Big Miles

Today was the last big training session of the season. 91 miles of fun. The plan for today was to work on speed. The pre-ride stuff was kept very short so we could get on the road earlier. 7am start time!

There are "two" fast groups on the Team and Coach David pulls us aside from the rest of the riders for a quick pep talk. The difference between the two groups is that mine is has a Tucson goal finish time of under 6 hours and the second group has a goal of 6.5 hours. Our group will make minimal stops, and those we make will be limited to 2 minutes stops. The other group will have luxurious 10 minutes stops. David says we are all capable riders, and having ridden with each of us is confident that we will meet our goals provide we ride "smart". We need to not only ride as a team with good pace line, but we need to take advantage of other non Team in Training participants who are willing to do all the work fighting the wind. He described several scenarios, one of which the lead person in our pace line sees a large group of other riders up ahead. If that situation arises, the lead person needs to speed up to reach the next group and latch on to them. Do 5 minutes of hard work to reach them and then let those riders cut a huge swath through the wind to make the rest of our ride easier. There is a very noticeable and dramatic effect of riding in a large group. It is much, much easier not to mention faster.

The ride today was a "simple" out and back ride up the coast to San Clemente. One other highlight is that we get to ride through the Camp Pendleton Marine base and avoid riding along Interstate 5. Cyclists are free to ride through the base provide they wear a helmet and have photo ID. This ride is one of the annual rituals for the cycle team and the midpoint rest stop is a Carl's Jr where salty fries are available in abundance.

Running out of water during the ride has been an issue for me the last couple of rides so I brought along an extra bottle and kept it in one of the back pockets of my cycling jersey. It felt really strange to have a 2 lb bottle of water tugging my jersey back. One unexpected complication from this was that I actually got some chaffing during the long ride.

Mentor Chad indicates that besides the regular stop at Carl's, every other stop is limited to 2 minutes. On ride day, Chad has a plan where someone will meet us at mile 55 of the 109-mile ride with pre-filled water bottles and our stop will be limited to quickly swapping out our empties with these replacement bottles and eating a quick bite before heading out. The two minute stops were a killer. There was barely enough time to fill water bottles and eat anything. One other key to successful riding is being able to eat and drink while riding. This is no small feat when you are moving at a constant clip of 20+ mph.

The ride went pretty well and I felt strong for most of it. We were keeping a very quick pace thoughout the session. I didn't eat much at Carl's which was a mistake. Halfway back to our start line about 70 miles into the ride I was fading fast, lacking energy. Chad had a plan to skip the last support stop and ride through to the end. A couple of us protest and we make another 2 minute stop where I cram a PB&J down my gullet, fill all three water bottles, eat a handful of trail mix and back on the road. Feeling much better. Along the way, several of us were suffering at different times. The disruption to the normal eating pattern on the ride is taking it's toll. Then all of a sudden when the energy hits, everything is back to normal. It is pretty strange to be able to feel the effect of food you just ate boost your energy levels. Mile 8o or so I start struggling again and am getting some cramping in both my thighs and my butt is killing me from so much time in the saddle. I eat my last energy bar and just soldier along. I start taking shorter shifts at the front of the line which makes me feel guilty but it's for the good of the overall team. The bar kicks in and I'm almost back to normal.

The ride ends with another climb up Torrey Pines. I take it a slower than usual pace as my legs are protesting and start to cramp every time I make a big exertion. Instead of 7mph up the hill, I'm at 5.5 mph. I grunt it out and make it to the top. Well since we are going for time, we forgo the normal stop at the top and complete the last two miles back to the start point. Not a lot of climbing on this ride which I think actually makes it harder. There is little opportunity to get out of the saddle and there is no coasting downhill so you are constantly pedaling.

Totals were 91 miles in 5:34 hours of ride time with an average pace of 16.8 mph. Very fast. The goal for Tucson is 109-miles in 6 hours which is an average pace of 18.1 mph. It will be...challenging.

Here is a map of the ride courtesy of Google Earth.