OK...here we go...
The ride was great, too much wind tho. Sorry to my friend, VV, for leaving so soon - I said I was going to slow up and wait on our friend Andy (friend from the mountains), but she said that he was in front of us. What?? I don't recall him getting past us - besides, he said he was going to ride an 'easy' ride today...Well, if he was in front, then I needed to catch up to him because it was my only opportunity to ride with him...I knew he would drop me after about 25-30mi, so I wanted to ride with him while I could.
Riding with Andy for the first 25-30mi consisted of wheelsucking on the flats, getting dropped on the hills, and working my ass off to catch back up after the climbs. So, wheelsuck, get dropped, work ass off, repeat until he decides to ramp the pace up when it's his turn to pull in the paceline we were riding in. I knew I shouldn't have let him get up there and take a pull!! The pace was too much for me and a couple of other guys. So, myslef and another guy (Hammer guy) dropped off at that point (when the pace suddenly jumped up to 24+mph) and rode together until another group came along...jumped on a group for a bit, then another group passed us...me and another guy (Bud guy) decided to jump on that train (after they were about, probably .5mi or further ahead of us). Bud guy bridges the gap just as we reach a climb...unfortunate for him, good for me. I stayed with this group until we got on this god-awful rough road that was up & down, up & down...I got dropped.
Up the hills into the wind for I don't know how long, pretty much solo, but I know Bud guy is back there somewhere. Finally reach the turn...I see Bud guy coming along and I wait for him so I'll have some wind blockage for a while.
Second rest stop sucked. No water, no gatorade, plenty of ice. I fill up the bottles with ice and stop at the Visitor's Center in the park to add water. A couple of good decents in the park, catch Bud guy (he doesn't stop for water) just before leaving park. We ride together almost into Kings Mtn. Hammer guy caught us and pulled us for a little ways then passes us on the climb into Kings Mtn. He gets the City Limit sign. Bud guy tells me to attack. Attack what?? The rider or the sign? I choose both. Out of the saddle to get the sign (just for myself) and then keep it up, and bridge up to Hammer guy. I then pull Hammer guy up to another guy and another climb. See ya.
Reach Ouch Hill. OMFG. Yea, that was pretty hard, especially at around 58miles. I do make it over the climb tho and it's some nice fast decents after that. Back to the park, finally.
Ride time=3:41, 4 stops of 10min total.
I actually felt really good during and after the ride. No cramping in my calves, just some in the right quad medial side above my knee when getting out of the saddle to climb later in the ride. I think I probably could have ridden another 45min to an hour then maybe I would be toast.
Sorry, but no pictures. VV & Andy were parked in another lot and the jersey pockets weren't big enough to carry the camera around...Hopefully, I'll get some pics in 2wks at the Burnsville Metric.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
30s Intervals Today
So, this evening after work, I headed out to do these 2 sets of killer 30s intervals. Wow. Dunno, but, I was not as wasted after these as I was the first time. Despite not hardly eating anything today (Hammer Nutrition bar, Oats & Honey Granola bar w/PB, & a gel before starting) I felt damn good. Why is that???
Numbers:
#1: 389/680/98
#2: 355/566/89
#3: 303/533/96
#4: 379/634/101
#5: 338/603/98
#6: 316/498/87
Overall average of the 6 intervals is 347w. Last week, it was 354w. The #5 & #6 were a bit more difficult, but I didn't feel nearly as bad as last week. Does this mean I didn't go hard enough??? If so, I'll work harder next week.
It was a bit windy this evening, but the temps were great! Prolly around 80F when I started riding. I also experimented with riding in the drops more....wow. It was pretty dang comfortable. Do need to continue with the weight loss, as the boobs seemed to be getting in the way /rolleyes/. Other than that, I really felt good riding in the drops. Might have to start riding more like that.
Not sure about tomorrow...Gonna go get something good to eat for breakfast I do know that!!! As for riding, it's weather dependent. Then Sunday is the Crowder's Mtn metric. I hope I feel as well on Sunday as I did today and this past Monday or Tuesday!
