Ever ride above your pay grade? That's exactly what happened to me for the first time Sunday. A 100 mile, 22 climb ride was on the schedule. The last century I did was May 1, 2005 and the longest I've ridden this year was around 65 at the Strawberry festival metric tour. So going in, I was pretty nervous about being able to keep up with the climbing AND the distance. The saving grace for me was that there was regrouping after the climbs. The quicker you get up the hill, the longer the regrouping time!
I packed a boatload of generic fig newton bars and started eating them about 6 miles in and didn't stop until the ride was nearly over. That was probably the smartest thing I did. I have a problem with being able to eat while I eat due to breathing issues, but I was able to eat during the regrouping periods with no problem. It's nearly impossible for me to eat during a road race. That's bad.
As the ride continued, everything felt pretty good except for some chafe issues. Luckily, my legs were able to hold out and I felt stronger as the day went on. I do have some soreness in my already bad right knee (thank you, stupid spin class on February 1st, 2005), but I don't see it stopping me from riding today.
One thing that did bother me is my lack of confidence in descending. Due to the nature of my training rides (mostly flat stuff), I don't have the opportunity to descend often. On each downhill section, I coasted my way to the back of the pack before it started so as to not get in anyone's way. My new brakes sure got a workout, and I slid out once, but was able to keep it upright. Of course after each downhill, I had to make an effort to close the gap I made and that was often at the bottom of yet another climb. Ouch!
Anyway, it was a great ride and on the final few climbs I did pretty well and thought I was climbing out of my pay grade. I'm not a small man, and my usual "climbs" involve overpasses, but I felt pretty good going uphill being able to keep up with the stronger riders for the most part. It was a great day and I'm glad there were a bunch of us to share in the suffering.
2 comments:
GREAT JOB Bryan!! Glad you could come out. AWESOME!!
Your TT skills showed on Sunday, as you knew how to pace yourself and build as the day went on.
Descending: ya just gotta do it more. One bit of advice... follow Craig's line. I consider him as a skilled/confident but conservative descender. If you see him bombing downhill, you can be fairly certain it's OK to do the same. :-)
On the flip side, Ron, Vince (Rhino) and also Tim are more fearless. Not saying they aren't skilled as well, but you gotta have the same skill level (and insurance coverage) to go with 'em. (I don't)
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