Machine

Woke up Saturday morning to a temperature of 18 degrees along with 4-6 inches of ice on the ground. The indoor season is upon me. The indoor season is tough. How do you ride for any real length of time? The indoor rider must maintain focus. My ability to focus is entirely dependent upon sights and sounds. Here's the cockpit of my indoor machine... HR monitor, speedometer, laptop and of course the sweat guard.

The "sights" are provided by the laptop and cycling.tv's 2006 race coverage. Watching the pros race passes the time and if you can make believe, you can place your self there, on the same course. Match the racer's pace-- pedal stroke for pedal stroke. Take a drink when they drink, climb when they climb, sprint when they sprint. Anything to maintain focus. Anything to enable me to ride a little bit longer during the indoor season.

The "sounds" emenate from the absolutely necessary iPod. I like to listen to metal when I train indoors, Metallica, SOD, ROTM, Disturbed etc. Hard consistent beats to supplement the whirl of the fluid trainer.

Machines: me, the bike, the trainer and the Metal. All working together to sustain consistent pedal strokes, circles not squares.

My legs, heart and lungs.

The bike, its gears and chain.

The trainer's constant resistance.

The Metal's crunch and chunk.

In unison- focus, focus, focus.

It all translates to a stronger outdoor season. The 2007 season has already started, have you?