28mi ridden today.
Numbers:
#1: 389/680/98
#2: 355/566/89
#3: 303/533/96
#4: 379/634/101
#5: 338/603/98
#6: 316/498/87
Overall average of the 6 intervals is 347w. Last week, it was 354w. The #5 & #6 were a bit more difficult, but I didn't feel nearly as bad as last week. Does this mean I didn't go hard enough??? If so, I'll work harder next week.
It was a bit windy this evening, but the temps were great! Prolly around 80F when I started riding. I also experimented with riding in the drops more....wow. It was pretty dang comfortable. Do need to continue with the weight loss, as the boobs seemed to be getting in the way /rolleyes/. Other than that, I really felt good riding in the drops. Might have to start riding more like that.
Not sure about tomorrow...Gonna go get something good to eat for breakfast I do know that!!! As for riding, it's weather dependent. Then Sunday is the Crowder's Mtn metric. I hope I feel as well on Sunday as I did today and this past Monday or Tuesday!
28mi ridden today.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
TT Results....
Not the results I was expecting, but I'll get to that shortly....
I was supposed to meet Durham Guy in Burlington and I got to the meeting spot before him & gave him a call. He was on the interstate headed that way and told me to just go ahead and get on the road, but drive around 65mph and he would catch up to me. Pretty soon, I saw his car coming up in my rear view mirror, so I waved to him and then picked the speed up to, ummm, oh, around 80mph or so:) Yea, I like to go fast (in most things - other things require slowness). Anyways, we get to the track around 5pm, get our stuff unloaded and bikes prepared for the ride. Another friend also met us there and the three of us headed out for warm up.
I didn't feel good all day long...on Tuesday night, I took a melatonin around 11pm to help me sleep...really bad idea. I felt like I had a terrible hangover all morning, my stomach was queasy and just generally felt like crap. I sure wish the TT would have been on Monday because I felt absolutely great that day. So, I get out on the track and start my warm up laps. I don't know, but I could just tell it wasn't going to be a good night. Ya know? Some times you can just tell after a few miles or what-not. I did probably 4-5 miles sort of easy, but also tried to throw in some hard efforts before I really got to the harder warm up. I did a few more laps pretty hard, then had to go to the small track to finish warm up. I had a gel at this point.
VV (the other friend) had this nice idea about spraying stuff on our numbers and sticking them to our jerseys. It worked great, but the officials didn't like that. They wanted the numbers on the left side and running down. I had to get mine off and attach it to my left side (incorrectly still). Time for me to get to the starting area now! I get up there and ask someone in line if my number is on right - they're not sure - go as Suzanne....damnit! It's on wrong! Some guy helped me to get it right and I get back in line. Two people in front of me. I eat another gel and start the interval timer on the PowerTap.
My turn now. Clock counts down and the guy gives me a really good push. Out of the saddle and pedaling hard to get up to speed, sit back down and try to settle into some sort of rhythm. It's just not working tonight. I try to remember to keep the power up from turn 3 all the way to turn 1 and then ease up some as I go into turn 2 and down the back stretch. Key word(s) in that previous sentence is "remember" and "try". I think those 2 words flew out of my head after the first lap. Too damn fast. Too damn hard. By the time I hit the half way point, I looked at my time and saw that if I wanted to do better than my last time here, I needed to kick it up a notch. But, the problem was, I didn't have hardly any "notches" left to kick up!
OMG. I went out too fast and too hard and now the tank was getting empty. Damnit. Will I ever learn how to pace myself????????????????? Is this one of those things that takes a while to learn or am I just friggen stupid??? *sigh* Doesn't matter, I pedaled hard and tried to keep the speed up and not let it fall too much coming out of turn 4. People yelling and taking pictures on the front stretch, so this is not the place to let up! I don't know...just kept going, kept looking at the distance on the PT...7mi, ok, just 2 more laps - "c'mon you can do it". 8.5mi! Oh yea, almost there. Look at the time again...Damn...this is not good. Don't remember what it was, but I knew I was not going to have something in the 27min area.
