had to settle for the single loop, making up for it instead with some hard intervals on a Sunday ride.
According to TrainingPeaks, I also managed a few 2020 achievements, including 5 min and 60 minute cycling power records.