Ok,
So there is a Tuesday night ride in Atlanta at the Cycleworks location in Sandy Springs. During the peak of summer you might see between 40-60 people, but it varies week by week. Please note that this is supposed to be a recovery ride, but obviously I am not good enough for it to be a recovery ride since I am always dropped at some point.
The ride begins at the Sandy Springs Cycleworks, and then goes south to Chastain, and then East across Roswell Road and over towards Brookhaven across 400. Then we go back North into the Sandy Springs Area, West on Glenridge, and go back South on Roswell Road to Mt. Paran Rd. This is about the halfway point, and by this time I am usually AT LEAST 5 minutes behind the front group (more like 10 sometimes). Then we go through this big maze around Mt. Paran, Powers Ferry, and other back roads near Holy Spirit Catholic Church, and then head back east to Chastain Park, loop around, and then head back north up to the Bike Shop to finish. This is around 25-26 miles total.
It seems lately that I have this barrier of 1 hour 40 minutes, and I just recently broke it last week at 1 hour 39 minutes. Well, boys and girls, getting off of work early and eating your Wheaties (wait I barely ever eat breakfast), must do something for me, since I rode it in 1 hour 32 minutes!!!!! I broke last week's time by 7 minutes!!! What in the hell is up with that? Not like I am complaining, but I am trying to figure out what in the hell I did differently today that I usually do. Hmmm lets see...
Went to bed late last night,
Woke up late this morning,
Did not eat Breakfast,
Ate Wendy's for lunch (but did have chicken sandwhich rather than burger, not that it helps),
Left work to go to a hearing,
came home early and had smoothie,
Did nothing but laundry and cleanup,
Drank about 25-30 oz of water before hand,
Went for my ride,
There you have it!!!!
The only thing I can think of is the smoothie/water combo = well hydrated and potassium levels were elevated, or balanced out the sodium that was the Wendy's fries! I also think that I focused more on spinning the hills out than I normally do, which is attempt to do some sort of Lance Armstrong/Jan Ulrich in the Pyrennes ride in a big gear up a big hill. Instead everytime I hit a sizeable hill, or was really tired on al hill, I just dropped to the small ring on the front and spun the hell out of it like I was in a spinning class. If I can just get some more endurance in with some longer rides on the weekends (need to find an actual group. If you know of one please let me know, as I usually ride by myself on the Sandy Springs Ride, and at the Silver Comet trail on the weekends.).
It seems like everyone knows someone at these rides, and by that I mean that they talk/ride with each other multiple times during the week, have done races together, on the same team, etc... Oh well, let me improve some more and we shall see.
That is all for tonight, I am going to hit a light dinner since it is late, and then got to bed.
Murtha...
1 comment:
Remember that it typically takes 2 weeks for a "key" workout to show up in your training, so your good time is probably the result of you hanging on for dear life for a few weeks earlier.
To get faster cycling you need to ride fast. Not all the time, but trust me, it's easy to build endurance, but harder to build speed, and to get both, well, that will take some time.
There is technique, too. You need to know when to go and when to slow, how to climb hills properly and such. Keep riding with the group and you will pick up all this stuff. It's the best thing you can do.
Besides just keeping track of how long it takes you, keep track of how long it is into the ride before you get dropped. YOu will watch that time go down, and it will be motivating. Try sometimes going really hard at first trying to hang on, and then finish out the ride slower by yourself. Eventually, you'll be riding with the group the whole time!
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