Taper.

After today's ride with Barry, it's time to taper down.  He and I are racing in Sanford, NC on Saturday morning.  In the week before a race, nerves can get the best of you.  It's often tempting to get out there and just do a few more sprints, a few more 'hard' efforts to make sure you're ready or tune up the engine.  The reality is that this is rarely productive.  Easy spins are the way to go in the 48 hours before a race, with some tapering down during the one to two weeks prior (depending on the difficulty and length of the race). 

So, with our last feasible day of hard riding upon us, we set out for a hilly ride in Yadkin county.  We rolled around 40 miles, but really caught a lot of hills plus some stingy wind.  The wind was out of the the north today, meaning that most of the way to East Bend and most of the way back up Yadkinville and Beroth we had to fight Aeolus.  Ah well, it's good for us.

We actually took a few side trips on dirt/gravel roads just to have a little fun. 

For the rest of the week, I think we'll ride steady on Tuesday and spin on Thursday night.  All in preparation for the Wolfpack Classic on Saturday.  Fingers crossed.