“If it rains, it’s gonna be terrible.”

BY KENNETH LUNDGREN

Well, keeping my fingers crossed that Somerset Circuit TT will see some dry weather!!! If it rains, you can count me out of a top-5!!!!

A few weeks ago, winning Cape May was bitter-sweet: I was able to dig out a good performance on the second half, but I crashed hard just after the finish as I clawed the brakes… I went down, banging my right knee badly… The following week, which was a big one on the schedule, was reduced to recovery riding… Couldn’t ride MON or TUE, noodled WED, then did some very light Tempo THURS on the PowerCranks, took it very easy that weekend…

The right knee was sore, but the odd thing my left knee (the one I broke) was more sore. Had I impacted that too when I went down? Or was it something I was compensating for? Either way, not good…

Last week was essentially a wash, and this week brought better knees, but I didn’t want to gas it full-metal… TUE I did longer PowerCrank intervals over rolling terrain, and I felt better than ever… However, on WED I did a longer threshold interval on the TT bike, and afterwards the left knee was feeling “hot,” so I backed off completely, went home, not wanting to push my luck with Somerset just days away…

I know this light riding may not create a huge backfire at Somerset, but it can cause the roof to horrifically crash at States, which was/is a huge goal for me. But with the NJ TT Cup evening out the points for all the events, ripping States is not such a huge priority. Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to win, would love to get that skinsuit, have never won a State Championship before, but before I had all my eggs in that one basket and now it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. If I’m not able to prepare 100% for it, so be it… The TT Cup standings aren’t viciously affected…

But… I feel good. Knee was good yesterday, will hopefully continue to loosen up during today’s Recovery Ride… That interval I did on WED, it was an improvement over my April data and my perceived effort wasn’t as high…

I should note that with lots of lighter riding over here, a key for me is to really watch the diet, and I’ve been very good. On easier days, smaller breakfasts. All my snacking during the day has been healthy: celery, carrots, apples, almonds… Dinner has usually been a meat and a vegetable… Life is very simple over here — welcome to Caveman World

I’m amped for SAT, but with my specialized prep this year, my power curve is much, much flatter than year’s previous. I know in the past I used to train on much more rolling terrain on the TT bike, powering up and OVER rollers, but this year I’ve worked on keeping the power steadier over flatter terrain, longer efforts, and I’m certainly more diesel than ever, so I’m interested in seeing how the legs respond on SAT. I know I won’t be able to accelerate as hard up the climbs, rip out of the corners as fast, but I’m certain I’ll be able to hold a higher steady wattage on the straighter sections of the course…

So it’s a trade-off. I’m doing a lab experiment: who will be faster? Ken 1.0 or Ken 2.0? I’m interested in seeing how it goes out there… LOTSA fast dudes, Friefelder chasing me as I chase Walters… Gavi Epstein is the first Senior Man to roll off, and he’s arguably physically the strongest guy in the field, so I’m very interested in seeing what time he can throw down.

Somerset is a big one, and then we have Jersey Shore, then Killington Stage Race, and then States… and then hopefully I’ll have a nice patch of open time to ice the knees (and ride the mountain bike!!!)…

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see y’all on the other side. Rock and roll…

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Coach's Diary | Friday, May 7th, 2010 | | |