The Road to Manchester
by Robert Warren Hess

It’s just over 5 months to Manchester and I’m trying to get a training routine set for my event. Today was my weekend road ride, with a focus on preparation for riding StaManchester 04262015ge 7 of this year’s Amgen Tour of California, which ends at the ski lift parking lot on Mt. Baldy. The final 1/2 mile is 17%!

The image on the right is from my Garmin computer: 41.1 miles and just over 3,7oo’ of vertical climb. It was a good ride.

I’ve being playing around with fasted riding to train my body to use fat for fuel. So, I started this morning with a breakfast of coffee and 1 1/3 ounces of plain turkey.  I also had two waters bottles, each with one small scoop of Osmo sports concentrate.  The result was that I was officially “bonked” at 3 hours and 11 minutes into the ride, just 15 minutes from home.  I’ll check the scale tomorrow morning and see if I actually lost any weight, or if I just ate myself silly when I got home and replaced everything I lost.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day and a very fun day on the bike.  Bicyling is one of my key “de-stressing” tools.  As a cancer survivor, I always have that nagging thought in the back of my mind about recurrence. I know that exercise and good eating habits are two key things that are within my personal control, so I always feel good when I’m actually riding.

How to Quiet Anxiety
The most frequent search term on this website is “will my prostate cancer recur?” I’ve lived with that “monkey” for over 12 years and cycling has been a key factor in controlling that anxiety. But, I recently found another secret weapon that is helping me even more and it’s located on my bicycle.  If you see it, post a comment and I’ll send you a cool pair of PCAP cycling sock.

Secret weapon on the Fuji

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