Amelia the Super Bike

I felt like a superhero on my bike yesterday. The day was SO LONG as I sat trying to focus and sit still...I just wanted to be OUT THERE. In the sun. Riding hard.

Driving home, my car was literally getting TOSSED around by the wind. My CAR. But there was no way I was missing this ride after thinking about it all day. Wind or no wind, I was going.

In my mind, I tried to pick a route that is somewhat sheltered but that left me only a couple options and I really wanted to get out and GO. What the heck...it could conceivably be like this on race day so I might as well just deal. I settled for a relatively flat route and resolved to stay aero in the wind. And the route I chose has a very decent hill at about half way...good compromise.

I clipped in and headed south at a nice easy spin. I felt really strong on the slow, gradual climb of the first few miles and then dropped into my aero bars on the way down the other side to enjoy about 2 miles of nice rolling semi-flats. There's nothing really FLAT in VT but Amelia loves the rollers and I was surprised to feel strong on the gentle ups too...stayed on my big ring and kept a cadence of about 80-90 for a good 15 minutes. It was FAST. Well, fast for me...

Hit the first short hill and powered up it. Again, I was surprised to feel so strong compared to my last ride. That's one of the reasons I love cycling...such dramatic changes from one ride to the next. Those cycling specific muscles really seem to capture so much of the training effect. Down a big hill and a sharp right turn into the big climb. This hill is about 1.5-2 miles long...it starts out gradual and then gets STEEP... enough so that I could only hold about a 40 cadence in my lowest gear and it hurt...but Amelia only has two chain rings so I'm dealing. Just going to have to get stronger because at this point I'm not willing to give up the speed on the flats at the top of the big ring. Held that 40 cadence all the way up the hill and then settled back into the aeros for the return trip. At this point I realized why the ride out felt so fast... my tailwind had just become a full on headwind. Like, Kona headwind...or so I imagined it felt... No problem. Today I am a SUPER HERO!!

So I kept on. The thought occurred to me that I was going to feel like I was cutting my ride short if I stopped when I got home. Tucked that notion into my back pocket when I realized what it was going to take to battle the wind. I just dropped down and stayed that way for most of the way home. It hurt a little but I was able to keep my cadence between 70 and 80 and still feel like I wasn't grinding. A few times I thought I was going to get blown over from sideways gusts but I didn't thankfully. By the time I got home I didn't feel like I needed to go any further. It was just perfect.

Time: 1:15
Distance: 17:88 mi.
Avg speed: 15.1 mph (it would've been faster but for the wind!!)

I'm getting there. And it's EARLY. I think I was at this stage in early June last year. Joy...

Day 4 of the WW plan is off to a great start. So far I've been a model student and my pants felt looser this morning. I resisted the urge to hop on the scale at the pool today - supposed to wait a whole week...but I think it's working. And it's not too hard...yet. I know to expect some speedbumps but we'll deal with them as they come. And my boys served up some serious whoopass to Tampa Bay last night with a 9-1 rout. All the new faces are turning out to be especially friendly. I'm likin' it...

Life is good. Train hard!!