Since around the summer of 2020, I started thinking about doing some sort of bike packing trip. I dont know where the idea came from, but I started watching a lot of YouTube videos, researching gear, reading articles, etc. Around October of 2020 I heard about the Virginia Endurance Series and the race they put on called RockStar. This particular race has 3 different routes. The trail route is a MTB route that is the most challenging, then there’s the gravel route which is slightly less challenging, but still challenging for a gravel bike, and then there’s the Pave route. The Pave route is the road route and is 165 miles with 10,000 ft of elevation gain. I initially was thinking of signing up for the gravel route, but I talked myself out of it. Honestly, it was just too much to wrap my head around. There’s a lot of fitness, gear, and time for the event that I either didn’t have or didn’t think I had. Essentially I got in my own head. Since October I have been consistently riding roughly 100 miles per week, lifting weights, and doing yoga in preparation for when the registration went live. Due to COVID, it was touch and go on whether the event was even going to happen, but the registration finally went live, and I signed up and got a coach on the first day of registration. I knew as soon as I signed up that there was a lot of training to do in a short amount of time, but I also have complete faith in my coach, as well as in my own commitment to training for something that I really want to do. I have already done 3 previous episodes with my coach, Dave Latourette, but this episode is different in the sense that it focuses on me and my race, instead of someone else and their race. In this episode we discuss how how and why behind my particular training plan, and how to start training with my new power meter and smart trainer. As we get closer to the event we will do more episodes and discuss race particulars, plan A’s, plan B’s, goals, and go a little deeper with the why behind some of the workouts. Stay tuned for those!!! In the mean time, thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy. If you'd like to contact Dave or his wife Jen to help you achieve your fitness goals, please visit their website: www.ttenation.com You can also email them at: dave@traintoendure.com jenny@traintoendure.com If you like what you heard on tonight's podcast, consider following me at the following social media sites: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Brandons-Bikes-103452284967725 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwDX_0MKaBOZlNVbqF2QhxQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonsbikes/ Email: brandon@brandonsbikes.com
