Sunday: Bike Ride with Todd Nordmeyer

Super Todd Racing!!

This whole weekend has been one of ambivalence.  I had a long sleep as opposed to getting up to run on Saturday, and I stayed home from the lake today because I am assuming that the ragweed is still in effect and would send me into a downward spiral of histamine.  Finally, I also did not run Kroger to Kroger this morning with the striders as I really wanted to go to church.  I oftentimes wish that I had a time turner, like Hermione Granger had in The Order of the Phoenix.  I had four options today: 1) Kroger to Kroger, which is a 21 mile run from the Kroger in Franklin to the Kroger in Belle Meade;  2) Lake swim; 3) Todd Nordmeyer's bike clinic; 4) Book Club.  I honestly wanted to attend all my options, but finally narrowed it down to Todd's bike clinic and book club.

Todd Nordmeyer is an amazing athlete and an amazing teacher. These are twain that rarely meet. Today, he started out giving some tips on cadence and then we all went for a 45 minute ride with Todd.  Todd is relentless about not letting you cheat.  For instance, today I tried to stop pedaling as I was coasting down hills to give myself a break, and Todd rode beside me and made me match his cadence up and down hill.  It was the greatest bad thing that has ever happened to me.  I do like to cheat when the going gets tough, but I also would like to improve my pathetic bike skills.

Now the last time I rode outside with Todd, it was during a beginner bike series where our final class was on the road to teach some beginner bike handling skills.  I wish you could have seen Todd whipping down West End Avenue during morning rush hour traffic.  He was like a ghost between cars.  It was pretty amazing, especially to me who was at that point pushing my bike down the sidewalk like a champ.

Today, riding outside was within my comfort level, and we really covered a lot of ground and AS USUAL, I learned so much.  Todd really gave me a lot of understanding about cadence on the road.  It is easy to talk about bike cadence when you are inside riding the computrainer, but the road is where it counts.

What I learned this afternoon is that I need to keep a really high and fluid cadence as I am pedaling on the road.  I think I always road ride like a 12 year old trying to BMX it up a hill.  I am putting a lot of weight on the pedals and pushing down really hard, which is probably why my knees hurt after a long bike ride.  Today was the first time in my entire life that I realized that I needed to have a high steady cadence to maintain a consistent speed.  It was rather amazing, and biking next to Todd, I got an idea of just what that needed to be.  I think I will be able to incorporate what I learned today into my future road rides, AND I was kind of inspired to ride more.

When I leave Todd's indoor computrainer classes, I usually feel kind of bummed about the whole deal.  I am always super slow and the classes are really hard and as much as I like Todd (who honestly has the world's best personality)  I really don't enjoy the classes as they are a lot of hard work.  A LOT. The classes help a lot, however, so I always feel like I should be going.  After today, I know I should be going.

So, such an exciting day.  I road really hard and learned a lot about riding, which are things that I rarely do.  On the way home, I had to heed the call for more diapers and a trip to Costco with my parents instead of going to book club.  It was a bummer, but choices of necessity must be made.

Swim tomorrow!!