Recovery is a tough pill to swallow...

Rest week #1. The whole month of January was a whole bunch of hard training, and I know recovery is important, but you would think after training like mad for a month, one would be looking forward to a rest week right? Well so did I. Until it actually came. With only around 12 or 15 hours on the bike this week I think Mark and I are driving each other to drink! (Endless amounts of "The Bean" that is.)

Mark is still trying to get over a slight chest cold he's had since the holidays, he's beaten it down to a small dry cough every now and then, but still. So on the rest days, he slams the vitamin c, and likes to just hang out, which I understand. Mind you, he just got the PC game "Cycling Manager 4". It's pretty fun too. The latest trade was Mark McCormack to T-mobile. Where else can you play games with other Pro's you race against? That game makes staying around the house on a rest day even easier.

Me on the other-hand, I can only play guitar until my fingers almost bleed, then I just have to get out of the house. I brought an old townie bike down with us. I fixed it up a bit before we left by banging out the dents in the chrome fenders, new tires, added a basket and a few reflectors. It's a sweet ride I think, slightly over geared, so any uphill is a bit of a task.

So I jumped on it and rode the 5k to the U of A to grab a coffee and read the paper. There were a lot of people out that day, and a church choir rock band (I’m a Metallica fan) so my time "relaxing" was short lived.

On my way home I ran into Mike "So Pro" Jones- soprojones.com- sitting at the Time Market having a "soda". Mike's from New York State, and a 2nd year rider on the Health Net team. We got shooting the breeze about his training camp in Solvang California, and checked out his new ride. Gord Fraser joined us shortly after.

Well, that's how I spent the first rest day, today was a easy breezy 3 hours, and I only have 3 days to go. I feel fresh, and would really rather be training, but it's sure to be a long season. Mark and I are racing the Usery Pass RR this weekend—I'll let you know how we make out.