Hours, they make all the difference

I came across this, yesterday via Guardian.co.uk

This idea – that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice – surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours.

“In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin, “this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years… No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”

Are you putting in the hours??

Today, I met Jeff K in Boulder to put in some hours. In fact it was a 4 hour tempo session into the mountains. The ride didn’t disappoint. It was a great day with temps in the mid 60′s. You can’t beat the weather here right now, calling for 75 on Tuesday! Much better than the snow and rain and cold they’re getting back home!

We decided to hit the climb up to Ward via Left Hand Canyon. It was a perfect tempo climb, turning the gears over nicely.

That was till we got closer to Ward and my cadence ground to a halt with the steeper climb. Luckily it was short lived and we managed to get onto the Peak to Peak Highway. I need badly (as Jeff said) a new road bike w/ a compact chainring. Anybody listening?…

It was quite windy up there and I felt like a ragdoll in the wind. I came seriously close to getting blown of the road. I actually dropped my frigging camera right after taking the above photo. Luckily it still works fine, and was even able to snap a few more photos.

After the peak to peak, we descended through an incredible canyon down to Lyons. It was pretty majestic. 30 minutes of downhill, great road and great scenery. Too bad we were going so fast, I managed to snap only 1 pic.

I think if I’d have tried to get more, the combination of wind and high speeds would’ve had me taking a bath in the stream alongside the road. All in all it was an awesome ride and happy to have gotten in a nice 8 hour weekend.

Bridget gets here tomorrow!! and I’m taking a week off the bike to show here a little bit of CO, and then I’ll kickstart my training for 09′ next season.

FYI–Huge Props to Sarah Miller!! She competed in the first 48 hour race in the US, in Texas this weekend. Turned in 320 miles and did them all on a single speed!!! She also walked away with $3,000 dollars for her efforts! What a way to wrap up the season!!!