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27 February

11:05 p.m: I just looked at my calendar. I was supposed to have led a ride today! And nobody even called me on it. Must've had something to do with all the snow on the ground.

It'll all melt eventually.

Meanwhile, if you're not already doing so, start building your aerobic base. Take some Spinning classes or work out on your trainer at home. If you haven't been exercising, don't get your heart rate higher than 75-80% max (*) for the next six weeks.

After you build your aerobic base you can venture into the 85-92% range for a few minutes at a time during interval and strength workouts.

You can work on endurance by keeping your heart rate between 65 and 80%; that might sound simple but it's not so easy to hold your heart rate within five beats for 55 minutes.

I've been Spinning (even in the summer) since 1998. This winter, worried about losing my endurance, I've been putting in a few 2-hour endurance sessions on my trainer at home. I have no idea if it's going to help me when we hit the road again. I do know that the first hour is easy, the next half hour tiring, and the final half hour very difficult to keep my heart rate up. I'm pretty loopy by the end of it all.

Anyway, I'm scheduled to lead a ride next Saturday. Watch this space.




(* A rough estimate of your maximum heart rate is 200 minus your age for men and 226 minus your age for women.)