Back on the road

Finally! After 3 weeks of no road rides due to work and rain (mostly rain), I was able to get out this last weekend. It definitely wasn't Spring but at least it was dry. I could hardly wait to get back on the bike. I was like an excited little kid waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven. And like a child, I completely over did it. After 3-weeks of short trainer workouts and even shorter runs, I decide to kick out 128 miles in 3 days.

Friday morning was a good day and since I did not have any meetings until later in the morning, I decided to hit the road. I take the bike path along the creek out of town and it's really cool to see it so swollen with rain water. Once I clear town I decide to make the ride count. But I have be careful. We have big group ride schedule for Sunday so I don't want to flog myself.

Still, if I was on the trainer I would be doing intervals so off I go. I start kicking out 2 x 2 speed intervals. That's 2 minutes at intense effort followed by 2 minutes recovery, which I repeated 5 times. I then recovered for a solid 5 minutes and did a second set. Man it felt good to be hammering the pace on the road. I finished with a whopping 23 miles. It was a little more intense then I planned but Sunday's ride was going to be at an easy pace so I should be fine.

Saturday when I woke up there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I headed out and played on the hills near the house. Nothing major, however I was feeling the impact of Friday's speed workouts. I managed to get in some good climbs and a total of 43 miles with over 1600 feet of climbing. I am feeling the efforts so thankfully the ride on Sunday will be a little easier. I will use that as a recovery ride.

I also had plenty of time to think on Saturday since I was riding solo. It is amazing the thoughts that go through my mind. Like, why after a couple of weeks off the road is your ass the first to go? Everything felt fine on Friday's ride except my back side. I guess you can't replicate the constant bouncing of Sonoma County's rough roads on a trainer. If you decide to try it, please be kind enough to video it and post it on YouTube so we can all have a good laugh.

Sunday morning Coach Tim and I ride to Sebastopol to meet the gang. A total of 8 of us head out to go various distances. And while we started nice and mellow that's not how we finished. The pace seem to keep lifting and at times we were flying. There were even more times the group was flying as I was dangling off the back. I am now feeling every interval and every hill from the last 2 rides. About 35 miles into the ride my legs basically said "we're done!". It was time to find a pace I could manage for the rest of the ride.

Part of the group was going long, so we settled into a more leisurely pace and rode on. Eventually Tim and I peeled off and headed for home with a stop at Bad Ass Coffee along the way. By the time we reached Bad Ass I was yawning I was so tired and was basically just riding along with my head down. Tim was in the same boat and our only conversation was about how much harder that ride was then we thought it was going to be.

I was also getting hungry. It wasn't that I didn't eat plenty of GUs and Shot Blocks but more that I needed some real food. So at Bad Ass I had an apple turnover (for some fruit) and a peanut butter cookie (for protein) along with my coffee. With my energy restored, I was able to complete the 20-minute ride back to the house in only 30-minutes. The final tally for the day was 62 miles. In the end, I was tired and fatigued but it felt great.

Monday morning my legs reminded of the saying that revenge is best served cold. It doesn't matter. I had a blast and would do the whole thing all over again. In fact, this weekend I think I'll do just that.

Ciao!