I have a lot of really great excuses for missing team rides for the last month.
I was nervous about having to push it if my knee were to start to hurt, and then be lost somewhere out in the middle of no where if I couldn’t keep the pace up.
I was nervous that because I haven’t ridden more then 40 miles at any one ride since…August that I wouldn’t be able to keep up anyway.
I have been luxuriating in sleeping in on the weekends, something I haven’t done regularly in years. Plus I’m seeing someone who makes getting out of bed very, very difficult.
The weather. It’s warmer in the afternoon. I have a season pass to Meadows.
Mental health. I needed a freakin break.
Now, I wouldn’t say those are completely without merit. I really did need a break, and I didn’t want to push myself too hard, too soon. But after last weekends’ rides (2 40 milers, one with lots and lots of climbing), I decided it was time.
All I knew was 4+ hours at a moderate pace. When I showed up, I heard 70 miles. 70 miles. OK… sure. No problem, no problem at all, I’ve totally got this. I decided I just wouldn’t think about it.
I made a few assumptions about the ride:
1) I would have to turn myself inside out to stay on this ride. It would be downright epic. I would be completely destroyed after it, and every body part would be torn to shreds
2) I would get dropped on all the climbs
3) 4-5 hours would seem like an eternity, where last summer it would fly by
Guess what happened? NONE of those things! Except the last 10 miles when my knee started hurting, I had no trouble staying with the group, I only fell behind on a climb or two, 5 hours didn’t seem that long, and I wasn’t really that destroyed afterwards–I didn’t feel the need to pass out on the couch or anything. I felt quite chipper, actually. I credit this to the fact that I have my nutrition dialed in at this point so I never get bonky, and I have Recoverite afterwards, which works wonders. It’s a miracle drink, I’m telling you.
Don’t get me wrong, I was certainly toast by the end of the ride. But I wouldn’t say turned inside out or destroyed. Simply toasty.
I’m still not going to ride as much as I have in the past (after all, I have that season pass to use), but my goal is to make one team ride a week. And I’m on the training un-plan, where I ride completely haphazardly, when I want, how much I want, and I just hope it’s enough to stay up with the ladies at Cherry Blossom.
