Saturday, 2/26 Mileage Nazi Strikes Again.
The training plan, had said that this weekend was going to be a recovery week, but the weather forecast dictated otherwise. The weather was supposed to stay good through the weekend and then turn sour this next week. With that in mind the recovery week was pushed back one week.
The plan for Saturday was to do one final ride with the cat 4/5 Aurora riders before racing season kicks in this next week. The idea was to log ~80+ miles with the team, doing mostly chill tempo riding, maybe a little pace lining, talk some strategy, etc. The idea was to do all this with a smaller group of 4/5 riders who are all highly talented and under categorized.
This is all good in theory, but the reality is when other riders get the faint whiff that something good is going to go down its hard to keep them away. The end result was that we hit the road with what felt like the whole men’s team in tow.
The group road north, up to Log Boom Park. On getting to the park we picked up a few more riders. The plan from here was to take a mixture of cycling trail's and roads up to Marymoor Park. Once at Marymoor we broke into two groups and pacelined up the east side of the lake Sammamish. With the mixture in abilities the pacelineing was very mediocre and few riders were spit out the back.
On getting to the southern tip of Sammamish, we regrouped and continued on to ride the inverse May Valley extension (variation #5). Riding up to the May Valley turn off I tried to up the tempo a little and stretch the group out. Once on the turn off to May Valley we regrouped and went over a short climb and then broke into two groups to practice pacelineing again. This time the groups were split on ability levels. The second attempt at pacelineing was ok, but still not great. We were doing fast rotations but some how the pace never really got elevated high enough.
We regrouped at a stop light. On rolling through we gave one final shot at the whole paceline thing. The only catch was a few of the stronger riders from the first group, got mixed in with the rest of us in the second group. With 10 people in the line it again wasn't working right. The pace just felt slow. Moving up through the line I talked with Ben, and we decided that when I got to the front, I'd significantly up the tempo and see what happened.
On getting to the front I upped the paced significantly, I had sort of hoped to dance off the front, but the other seasoned rider were riding sharp, and we split the group again. With the acceleration in pace the paceline finally felt right and we really grooved from the final 2-3 miles.
On getting back to the lake, the group split again. The bulk of the group headed in, and myself, Ben, and a few other riders still seeking extra miles headed south around the bottom of lake Washington and then back north.
For the last few month's I haven't been riding with a bicycle computer. It just hasn't seemed necessary or really all the important; I've just been watching my heart rate and total time on the bike. Today I really wanted to make sure that both Ben and I got in close to 100 miles. So throughout the ride, I would inquire as to our running distance. On the way back up north, Ben said, "Kenneth your just a mileage Nazi!” We ended up hitting 100 miles right on the dot.
Recovery: I took two Super AO, did two scoops of whey with milk and took 4 Hammer TR, and then propped the legs up for a little bit.
The plan for Saturday was to do one final ride with the cat 4/5 Aurora riders before racing season kicks in this next week. The idea was to log ~80+ miles with the team, doing mostly chill tempo riding, maybe a little pace lining, talk some strategy, etc. The idea was to do all this with a smaller group of 4/5 riders who are all highly talented and under categorized.
This is all good in theory, but the reality is when other riders get the faint whiff that something good is going to go down its hard to keep them away. The end result was that we hit the road with what felt like the whole men’s team in tow.
The group road north, up to Log Boom Park. On getting to the park we picked up a few more riders. The plan from here was to take a mixture of cycling trail's and roads up to Marymoor Park. Once at Marymoor we broke into two groups and pacelined up the east side of the lake Sammamish. With the mixture in abilities the pacelineing was very mediocre and few riders were spit out the back.
On getting to the southern tip of Sammamish, we regrouped and continued on to ride the inverse May Valley extension (variation #5). Riding up to the May Valley turn off I tried to up the tempo a little and stretch the group out. Once on the turn off to May Valley we regrouped and went over a short climb and then broke into two groups to practice pacelineing again. This time the groups were split on ability levels. The second attempt at pacelineing was ok, but still not great. We were doing fast rotations but some how the pace never really got elevated high enough.
We regrouped at a stop light. On rolling through we gave one final shot at the whole paceline thing. The only catch was a few of the stronger riders from the first group, got mixed in with the rest of us in the second group. With 10 people in the line it again wasn't working right. The pace just felt slow. Moving up through the line I talked with Ben, and we decided that when I got to the front, I'd significantly up the tempo and see what happened.
On getting to the front I upped the paced significantly, I had sort of hoped to dance off the front, but the other seasoned rider were riding sharp, and we split the group again. With the acceleration in pace the paceline finally felt right and we really grooved from the final 2-3 miles.
On getting back to the lake, the group split again. The bulk of the group headed in, and myself, Ben, and a few other riders still seeking extra miles headed south around the bottom of lake Washington and then back north.
For the last few month's I haven't been riding with a bicycle computer. It just hasn't seemed necessary or really all the important; I've just been watching my heart rate and total time on the bike. Today I really wanted to make sure that both Ben and I got in close to 100 miles. So throughout the ride, I would inquire as to our running distance. On the way back up north, Ben said, "Kenneth your just a mileage Nazi!” We ended up hitting 100 miles right on the dot.
Recovery: I took two Super AO, did two scoops of whey with milk and took 4 Hammer TR, and then propped the legs up for a little bit.
Labels: Training
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