sTorrey Pines Part Deux

Another big ride today. Just a hair under 40 miles. We started out in Carlsbad and rode to Del Mar and back. The B3 group consisted of 6 riders, down from the largish size of 12 from the week before. The groups are starting to even out. I was happy with my decision to stay with this group another week. The members of this group are all pretty strong riders and it seems that we are all getting more confident riding with each other. We had a minimum amount of "inchworm" syndrome this week. Inchworm syndrome is when the length of the pace line contracts and expands as each rider's pace changes. It makes it very hard to stay 12 inches off the back tire of the person you are following in a pace line to be able to draft effectively. Everyone rode a very consistent pace which made it a lot easier. I got some good tips from Coach Jay about how to maintain good drafting distance without braking so much and wasting energy trying to catch up.

We did the Torrey Pine thing again and this time riding through the gnats was terrible. There was no way to get through it without getting some in your mouth or nose. Nasty. Riding up the hill was harder for me this week than it was last week. Probably because I didn't get enough sleep.

I made some nutritional changes this week. One thing I did was use an electrolyte supplement in my water bottles. I drink a lot of water but I seemed to always be dehydrated. I think what was happening is that the electrolytes were being flushed out of my body with all the water I had been drinking and all the sweating. I also remembered some of my marathon training and ate a small salt packet 20 miles into the ride and felt instantly better. I also made sure to bring food this time and experimented with a couple types of energy bars. Overall I felt really good at the end of the day and definitely could have kept going.

The changes I had made to the fit on my bike were all great. No sign of foot numbness or knee trouble. The new pedals worked like a charm and I got a very satisfying click every time I got on the bike.

In other news, check out my kickin' new Captain America bicycle jersey.





Hell yeah...