Go Team, Go!
This past Saturday was another training ride. We all met out in Boxboro at 8am and the plan was to have a tire changing clinic along with riding a 35 mile route. Our coach, Anna, had a new trick up her sleeve. 😉 She placed all of the big hills at the END of the ride this time.
The tire changing clinic took a fair bit of time and then, randomly, two people got flats that day as we rode. Yikes. (I keep waiting for all of this bad stuff to happen to me … the stuff that happens to everyone else: flats, crashes, breaking a spoke, etc.) So, our day was much longer than expected.
The day was truly perfect. One of those slightly breezy, dry, 80-something sunny days. It was a joy to be outside! This was our first ride with SAG so we could pedal along at our own pace and ultimately you’d see the truck perched at the next important turn. That’s awesome for me. I really hate having to follow cue sheets! LOL
Today’s ride really crystalized something I already knew about my riding … I am strong on flats and rolling hills and slow on the big hills. There’s two reasons …
1. My right knee hurts when I push hard up a hill … it’s a buncha things going on, but it’s just not important to me to charge up a hill knowing it’s going to make my knee hurt.
2. I don’t like that feeling of getting to the top of a hill and huffing and puffing and struggling to resume a quick cadence.
So, I click down a few gears when I get to the big hills and I try to pedal quickly and consistently the whole way up … all the while staying in my 75% heart rate zone. I love this because as I crest I quickly move back into my big gears and resume my regular speed.
So while riding with the team, I am one of the strongest riders on the flats and in rolling terrain, but then almost everyone passes me going up the big hills. Then I catch and pass them again. That’s life. 🙂 I am happy. I am not panting like a rundown dog nor does my knee hurt.
So, the rides are getting easier and I keep a steady pace of 15-16 mph regardless of the distance. I want to start pushing myself more … miles not speed for now. I want to train more days each week (at least 6 days of doing something each day) and cross-train with some weights, running and maybe even swimming.
I am still shooting for an eight (or less) ride … over the 109 mile route. Cross your fingers!
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