Last lap...leave it on the track. The last 2.5mi I had my highest heart rate...195 & 198. Coming into turn 3 & out of turn 4...I'm on fumes now. Down pit road. Where did my legs go?? I want to get out of the saddle so bad, but I can't...who's pedaling this bike?? Is there a crumb of energy left in my legs to finish really strong??? Nope. I give it all I have left and get to the end of pit road...just laying there on the bars. OMG. That was hard. And painful. I get across the track and turn in my chip, head back to the car....check out the time on my Garmin...not good, not what I wanted to see...00:28:20-something. Damn. Check out my average speed. Not what I wanted either...21.1mph.
I'm such a numbers/data geek! I brought my laptop with me so I could download my PT data! [will add picture later] It was a good zone 4 ride, which is what the mentor/coach guy said it should be.
I am disappointed in the results. But, I suppose I have to remember that any of the TT's I do this year are just for fun. They are secondary to everything else I want to do. I also wasn't all that rested for this either. A ride on Sunday that was a bit harder than I needed and then some really good 3x1min intervals on Monday. Just go to these, do the best I can (and I really think I can do much better than this) and don't worry about it.
The rest of this week will be back to normal, with the exception of today. Today, I am going to get in ONLY a 30min ride, no big ring riding, and either in zone 1 or very low zone 2. My zone 1's max is 103w....gonna be extremely difficult to do that I think, but I will try. Tomorrow is 3x30s intervals, Saturday (weather dependent) easy zone 2 ride probably and then Sunday is Crowder's Mtn metric - 62mi, 3000' elevation change. Then it's only 2 more weeks till Burnsville.
So....I need to keep the TT stuff in perspective, not get so stressed out about how I do because I have bigger fish to fry than these little TT's....:) I've got Raven Rock coming up the first of May and the mentor/coach guy thinks I should do the century. Sheesh. Guess all I can do is give it my best, huh? Marion is looming in the distance too. Am I going to be ready for Marion and the other rides???
I was supposed to meet Durham Guy in Burlington and I got to the meeting spot before him & gave him a call. He was on the interstate headed that way and told me to just go ahead and get on the road, but drive around 65mph and he would catch up to me. Pretty soon, I saw his car coming up in my rear view mirror, so I waved to him and then picked the speed up to, ummm, oh, around 80mph or so:) Yea, I like to go fast (in most things - other things require slowness). Anyways, we get to the track around 5pm, get our stuff unloaded and bikes prepared for the ride. Another friend also met us there and the three of us headed out for warm up.
I didn't feel good all day long...on Tuesday night, I took a melatonin around 11pm to help me sleep...really bad idea. I felt like I had a terrible hangover all morning, my stomach was queasy and just generally felt like crap. I sure wish the TT would have been on Monday because I felt absolutely great that day. So, I get out on the track and start my warm up laps. I don't know, but I could just tell it wasn't going to be a good night. Ya know? Some times you can just tell after a few miles or what-not. I did probably 4-5 miles sort of easy, but also tried to throw in some hard efforts before I really got to the harder warm up. I did a few more laps pretty hard, then had to go to the small track to finish warm up. I had a gel at this point.
VV (the other friend) had this nice idea about spraying stuff on our numbers and sticking them to our jerseys. It worked great, but the officials didn't like that. They wanted the numbers on the left side and running down. I had to get mine off and attach it to my left side (incorrectly still). Time for me to get to the starting area now! I get up there and ask someone in line if my number is on right - they're not sure - go as Suzanne....damnit! It's on wrong! Some guy helped me to get it right and I get back in line. Two people in front of me. I eat another gel and start the interval timer on the PowerTap.
