Miller scarred me yesterday. Not scared, scarred. Two r's. He horse whipped me and left me for dead along the road.
I recovered enough to face today's ride, but how much would I have? There were conditions that made me look forward to riding, or at least, a carrot to give me a reason to try to go hard again. The wind. Yesterday when we rode it was awful, but it had one pleasant aspect - 337 heading northeast was easy and fast. Really fast. With a similar wind today, could it be possible to set the team pace line record?
Without Miller, it would be tougher. That would leave us with John T., Jimmy, and myself from the regular crew. Galloway and/or Jarrard could both contribute if they desired, but that might be a tough sell. John and I talked it over on the way out. The wind was strong at times as we headed to the county line, so the plan began to take shape. He and I would do the bulk of the work. We agreed we needed to hold a 28-30+ mph average wherever possible, and do our best to hold whatever speed we could on the three climbs. Beyond that, we had to recover fast and get back up to speed. If we were on the front and could no longer hold the goal speed, we needed to tap and bring the other guy back up.
As it turned out, Galloway wanted no part of it. Jarrard agreed, if somewhat less than enthusiastically. I tried to be clear about what exactly we planned to do. He and Jimmy gave it about half their attention, so I hoped for the best.
Mike lead first, and he took it up to 27 mph for a short bit. Recognizing he wasn't getting the speed, he tapped. Jimmy was next. He was 25-26, and took a good 2-3 minute pull. He tapped, and it was John's turn.
By this point in time the record was gone. There obviously wasn't the wind aid necessary for the attempt, and though John and I could probably take the speed over 28, it would only snap the guys off the back. When Jimmy tapped, I called to John, told him what I thought, and he asked what he should do. "Just ride steady. We don't want to lose these guys".
John stayed in the 26-27 range, which wasn't tough. He pulled for 3-4 minutes, then tapped as we were leaving Bromer. I maintained his speed, and we entered the first hill at 27 mph. About halfway up I heard a voice. I looked back and a gap had opened. I sat up, letting the next rider catch on - Jimmy. I didn't know how that happened, since DfO had started behind me, but I waited. They got back on, and then I slowly took it back up.
The next mile or so is a slow staircase downward, so speed at times went above 28 and dropped as low as 25. Everyone was still there, I think. Near the end of the staircase, Jimmy yelled he was pulling off. Now it was John T., DfO(!), and myself. I finally tapped after the final north stretch heading into Lost River. I'd been on since Bromer, about 7 minutes, and John T. took over.
Through the dip, around the bend, then down the hill, speeds over 34 mph, then the dash across the valley. John was cruising, and he looked powerful heading into the second climb. I played coachman again, urging him to maintain the speed, which he did nicely. Once he topped the hill, he laid over, brought the speed up a bit, then tapped.
At this point we had 2-3 miles to go. I planned to take it all the way in from there - John had taken the hard hill, no way I was going to hand it back on the last climb. DfO was gone. It was just us. I asked if he was on, and he said, "Yes!". If there was any wind aid tonight, this was the place it happened. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31... we were rolling now. Into the rollers, the speed really didn't drop off below 27. I ran hard at the last hill, topping it at 21.6 mph (I looked!), then prepared for the final assault.
Now I'm thinking of the last stretch. John T. was relatively fresh, since he hadn't biked much over the weekend. I was flat from Saturday and the ride yesterday. I'd pulled almost 2 miles by now, with a hard mile ahead. If John had anything at all, anything, I couldn't respond. So I did the only thing I could do - just rode hard and smooth.
At the break line I waited for him to go by. I imagined him coming up on me, several times even thinking I could hear him approaching, almost catching glimpses of him making his move. I hoped I'd be able to jump on his wheel when he went by, hoped he wouldn't time it right and dust me right at the end... Then I crossed the line. No John T. I looked back. He wasn't there. Turned out he'd pulled too long the last time through, and was blasted after the Lost River hill. A minute later, he came through.
I hadn't intended to lose him, didn't even consider it possible to be frank. That's a tough conundrum though. If you have Lost River Valley, do you hand off before the hill, or do you take your chances on tapping at the top? I was fresh in either spot, and following. Tap before, and I might blow up the hill faster than you can recover. Tap after, and you might not recover fast enough to stay on. Of course the best answer is to get off the pull before you're too flat, but we intentionally went longer, and anyway, DfO sure wasn't going to take a turn on the front. I would have been in the same boat if I'd had the pull and he was behind me. Or Miller. Interchangeable parts, and the luck of the draw.
We did run after, and easy one, and of course ate at Wendy's. Mike, Lori, Strunk, and Jamie were already there when the rest of us arrived, and it was a nice sit-down. All too soon the sun set and it was time to leave.
Paceline Data.
