Pete and I just did some serious riding. The hardest training rides we’ve done up to this point: 45 miles (for me) on Friday, 106 miles on Saturday, 104 miles on Sunday. Since we sent the bikes off Thursday, we were riding our “backup” bikes—not loaded down, but the miles were still the same distance!
On Friday evening after work, I rode back over Terrible Mountain (twice in one week is enough!), but this time w/o 35 pounds of extra weight on my bike! The 45 mile ride was no problem at all, though the feel for it was decidedly different. Instead of meandering at 14mph, I was instead stomping on the Willier at ~18.5mph—things don’t look quite so picturesque at that speed! That difference in speed is something that I was definitely aware of throughout the following rides and a perspective I really need to get into my head. As I wrote about earlier, I need a paradigm shift in my attitude towards cycling: it’s a journey, not a race!
Of Course, we had to have extreme weather warnings going off Friday night, with the weather channel showing that dark red forecast for southern Vermont and western Mass—no way to start off a weekend than 100 miles in torrential rain! Pete and I were prepared for the rain, to say the least, our first century we did together took us through the same route (down Rt 5) in an other torrential downpour!
Though, we both weren’t disappointed when it was a beautiful, albeit overcast, day! 100 miles of real, easy riding. We averaged 14.1 miles on the way down—not bad considering we wanted to go around the average speed we want to hit come June 16th (12mph)! It was a beautiful ride replete with cider donuts and much shenanigans on the bikes.
Debbie and Tobe—Pete’s parents—threw one heck of a send off party! BBQ ribs, chicken, pasta, cake, champagne toast, and a whole bunch of Pete’s friends from high school! It was great to see many of them before the send off and to put some faces to names in Pete’s stories he’s shared through six years of lifeguarding!
Sunday morning, and it was back to the races—and the legs felt fresh! Though, my butt and wrists were KILLIN me! (Gloves and a much cushier saddle are the prescription for the coming journey!) Pete and I soldiered on through beautiful sunny day. Our stop in Brattleboro was a great halfway point—the Co-Op there is one of the best places in the world and I got myself a heck of a bagel with cream cheese, tomato, lettuce and avocado. Oh, and I picked Delilah up a bottle of salad dressing for her birthday, all in all, Brattleboro is the place to be (and were I’ll be after getting back from Nica in January 2009! Can’t wait!)
Pete and I rode 73 miles together and then we parted to go our separate ways. Me on 103 back to Weston, and Pete continuing up 5. And when we both made it back to our respective locales—we both told each other how we couldn’t possibly think of going across country without the other! When I turned onto 103 and rode towards Chester, I was hit dead-on by a 20mph headwind—I was going only 20mph down ½ mile long 8% gradients! It was so tough to do it by myself, and I sure wished Pete was there with me!
Those were some good miles to get in—get the legs a bit stronger before we fly out on the 14th!
Entries (RSS)