There was a large group showing up for this one. Terry made it with his X-stream to do the 45 miler and I got to chat with him a minute or two as well as his friend Bonnie who is still riding DF and looking very fit. I wasn't sure how well I'd do give a tough 200k Saturday and an hour of pretty intense weightlifting last night at 8-9pm, but I lined up with the fast 60 milers anyway. I figured I'd get dropped along the way, as my legs felt pretty leaden, but that I'd have no trouble mucking in with the B group when they rolled along.
My only complaint about this ride is the lack of bathrooms at the start. I had to go before we rolled out, and we didn't stop for the first 24 miles. I think I heard something pop about mile 18, but I managed to hold it all in.
Most of this ride is a blur. It has a ton of turns at the beginning and the end, so it's one of those deals where you ride hard to a turn and the group slows down, only to accelerate quickly again. It's constant intervals. Then you hit the straights and it's breakaway city.
The ride went by in a blur. We only made the one stop, in Justin, at mile 24. Had an 18.5 average at that point. I spent most of my time watching the pack and hanging out at the side or back just to make sure I stayed safe. I'd surge ahead when a breakaway was on or a gap formed, but otherwise I was content to motor along and just try to keep up and TRY to make this more of a recovery ride.
It's a good route for the scenery and a change of pace. Not too technical, and very good pavement for all but a few miles at most. At around mile 30 the groups split off, into those who wanted to chop 7 miles off and avoid hilltop road and those who didn't. That cut our group of 25 or so down to just 15. From then on the apce picked up dramatically, thankfully there were plenty of rollers and some bumps but no big hills to drop me on - which would have happened because I felt pretty weak in the quads.
What hills there were though, I kept getting C-blocked on by guys who would race to get in front of me on the climbs and then slow down. Apparently they were also deaf or had no clue what on your left means. Braking up Hilltop Road sucks! It's not that big a hill, but when you have to gear down and spin thank to momentum loss it sure can suck the fun out of it.
Either way, I managed to hang on to the end. just over 60 miles, 196 average. Hit 203 average watts with a new max high of 729. I think that must show that I'm getting stronger, even though my average wattage is still hovering around the same. I'm pooped. I arrived back just as Terry was putting the X-stream back on the rack. I wanted to stay for lunch, but with only making one chop-chop stop in the 60 miles and the faster than expected pace, I had enough time to come home and have lunch, shower, and load the corsa up and take it to City Cyclist for an equipment change and overhaul.
How was your ride, Terry?
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Uncle Bucks Memorial Day ride (Read 1011 times)
