I can stay with a pack when we're cruising on the flats at 20-23 mph but once we hit some hills I'd just drop off the back like a lead wrecking ball. One of the Landry's riders dropped back to help pull me along so I got a chance to talk with him a bit. It turns out that he was Jim, one of the owners of Landry's. It also gave me a chance to give props to Patrick the shop manager of the Norwood store as I think he did an excellent job fitting me to my bike. We had a fun time talking about cycling and compared running injury war stories as we cruised along. He seemed quite shocked when I told him that I was attempting the ride with only 2 weeks of riding under my belt, oh how right he would prove to be when he said I wasn't ready for a ride like this just yet. With Jim's help I managed to hang on to the main group or catch up to them at stops for the first 30 miles or so, but after one stop the group went and my legs said no more.
It is a weird feeling to tell your body to do something and have it refuse. My heart rate was low, and my breathing steady but my legs simply had no more go juice left in them. My troubles only amplified when I reached the next turn and went the wrong way. It wasn't until about 2 miles later that I realized this and had to turn around and head back. Being on empty is bad, but re-tracing your route while bonked is worse. To push things over the top the humidity was around 100% and it was heating up. Even though I had two full bottles of Gatorade at the start of the ride I was quickly running out.
I settled in for a long slow and dry spin back to the shop and while I made a few more wrong turns along the way I did eventually make it back after nearly three hours and forty-five minutes in the saddle. With most of that time being the last 15 miles which should have been ten. I went into the shop to check in, and they were glad to see me finally arrive. I ended up buying some more Gu gel packets and another bright yellow jersey since the Descente one is a little to small.
My legs are pretty leaden right now, and even walking up from the downstairs to the upstairs is a bit of an ordeal. I'm just going to keep shoving food into the tank and take it easy for the rest of the day.
Another story from today's ride. Since the Pan-Mass Challenge is just around the corner there were a lot of teams out on the roads this morning training for it with their Pan-Mass Jerseys on. They were also going at a much more sedate pace than us so we flew by several groups. When we went past one on a hill I was out of the saddle fighting to keep up with the group and one of the riders called out, "Hey look its Chicken Legs! Its Rasmussen!" Since Jim had commented that my build was similar to his earlier in the day it made me smile and gave me just a little bit more energy to get up the hill. Of course, what gave me the energy was thinking, "Ya, only out of shape and definitely not doping."
This afternoon as I was napping on the couch Michelle came in with a garter snake she found out in the little stone wall we built with the stones we pulled out from digging our garden. I think he was trying to figure out if I has a flavor.The Food Log
Glasses of Water - 11
Ride Food - 2 GU packets and 32oz of Gatorade (Powdered Mix)
Breakfast - 4 Blueberry & Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Butter & Maple Syrup
Lunch - 4 pieces of deep dish pizza with the works
Dinner - 5 Chicken Tenders and a large salad with nice fatty Italian dressing.
Evening Snack - A glass of Chocolate Milk, A Raspberry Yoplait, and A Banana
No comments:
Post a Comment