My turn now. Clock counts down and the guy gives me a really good push. Out of the saddle and pedaling hard to get up to speed, sit back down and try to settle into some sort of rhythm. It's just not working tonight. I try to remember to keep the power up from turn 3 all the way to turn 1 and then ease up some as I go into turn 2 and down the back stretch. Key word(s) in that previous sentence is "remember" and "try". I think those 2 words flew out of my head after the first lap. Too damn fast. Too damn hard. By the time I hit the half way point, I looked at my time and saw that if I wanted to do better than my last time here, I needed to kick it up a notch. But, the problem was, I didn't have hardly any "notches" left to kick up!
OMG. I went out too fast and too hard and now the tank was getting empty. Damnit. Will I ever learn how to pace myself????????????????? Is this one of those things that takes a while to learn or am I just friggen stupid??? *sigh* Doesn't matter, I pedaled hard and tried to keep the speed up and not let it fall too much coming out of turn 4. People yelling and taking pictures on the front stretch, so this is not the place to let up! I don't know...just kept going, kept looking at the distance on the PT...7mi, ok, just 2 more laps - "c'mon you can do it". 8.5mi! Oh yea, almost there. Look at the time again...Damn...this is not good. Don't remember what it was, but I knew I was not going to have something in the 27min area.
Last lap...leave it on the track. The last 2.5mi I had my highest heart rate...195 & 198. Coming into turn 3 & out of turn 4...I'm on fumes now. Down pit road. Where did my legs go?? I want to get out of the saddle so bad, but I can't...who's pedaling this bike?? Is there a crumb of energy left in my legs to finish really strong??? Nope. I give it all I have left and get to the end of pit road...just laying there on the bars. OMG. That was hard. And painful. I get across the track and turn in my chip, head back to the car....check out the time on my Garmin...not good, not what I wanted to see...00:28:20-something. Damn. Check out my average speed. Not what I wanted either...21.1mph.
I'm such a numbers/data geek! I brought my laptop with me so I could download my PT data! [will add picture later] It was a good zone 4 ride, which is what the mentor/coach guy said it should be.
I am disappointed in the results. But, I suppose I have to remember that any of the TT's I do this year are just for fun. They are secondary to everything else I want to do. I also wasn't all that rested for this either. A ride on Sunday that was a bit harder than I needed and then some really good 3x1min intervals on Monday. Just go to these, do the best I can (and I really think I can do much better than this) and don't worry about it.
The rest of this week will be back to normal, with the exception of today. Today, I am going to get in ONLY a 30min ride, no big ring riding, and either in zone 1 or very low zone 2. My zone 1's max is 103w....gonna be extremely difficult to do that I think, but I will try. Tomorrow is 3x30s intervals, Saturday (weather dependent) easy zone 2 ride probably and then Sunday is Crowder's Mtn metric - 62mi, 3000' elevation change. Then it's only 2 more weeks till Burnsville.
So....I need to keep the TT stuff in perspective, not get so stressed out about how I do because I have bigger fish to fry than these little TT's....:) I've got Raven Rock coming up the first of May and the mentor/coach guy thinks I should do the century. Sheesh. Guess all I can do is give it my best, huh? Marion is looming in the distance too. Am I going to be ready for Marion and the other rides???
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Rest Today, TT Tomorrow!
Today will be a rest day for me...no riding:(. Yesterday, following my schedule, I had 2 @ 3x1min zone 6 intervals to do. (And, despite staying up till almost 12am watching the NCAA game, not sleeping very well, I feel pretty dang good this morning.) At first, during the day, I wasn't too thrilled about doing them, not extremely motivated for some reason. Maybe it was the drizzle early in the day and the overcast/chilly conditions. Dunno. But, that all changed....
