RIDE SMART!
Yep...I was talking with the mentor guy mid-week, after my first ride with The Hammers, expressing my desire to ride with them today for 60+ miles. His comments were that maybe I should re-think this idea because I got dropped the last 15min of the ride on Tuesday and I've only done 1.5-2hr at a pace greater than 18.5mph (around 30 miles)...."You need to remember to ride smart and not over do it. That can lead to loss of performance and more frustration."
I'm hard-headed though...Talked to the Hammer ride leader before the ride and he and another guy say that if I'm never pushed beyond my limits I won't ever get 'there'. So, I said OK. Oh Boy!! The first 20-30 minutes was into the wind at a 20+mph pace!!! Where's the fire???? Why are we going so farkin' fast???? Damn. I knew that I would not be able to maintain this pace for 60+ miles. I took a very short pull, maybe 30 seconds, rotating to the back, but hell, they were going so damn fast, me and 3 other guys fell off the back of the group after about 13.5 miles. We decided that we would turn around and head back - all 3 of us didn't have the legs for that pace/distance. 1 went on....
So....I did ride smart today and didn't over do it (by too much:)). I realized my limitations and quit before I got in way over my head & got dropped somewhere down in the Princeton/Goldsboro area. That would've sucked big time - 30+ miles from my car, alone, and riding back into the damn wind. No thanks.
I'll probably get out tomorrow afternoon for an easy ride...it's actually been a pretty hard week for me...141 miles/8hr40min for the week. And, the way TrainingPeaks does the week (Mon-Sun), I'll have around 160+ miles for this past week after tomorrow's ride. More of the same to come next week plus a pre-ride of Crowder's Mtn Metric is on the agenda for next Saturday.
Hammer ride leader just called to check up on me (4pm). That's sweeet. Those guys did 65mi today, had a headwind on the way back in and STILL averaged 19.5mph. He said that the wind slowed them down a little bit /rolleyes/. If a 20+mph pace is their average in the OFF-Season, ain't no way in hell I'll be riding with them this summer. They'll kick it up to 22+mph for summer rides most likely.
Oh well. Something to strive for I suppose. I told him to give me a call for the Tu/Th rides and that I could probably ride with them one of those days but not both. Don't want to do too much too soon.....
2 comments:
they're both right. it's easy to get crushed in both spirit & legs when pushing yourself, but you will never get faster if you don't ride with those who are faster than you. it's a delicate balance so be careful, but have fun!
yea, it's a fine line for me and i really have to be careful, cause i know i will sometimes bite off more than i can chew.
but, i'll try to ride with those guys during the week. i think the weekend rides are going to be a bit too much tho..
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