Mile repeats tomorrow! Jimmy's at 5.
I recovered enough to face today's ride, but how much would I have? There were conditions that made me look forward to riding, or at least, a carrot to give me a reason to try to go hard again. The wind. Yesterday when we rode it was awful, but it had one pleasant aspect - 337 heading northeast was easy and fast. Really fast. With a similar wind today, could it be possible to set the team pace line record?
Without Miller, it would be tougher. That would leave us with John T., Jimmy, and myself from the regular crew. Galloway and/or Jarrard could both contribute if they desired, but that might be a tough sell. John and I talked it over on the way out. The wind was strong at times as we headed to the county line, so the plan began to take shape. He and I would do the bulk of the work. We agreed we needed to hold a 28-30+ mph average wherever possible, and do our best to hold whatever speed we could on the three climbs. Beyond that, we had to recover fast and get back up to speed. If we were on the front and could no longer hold the goal speed, we needed to tap and bring the other guy back up.
As it turned out, Galloway wanted no part of it. Jarrard agreed, if somewhat less than enthusiastically. I tried to be clear about what exactly we planned to do. He and Jimmy gave it about half their attention, so I hoped for the best.
Mike lead first, and he took it up to 27 mph for a short bit. Recognizing he wasn't getting the speed, he tapped. Jimmy was next. He was 25-26, and took a good 2-3 minute pull. He tapped, and it was John's turn.
By this point in time the record was gone. There obviously wasn't the wind aid necessary for the attempt, and though John and I could probably take the speed over 28, it would only snap the guys off the back. When Jimmy tapped, I called to John, told him what I thought, and he asked what he should do. "Just ride steady. We don't want to lose these guys".
John stayed in the 26-27 range, which wasn't tough. He pulled for 3-4 minutes, then tapped as we were leaving Bromer. I maintained his speed, and we entered the first hill at 27 mph. About halfway up I heard a voice. I looked back and a gap had opened. I sat up, letting the next rider catch on - Jimmy. I didn't know how that happened, since DfO had started behind me, but I waited. They got back on, and then I slowly took it back up.
The next mile or so is a slow staircase downward, so speed at times went above 28 and dropped as low as 25. Everyone was still there, I think. Near the end of the staircase, Jimmy yelled he was pulling off. Now it was John T., DfO(!), and myself. I finally tapped after the final north stretch heading into Lost River. I'd been on since Bromer, about 7 minutes, and John T. took over.
Through the dip, around the bend, then down the hill, speeds over 34 mph, then the dash across the valley. John was cruising, and he looked powerful heading into the second climb. I played coachman again, urging him to maintain the speed, which he did nicely. Once he topped the hill, he laid over, brought the speed up a bit, then tapped.
At this point we had 2-3 miles to go. I planned to take it all the way in from there - John had taken the hard hill, no way I was going to hand it back on the last climb. DfO was gone. It was just us. I asked if he was on, and he said, "Yes!". If there was any wind aid tonight, this was the place it happened. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31... we were rolling now. Into the rollers, the speed really didn't drop off below 27. I ran hard at the last hill, topping it at 21.6 mph (I looked!), then prepared for the final assault.
Now I'm thinking of the last stretch. John T. was relatively fresh, since he hadn't biked much over the weekend. I was flat from Saturday and the ride yesterday. I'd pulled almost 2 miles by now, with a hard mile ahead. If John had anything at all, anything, I couldn't respond. So I did the only thing I could do - just rode hard and smooth.
At the break line I waited for him to go by. I imagined him coming up on me, several times even thinking I could hear him approaching, almost catching glimpses of him making his move. I hoped I'd be able to jump on his wheel when he went by, hoped he wouldn't time it right and dust me right at the end... Then I crossed the line. No John T. I looked back. He wasn't there. Turned out he'd pulled too long the last time through, and was blasted after the Lost River hill. A minute later, he came through.
I hadn't intended to lose him, didn't even consider it possible to be frank. That's a tough conundrum though. If you have Lost River Valley, do you hand off before the hill, or do you take your chances on tapping at the top? I was fresh in either spot, and following. Tap before, and I might blow up the hill faster than you can recover. Tap after, and you might not recover fast enough to stay on. Of course the best answer is to get off the pull before you're too flat, but we intentionally went longer, and anyway, DfO sure wasn't going to take a turn on the front. I would have been in the same boat if I'd had the pull and he was behind me. Or Miller. Interchangeable parts, and the luck of the draw.
We did run after, and easy one, and of course ate at Wendy's. Mike, Lori, Strunk, and Jamie were already there when the rest of us arrived, and it was a nice sit-down. All too soon the sun set and it was time to leave.
Paceline Data.
Mile repeats tomorrow! Jimmy's at 5.
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