I stopped at the grocery store for a few items for supper on the way home. It wasn't much, just one little bag. But, I had a gallon jug of water with about 40oz in it, a bag with a freckled yucky banana & a grapefruit, my purse, and something else to carry. So, I'm carrying all this crap in and I get to the kitchen with it and barely start to put the stuff down - in comes my 17yo asking "what's for supper?". I give a nice reply, but my thoughts are "whatever the F you can find". OMG. It just really pissed me off something bad. Then the spouse gets in the kitchen too, just standing around in my way. Damnit. Will y'all just get the hell outa here and let me get this stuff fixed????? Anyways, supper got fixed, I made myself a plate for later, changed clothes and loaded up the bike.
Damn. I was ready to rip the pedals off last night. I even took my iPod so I could crank up some heavy tunes. Rockin' the AC/DC & Godsmack helped quite a bit. At least that's my story:) So, the intervals were pretty good...I felt really good doing the first set, I mean really good. Everything was just clicking...I got approximately a 20w increase in average power over the 6 intervals from the ones I did last week! w00t!!! I might have been able to get a little more, but the dang shorts I wore, rubbed me the wrong way big time. I will not wear these again...the Hammer shorts that goes with my other Hammer stuff. Too bad, cause all that pink looks good:). Finished up the intervals and wanted to get in about 25mi, but the shorts issue and pain in my butt dictated otherwise. 17.8mi.
Numbers from last night:
#1: 299/579/83
#2: 275/444/100
#3: 259/436/92
#4: 243/515/91
#5: 237/483/90
#6: 247/444/89
I think I could have done the last set a little better, but the shorts were really killing me. Every pedal stroke on the left side induced rubbing/irritation & pain. Guess we'll see next week how I do.
Tomorrow is my first TT of the year too! Feeling a little nervous (as usual) and excited too. I hope all this training for the past 4 months will be evident when I finish the TT. But, this year, and probably any other time, TT's are just going to be secondary to everything else I will be doing. Burnsville Metric and AoM are #1 this year. This is just for fun tomorrow, going to use it as a zone 4 workout and just see what happens.
After that, it's back to the 2 @ 3x30s zone 6 intervals either Friday or Saturday and then the Crowder's Mtn Metric on Sunday. Then 2 more weeks until Burnsville! I hope I'm ready for it. I should be though....
Later...........
I stopped at the grocery store for a few items for supper on the way home. It wasn't much, just one little bag. But, I had a gallon jug of water with about 40oz in it, a bag with a freckled yucky banana & a grapefruit, my purse, and something else to carry. So, I'm carrying all this crap in and I get to the kitchen with it and barely start to put the stuff down - in comes my 17yo asking "what's for supper?". I give a nice reply, but my thoughts are "whatever the F you can find". OMG. It just really pissed me off something bad. Then the spouse gets in the kitchen too, just standing around in my way. Damnit. Will y'all just get the hell outa here and let me get this stuff fixed????? Anyways, supper got fixed, I made myself a plate for later, changed clothes and loaded up the bike.
Damn. I was ready to rip the pedals off last night. I even took my iPod so I could crank up some heavy tunes. Rockin' the AC/DC & Godsmack helped quite a bit. At least that's my story:) So, the intervals were pretty good...I felt really good doing the first set, I mean really good. Everything was just clicking...I got approximately a 20w increase in average power over the 6 intervals from the ones I did last week! w00t!!! I might have been able to get a little more, but the dang shorts I wore, rubbed me the wrong way big time. I will not wear these again...the Hammer shorts that goes with my other Hammer stuff. Too bad, cause all that pink looks good:). Finished up the intervals and wanted to get in about 25mi, but the shorts issue and pain in my butt dictated otherwise. 17.8mi.
Numbers from last night:
#1: 299/579/83
#2: 275/444/100
#3: 259/436/92
#4: 243/515/91
#5: 237/483/90
#6: 247/444/89
I think I could have done the last set a little better, but the shorts were really killing me. Every pedal stroke on the left side induced rubbing/irritation & pain. Guess we'll see next week how I do.
Tomorrow is my first TT of the year too! Feeling a little nervous (as usual) and excited too. I hope all this training for the past 4 months will be evident when I finish the TT. But, this year, and probably any other time, TT's are just going to be secondary to everything else I will be doing. Burnsville Metric and AoM are #1 this year. This is just for fun tomorrow, going to use it as a zone 4 workout and just see what happens.
