6-29-2022: 90 Minute Training Ride and why not some weights later on?
150 miles ridden since
June 14, 2022 and training for Tour de Fuzz is underway for sure. I am
really proud of what I have done so far, we have a long way to go, but we are
progressing. That is a 150 miles ridden post getting Covid for the first
time while being back in Indiana.
I have ridden as little
as 13.9 miles and as many as 31.5 miles so far. However, I have to admit
the 90 minutes I did today were by far the hardest and for the first time since
being back on the bike after a 10 year absence my legs are saying "Really
man, what the fuck!"
They were good sports
after the first 134 miles. Perhaps the kicking drills yesterday at Master
Swim might have them a little out of sorts. It could also be putting in
31.5 miles on Monday. However, in my opinion it was the climbing that
really made them unhappy with me.
I did four climbs
today. Each one progressively a little steeper and higher. I know
for most riders these things I call climbs might be considered rolling hills,
but 1) I weigh twice as much as most riders, and 2) bite me. Anything
that is not going downward is a new challenge for me and I am enjoying the
challenges.
Climb 1:
Greenville Road - I first drove Climb 1 on Greenville on the way to a friend's
house. I knew the minute I drove over this hill leading to the Tesla
intersection that I wanted to have this hill. I wanted to climb it on my
bike. I knew I was a good 6-8 months away from being able to ride my
bike. I was only 90 pounds down at the time,but something in me yearned
to climb it. I have climbed it at least 6 times now. I have never
stopped and got off the bike. I have never walked it. I just keep
pedaling up on it until I get where I need to go. There are four bike
lane men painted in the bike lane between the start of the climb and then end
of the climb. As I climb, I count the bike lane guys. It takes four
bike lane guys to get to the top. This helps me get up and over Climb
1. This is about 100 feet of climbing for me. Each time I Climb 1,
it gets easier and every bike path I draw up has me going over Climb 1 and I
will continue to do it until it is my bitch and I can talk dirty to it.
Climb 2:
Greenville Road past Tesla. I first drove this two weeks ago. I try
to drive all my bike routes, that way I can gauge how safe I think they
are. This influences when I go, if I am going to go with someone,
etc… This was an oh shit drive and I wasn’t sure if I could do it.
The first time I even planned to go up and out that way, I cried off and took
another path. Well on Monday I said bring it on. So I did it as
part of my 31.5 mile ride. Then since I was trying to get in a shorter,
more challenging ride today, it went back on the agenda.
Climb 2 takes me from
710 feet to 832 feet or a 122 feet of climbing. What is really messed up
about this is it feels like a lot more than that and when you drive it it looks
like that too.
So we climbed it again
today and we kicked it in its ass. My legs weren’t as eager to go up it
as they were on Monday, but we made it and the feeling of pride when you get up
to the top can’t really be measured. It was great.
Climb 3: What goes
down must come back up. When you get to the end of Greenville or to the
top. It goes back down. The issue is that it goes down into a dead
end. Then you have to turn around and go back up. I know what you
are thinking, you just don’t go down, but hill climbing is what I am training
for, so ya, I have to go down. So you quickly go down and have a very
steep, very short climb ahead of you. I hate short and I hate
steep. Steep sucks. However, I did it. I climbed from the
base of 712 back to 832 adding another 120 feet of climbing to my
ride.
When you come down
Greenville back to Tesla, it is heaven. It is a nice downhill. It
is fast, and fairly empty downhill, the wind is in your face and you are
rolling 30 miles per hour, maybe faster if I didn’t ride the brakes. I
get scared easily. I don’t have the need, the need for speed like some
people do. I like coming down but trying to do it safely is my goal.
However, it is magic after working your ass off. Having the wind cooling
you down and just gliding free down the hill. I usually let out a little
cheer or a nice loud FUCK YA but zooming donw hill is marvelous. Can’t
get much better than coming back down Greenville to Tesla.
Climb 4: Cross
Road. Cross Road is a miserable unforgiving pain in my ass, and I both
love it and hate it. Sitting at Tesla and Greenville I tried to talk
myself out of going right and taking Tesla to Cross. I drove Cross again
last night and I knew it was going to be hard. When I put it in Mapmyride
it told me it was going to be hard. The road is not newly paved, it is
old. It is narrow, not super narrow but there is no bike lane. I
like bike lanes.
Now that I have logged
this as a work out in Mapmyride it has given me the hill stats for Cross
Road. Cross is a Category 5 hill. The average grade is 2.3%.
You start climbing at 716 feet and end at 1,003 feet and you are climbing this
for 2.3 miles and gaining 287 feet of altitude. I just realized that
doesn’t even include the final little gain at the end of the road that takes
you up another 20 feet.
I am riding this 2.3
miles cursing myself for choosing this route. Hating this road because it
is so unforgiving. When I say unforgiving I mean that you go up, but you
never really get to a flat place or a downhill. You just keep going up and
up. I am sitting on my bike seat thinking fuck the White Whale. I
am thinking about stopping, but on this narrow road there's no place to
stop.
Any driveway you see is gravel. There are land squirrel holes
everywhere. I don’t care what anyone tells you where there are land
squirrels there are snakes. So, I am not stopping. So, I rode on,
and on, and on.
When I finally got to
the top, the sense of pride I had in myself was tremendous. All the
cussing was for not. I made it, and I was awesome. I AM
AWESOME!
Little did I know as I
started to come down Cross and towards Patterson Pass, henceforth to be known
as The Pass, that my journey was really just beginning. That is because
coming down Patterson Pass is fucking awesome. It is basically 3 miles
down hill at top speed. I don’t remember what I topped out at but I did
let myself enjoy gravity pulling me down. It was great. It made
every push up the other side worth it. I was moving fast, sweating my ass
off, and loving every minute of it. Now one of these days I am going to
have to try and go up Patterson to Cross. I don’t want to, but I need to,
which really means I want too but it is going to be hard.
After you are done
riding, why not work our more a few hours later:
My legs hated me.
They hated me even more when my trainer showed up and we did squats and
lunges. It was exhausting. Will seriously have to reconsider
my workout schedule. Trying to balance riding, swimming, and weights is
tough for me right now. I need to put some serious thought into how to
make it all work. I do have to admit, I was super proud of my
workouts. I am sore. Not the type of sore that you can’t move
around, but the sore that you get when you are super proud of working really
hard and feel great soreness.
Training is going great
so far, I feel good. I am super happy!
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