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April 24, 2005
The Non-Iron Crotch
A summary of the ride today:
60 miles
3.5 hours
17.1 mph average speed
Holy cow there are a lot of hills in Western Wisconsin!
We rode from Stillwater up to Osceola, then East, South and West back to the beginning point. I had several 8mph hills on this ride and for a few yards 5mph. But most of the hills I took at a much faster pace. There was also a strong headwind for part of the ride which made it interesting and challenging. The good thing though was that I dressed appropriately and was not too cold or too hot.
I lost steam after about an hour and my pace slowed considerably. I thought I would feel more tired than I did overall, but maybe if I had gotten more sleep I would have done even better.
Overall I give this ride two thumbs up. But after 60 miles at that pace I was wishing for an iron crotch. I was tired, no pretty exhausted when I got home and a little stiff, but not sore. After running some errands with my wife I took a 1 hour nap and then worked on my bike projects outside, as if I didn't get enough fresh air today! haha. I survived the ride, although a little exhausted, but now I am wondering how I will do on the 200k brevet ride next month. Thats more than double what I did today and probably equally as hilly.
I think today was a success for my training purposes.
Posted by carl1236 at April 24, 2005 9:21 PM | Cycle Racing
Comments
Nice job John. That's a really fast pace. If you could do that for the brevet, you'd be one of the faster riders I think.
Posted by: Jim at April 24, 2005 9:45 PM
Dan and I were talking about speed after that ride. He had over 1/2 hour on me in time. He lost me after about the first 20 miles. And there were some even faster riders. Really what we decided is that it's all relative. For me this ride was an exercise, or training ride to push my limits and see what I could do. I haven't decided yet if I will do that for the 200k brevet or not. "It's all relative," means I'm not really concerned with what place I come in, I'm concerned with comparing myself with myself. Last year at this time of year I was a novice cyclist just starting to ride a bike, maybe riding 15 miles per week, and I thought that was a lot then! haha. But it was a start. And I was totally happy with what I learned about myself on this 60 mile ride.
Posted by: John at April 25, 2005 9:05 AM