After that, it's back to the 2 @ 3x30s zone 6 intervals either Friday or Saturday and then the Crowder's Mtn Metric on Sunday. Then 2 more weeks until Burnsville! I hope I'm ready for it. I should be though....
Later...........
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Lots To Do This Week
Intervals, TT, intervals, Crowder's Mtn Metric are up for this week. Planned on riding a metric today, but mentor/coach guy suggested maybe to only ride the 42mi route of the RRR since I had a lot coming up this week. Sounded like a plan, cause after thinking about it...it probably would have been a bit much.
The ride today was not ridden the way I wanted to. Hammering to keep up with a couple of guys that were riding faster than I really wanted to. Not the easy, spinning type of ride I needed. Now, I've got some tired legs and have 3x1m intervals on the agenda for tomorrow. Damn. I can see that this is going to be another painful Monday.
The dang weight loss has been stalled for the past 2wks as well. I'm going to attempt to go to the gym a few times this week for lifting and core work to see if this will help get things moving again. This last 8 pounds is getting aggravating for me. Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday during lunch, then again towards the end of the week...3-4x.
Guess I need to get to bed a little earlier tonight. And the rest of the week. Well, Wednesday will be a long day...it's a 2.5hr drive back home, which means I probably won't get home till around midnight or later, after watching some of the TT and getting something to eat afterwards.
Damn. I'm tired after today's ride.
The ride today was not ridden the way I wanted to. Hammering to keep up with a couple of guys that were riding faster than I really wanted to. Not the easy, spinning type of ride I needed. Now, I've got some tired legs and have 3x1m intervals on the agenda for tomorrow. Damn. I can see that this is going to be another painful Monday.
The dang weight loss has been stalled for the past 2wks as well. I'm going to attempt to go to the gym a few times this week for lifting and core work to see if this will help get things moving again. This last 8 pounds is getting aggravating for me. Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday during lunch, then again towards the end of the week...3-4x.
Guess I need to get to bed a little earlier tonight. And the rest of the week. Well, Wednesday will be a long day...it's a 2.5hr drive back home, which means I probably won't get home till around midnight or later, after watching some of the TT and getting something to eat afterwards.
Damn. I'm tired after today's ride.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
3x30s Intervals Hurt
O.M.G. My legs feel like toast right now and it's, oh, 6hr or so since I completed the intervals. 2 sets of 30s On, 30s Off, 3min rest, repeat. Go as hard as you can for the 30s. First set was pretty good, though, as usual, I went out too hard. I guess I'm going to eventually learn how to pace myself when I do this stuff.
I had planned on doing them after work, but watching the weather, it looked as if it might be raining then, so I took an early extended lunch at 10:30am. Went home, changed, 25min warmup then started the intervals. Holy crap! Talk about hard. Oh! These were so hard. 30s was just barely enough recovery before I started the next one. Second set, was not as good as the first. They were much harder to do. I had to take about a minute rest between the 5th & 6th interval, as I just wasn't recovered enough to start the 6th one after 30s.
I finished the last interval and turned off to this side road and tried to get unclipped as fast as I could. Just about wasn't quick enough though...almost fell over. I felt like I was about this " " close to puking too. I think these were just about as hard as my 20min FTP test I did a few weeks ago...
I had planned on doing them after work, but watching the weather, it looked as if it might be raining then, so I took an early extended lunch at 10:30am. Went home, changed, 25min warmup then started the intervals. Holy crap! Talk about hard. Oh! These were so hard. 30s was just barely enough recovery before I started the next one. Second set, was not as good as the first. They were much harder to do. I had to take about a minute rest between the 5th & 6th interval, as I just wasn't recovered enough to start the 6th one after 30s.
