Dean Parker includes exploratory rides (with caves!) in his training
From Dean: Since the lock downs have taken affect, most of my training is by myself. So when I'm doing the intervals and hard efforts that Adam prescribes it's fine. Nobody else wants to suffer with me. But, Adam also allows some fun rides to help the mental attitude. On Thursday nights, we do a shop ride after work. The group includes just the 4-5 guys I work with at the bike shop. We keep it light and fun, no pace lines. No pace lines doesn't mean only slow though, we half-wheel each other at times, race up the hills, all in fun. We also try to show each other new places to ride. Usually we stop mid-ride and share a flask. During the pandemic, that's out and we keep a social distance when we re-group.
This Thursday was really fun. Five of us on gravel bikes and hit every kind of terrain we could find. Street, paved path, gravel road, single track, and a lot of it in the dark. The best part was we had permission to ride through the commercial cave in town. It's a big cave, as they drive semi trucks in it. We did have to stop for a picture inside. The riders stayed 6' apart but the bikes bunched up. It's these kind of rides that keep the fun in riding and make the hard work easier.
Keeping the big picture in mind
With these trying times you have to think about the long run. Eventually the races and group rides will be back and the coaches at Source Endurance will help you be ready.