Saturday, December 06, 2008

I forgot, did Spence ride with us?

Ok, my legs hurt as if I just went on a Spence Pain Train ride.  Seriously, I have the angry legs.  I think the main reason is this was my 3rd crazy windy cold ride in a row.  Thursday was my failed attempt to ride in 25 degree, 20+ mph wind weather.  It was still an hour of way-too-cold at any rate.  Then yesterday, I got off work at 3:30 and decided to do my usual Southern loop down Bellevue Blvd to Old Towne Bellevue, then decide whether I wanted to loop all the way around Offutt on the trail, or just take 370 straight to 25th and the trail.  It was already getting dim when I hit Old Towne and I forgot to wear my booties, so my toes were already frozen pretty good.  I headed straight home instead of adding an extra 10 miles or so.  I'm very glad I did since the wind had decided to shift more to the West by that point.  This meant that even though I had been going into the wind most of the ride, at the "turn around" I was still going into the wind.  I didn't get a real tailwind till about Harrison St which is all of 5 miles away from my house.  So that sucked.

Today the plan was to meet with a few gents at Crane about 11:40, then catch Bryan by his place, then figure out a route.  At Crane was Brady and the Big Puma(aka Brandon Fenster).  We didn't know, but Shim caught up to us after TTing for about an hour from his house in Bellevue.  He was pretty pooped when he caught us, but he obliged whenever Brady was feeling his Steel Cut Oats.  Brady, I love ya, but man your cruising speed is too much sometimes.  I think I went into this ride not wanting to really do it, so the speed and pain of the blustery cold wind didn't help my attitude.  I gutsed through it with being dropped only 5 or 6 times.  Now I'm ready to move to someplace that has no wind.

I'm just fine with cold cold temps.  It's the 15-20mph winds which just beats down on my enjoyment of riding.   Anyway, we headed North for a while, Brady and Shim had things to do, so they turned around early (man, I wish I would've joined you guys).  Bryan, Puma and I headed more North to almost hwy 30.  

A weird thing, turning around really didn't help much.  Sure it was not as hard to pedal, but all the sweat I was accumulating started to freeze really bad.  I got COLD.  Plus, I was running on fumes.  I ate a couple bars, so that helped, but still, every hill just took it out of me.

On a positive note, I rode 50 some miles, so I added another dollar to my Plus 3 Network charity deal.  Tomorrow, I think we're riding trainers and there's no money for riding my bike no where.  Oh well.  At least it won't be windy.  Sheesh, with all my complaining, I don't think I could be considered a Flahute.  I would beg for more if I really was one.  Oh well.  I think I can live with that.

9 comments:

Spence said...

Spence here- I like that "Spence Train Pain ride" but I have to tell you I've not been doing much on the bike lately to earn that title, I will use this to give me motivation to get back in "some sort" of shape for next year. Thanks!
-Chris

bryan said...

turning around definitely made it worse. My hands were so very cold.

And way to get Spence motivated. Nice job.

munsoned said...

Doh! I have awoken the beast of Mashville. Spence, we'll have to do some rides together in the spring. When I'm ready to get some high intensity miles in, I'll hop in with your group. It's one of those things you look forward to dreading. It'll be good for fitness, bad for the pain threshold. Good times.

Bryan, you will join us right? Oh yes, you will.

bryan said...

I'll be there. I have to practice getting my ass kicked somehow.

brady said...

Average pace was 16 MPH. What should a cruising pace be on an off season ride?

bryan said...

brady -- about 16 mph. Or 18. whatever.

mike -- Sunday was entertaining, too. And much, much warmer.

munsoned said...

Into a 20mph headwind wind, 12 mph. That's what kills most people doing base training. You gotta swallow your pride and just not pay attention to the numbers. Conversational pace only. Your heart rate number should matter a little. Big Puma said he was averaging upper 140s which was probably dipping into his zone 3. That's no man's land, and not where you want to be on herr Friel's training plan.

But in actuality Brady, my being weak was my own fault. I haven't put in 3 tough days in a row for quite a while. Plus I think I changed my saddle position a little, aside from also changing bikes from the all rounder to my race machine. And you know how I feel about specificity. My evil self will now admonish my regular self. It will be a battle in which no one will know who the bad guy is since we both have goaties!!*sings Star Trek battle music*

brady said...

Riding in corduroys and having an ice cream bucket strapped to your handlebars probably increases your drag by 10%. It follows that a 10% increase in heartrate at 150 BPM will bump you into lactic threshold range (165).

If winter riding is about resistance training, then next time I'll dress and outfit my rig more appropriately.

You prefer Brown Cows or Bomb Pops?

munsoned said...

Oh, no no no no! It's gotta be the Big Bopper of course.