I finished the last interval and turned off to this side road and tried to get unclipped as fast as I could. Just about wasn't quick enough though...almost fell over. I felt like I was about this " " close to puking too. I think these were just about as hard as my 20min FTP test I did a few weeks ago...
A few numbers:
avg/max/rpm hr avg/max
#1: 444/677/88 156/177
#2: 351/477/89 180/183
#3: 317/471/80 182/185
#4: 375/634/89 149/164
#5: 278/480/91 172/175
#6: 357/523/79 171/176
So, as I get ready to publish this post, my legs are still toast. I just can't believe how incredibly hard those were or that I'm still affected by it. It's like I've ridden a metric or more at a very strenuous effort....Damn, I hope these get a bit better and that I don't feel so worn out afterwards...
No riding tomorrow or Saturday - forecast is rain. Hopefully, I'll ride the Raven Rock Ramble metric route on Sunday for my long ride of the week. Then more of the same next week, including my first TT at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
In The Rain Again (Maybe)
Last night (really evening) I got home from work and thought about going out for a recovery ride. Checked the radar for my area and it only looked like some spotty showers possible; and those might not even happen at all or in the area I was going to ride. So, after hemming & hawing about it for close to an hour, I decided to go on out. What's the worst that could happen? Get a little wet??
Loaded up the bike & gear and drove about 3mi from my house to the ride start. OK. You ask, why did I drive? Because this road I have to take is almost as bad as Hwy 42 as far as traffic. People pass you with oncoming cars, horns get blown, and I really don't like riding on this road. At the starting point, I have everything ready to ride and what happens? I hear and feel a couple of rain drops. Damn. Oh well, I'm riding, it won't last long.
Pretty windy out and I can ride this route into the wind for halfways and on my return I should have a nice tailwind. Would you believe I actually had this happen on this ride? Most of the time, the wind will switch around and I'll have headwind the whole ride. For a change, not this time. I figured I was going to get wet when I stopped to take this pic...
Loaded up the bike & gear and drove about 3mi from my house to the ride start. OK. You ask, why did I drive? Because this road I have to take is almost as bad as Hwy 42 as far as traffic. People pass you with oncoming cars, horns get blown, and I really don't like riding on this road. At the starting point, I have everything ready to ride and what happens? I hear and feel a couple of rain drops. Damn. Oh well, I'm riding, it won't last long.
Pretty windy out and I can ride this route into the wind for halfways and on my return I should have a nice tailwind. Would you believe I actually had this happen on this ride? Most of the time, the wind will switch around and I'll have headwind the whole ride. For a change, not this time. I figured I was going to get wet when I stopped to take this pic...
And, sure enough, about 5 minutes later, a couple of drops, then a bit heavier, then a downpour. There was a little church just up the road, so I pulled in there and waited under the picnic shelters. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was really heavy. Towards the end, I looked across the road and saw a rainbow...
So, back on to my ride on wet roads this time. And, dangit, I had just cleaned my chain after the rainy intervals on Monday. Oh well. I felt really good riding yesterday evening. That rest week last week was just what I needed. All the little climbs I had on this ride were pretty easy, I took all of them out of the saddle, still in the big ring. Six months ago, I would never have been able to do that. Discipline & patience are paying off.
No riding today (Wednesday), but will go to the gym after work. I need some serious upper body strength! I can't even do one freakin' pull-up. My son has a pull-up bar in his bedroom doorway and he does them all the time. I didn't get anywhere with that thing. He's got these little Popeye bicep muscles! So cute!
Tomorrow (Thursday), I'm probably going to go into work late because I need to get these 30s intervals done. It looks like rain after about 10am and will continue for the rest of the day and into Friday and Saturday. I don't really want to do them in the rain, so before work is about the only time left. This week will just be a learning phase for these intervals. Next week, I'll try to do them a little better.
Had plans to go to Crowder's Mtn for the weekend and ride the metric route on Saturday. With the weather the way it is, looks like I might be going on Sunday instead. And, it's only 7 more days until my first TT of the season!
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