Week Update

The sun has been too nice this week to do much writing. I have done a lot of riding in the last couple days though.

After Nectar Way on Tuesday, I rode with Mike for about 3.5 hours on Wednesday afternoon and got pretty dehydrated. The ride was easy, but we were out in the sun for almost 5 hours (due to waiting for people) and we each only had two water bottles. I definitely felt it the next day.

On Thursday I was planning on doing some longer intervals and then heading out to the Thursday Nighter. The intervals were at 350 watts (below threshold), and were between 10 and 12 minutes long each. I have done these types of intervals before with no problem, but I suffered hardcore this time.

I did the first one at 345 watts and was feeling OK, but not great. The next interval was a little lower. And by the third one, I had hit a wall. The last three intervals barely saw average watts over 300. My heart rate was jacked while trying to push 300 watts, while it is usually around 135 when I’m at 270-280 watts. I knew something was wrong, but finished off the workout and headed to the shop to talk to Gilad before doing the Thursday Nighter. I was secretly hoping he would tell me to just go home. I rarely ever want to do less than what is planned, but this was one of those cases. I felt like shit. Gilad told me to go home.

I took an off day on Friday and was feeling good again on Saturday for the CSC ride. The CSC ride is a fast-paced group ride that leaves every saturday and sunday at 8:30 from the Campbell Senior Center. Like the Thursday Nighter, it usually attracts a number of the fastest local riders in Eugene.

Saturday’s CSC ride started with about 25 people. The pace was high at times, as we meandered our way east out past Lorane. I forgot what the hill was called, but the ride was called the “rattle snake” ride. I think.

It involved a 4 mile climb between 7 and 10%. I went hard but didn’t kill myself. It was a great route of single-lane road with no cars. I plan on doing it again soon.

After the climb, we regrouped and rode to a convenient store for provisions. It was around 90 degrees by this point and we were all out of water. I shared a 2 liter bottle of Sprite with Will and filled up my bottles with water. I also bought a snicker’s bar, and ice cream cone, and a burrito. Despite the heat and intensity of the ride, the burrito was still a good choice. Somehow I ended up with beans and hot sauce all over my chest though.

I feared everyone had lost the drive to go hard on the way back, so I went to the front as usual to liven things up. We punched it hard for the rest of the ride and we ended up splitting apart near the end. I did an extra hour by myself when we got back into Eugene. Total ride time was 6 hours, 110 miles.

Today (Sunday) was even longer. Tony, Mike, and I rode south to Cottage grove and went out east on the Rails to Trails route that parallels Row River road. The snow and giant logs are still blocking the single-lane road, but we managed to get farther than Will and I did a couple weeks ago. The head wind coming back was relentless, but I felt fine throughout the entire ride. Mike and Tony were hurting a bit, so I decided to make them take the long way back through Cottage Grove and we added on a couple extra miles. hahaha, the fools! They weren’t pleased.

On the way back up to Eugene near the base of Mt. Pisgha, after Tony had been dying and sucking my wheel for over 3 hours, I pissed him off enough (by taunting him) to beat me at a sprint. When we slowed down, he looked at his powertap in disbelief. It read 1,999 watts. He’s gotten it up to 1,500 before, but 2,000 is insane. We’re still unsure of its accuracy, but ever since Gilad taught Tony a different sprinting form, he’s been much faster. A repeat is in order.

I went through ten bottles today over our 130 mile ride. We all have some sick tan lines, but I took home the blue ribbon for the best helmet strap/goggle tan line. The funny thing is, it’s only on the left side of my face. I tried taking a photo of it in Photo Booth, but the pictures don’t do it justice.