I was starting to feel a bit weak by the end of last week. I chalked it up to overtraining, and perhaps it was, but hand-in-hand with that came the cold. By Thursday's swim it was obvious I had a sore throat and should stay out of the water (which I didn't). By Saturday morning that sore throat had moved into my ears. Now it would be real trouble. I hadn't slept much the night before because of drainage. Would I be able to hold on in the 100?
Roy and Scott returned for another century ride despite the difficulties from the week before. This showed great resolve, but could they take the previous week's experience and learn from it? Did conditioning improve? How about the mental game? It's a long day, no matter how you slice it. Everything must be managed.
Galloway surprised us all by starting out with us. The reason that was surprising was the temperature. It was only 50 degrees when we left, and this is below the Galloway standard for suitable riding weather. He made an exception, and we're sure glad he did. We've been missing our swarthy little buddy.
Allen, Jimmy, and I are no strangers to century rides, but in terms of conditioning, mine far outstripped the others. They planned to be careful, drink a lot, and hold the pace down early. The only question was "what kind of course were we riding?"
Which brings me to a point... things worked out just fine the last couple of weeks, but I'm afraid we might be headed for a disaster of sorts. We need to try to settle down a course, or a mostly course, before we start down the road. Some guys just need to know where they're going. Most are flexible, some don't care at all, but some have to know where they are going. It may not seem like a big deal, but there's no sense alienating anyone from the group for something that is so easily avoided.
For my money, I say give the job of course master to Scott. This weekend's ride was a thing of beauty. We went toward Orangeville to start, and in places it was simply breathtaking. Did we climb a bit more? Yes. So what? We need to do that anyway. But the scenes, the rolling hills, wide vistas, bright blue sky spilling onto fields awaking to intense yellow-green early spring growth... and ahead of me, in a slow, sweeping downhill left turn, my friends ride silently in aero, in line and evenly spaced, hunkered down against the cool morning breeze... The experience was visually intense and vibrant, a mental snapshot I will have always.
Another great aspect to the ride, and this was a bit more collaborative in nature, was that we didn't have to double back or circle aimlessly around to make distance. We cast a wide net and found all our miles in our first haul. About the only negative about the course is I didn't get a Campbellsburg hamburger, but it was worth it.
Back to the pacing... early on Scott started to lead off again, and then, he didn't. He found his way to the back from time-to-time, admitting he needed to watch himself. I began to feel good about his chances of finishing strongly. Allen hugged the back tenaciously, as well as his head wrap. Even when temperatures had nearly reached 70 degrees, he still wore his arm warmers and head wrap, as well as cold weather gloves.
I started to nag him to get it off. I teased him, mocked him, warned him, but Allen is a stubborn man. Finally, at nearly 40 miles into the ride, I got him to stop and remove the head piece. The sun was quite warm by this point, and it could very well be the difference between finishing and not finishing the ride. That's the thing about a 6-7 hour workout; the little things you do early magnify over time. Like a small snowball on the top of a mountain, by the bottom of the hill they can become massive boulders of snow.
This is where an interesting dynamic of the day played out again. Jimmy, Scott, and Roy continued on while Allen stopped and removed gear. I told them I'd wait for Allen, and I knew Jimmy and Roy had some kind of time restraint. It would have been okay if they had gone on, Allen and I would have ridden it out just fine. Instead they got to Livonia via Highway 56, with us trying a slow chase from behind, and waited for us. This is what I couldn't understand at the time; if they were going to wait anyway, they might as well wait with Allen, who was clearly struggling to keep up. By doing it the other way around, they were wearing him down quicker. In other words, if they thought he was slow before, do that to him a few more times and see what happens!
We headed down Hardinsburg/Livonia Road south to Hardinsburg. This was largely Scott's/my idea, mainly to avoid backtracking. The bad part of course was it included more climbing. That's where I suppose I owe Allen an apology - I should have known better. I felt we needed a little bit more to get in the necessary miles, Roy and Scott hadn't seen Chainsaw, so... up Route 66, up the big hill, and there we were at the apex point headed south. It was a high price to pay, but from this point on we would be headed north.
This is where we needed a bit of strategy. There would be a headwind all the way home. It wasn't terribly strong, but we had 40 miles of riding to get back. Once we reached 337 I would pull lightly, 20-21 mph. That would keep speed where everyone could stay on, and if I didn't give up the lead, no one would get a wild hair and take us up to 25 mph (would have been easy to do). That would have dropped riders, something we didn't need to have happen at this point.
So I held a very steady effort. The speed went up and down, but it followed the terrain. Everyone held in there, and that 10-mile piece of road disappeared effortlessly. Even from the front I'd conserved a great deal of energy. We were about 20 miles out, and decided we could take a pretty much direct path home. So we headed down 37 in the modified Tuesday night return route.
Scott got on the front and was gone. I mean G-A-W-N. Jimmy and Roy went with him, but I stayed with Allen. There was no way for Allen to even consider getting on the back of that line. I rode in front of Allen, allowing the other three to slowly slip away, trying to minimize the damage, and gave Allen a wind break as much as I could. I'll give it to Allen - it must have been frustrating. We've all been there... sometimes you just feel bad.
Once back in Mitchell, we took the regular routes to get home. It only took one turn on Hillcrest Circle to make everyone's distance come out right. With another century ride in, I would probably assess everyone in the following way:
Scott - dominant rider of the day. He could have left us any time in the second half. I think, at least for this day, he sorted out some key elements to day-long exercise.
Roy - nearly dominant. I would have given him dominant except he broke off the back of the lead group on the climb out of Orleans. Scott was just a bit stronger.
Jimmy - strong enough to cover any move made, and smart enough to recognize them when they happened.
Myself - with a huge base, it was never a question of finishing the ride. I coasted the back much of the day, but could pull anytime it was needed. The other three guys were stronger, but it was a solid ride.
Allen - struggled near the end. It was a great effort, and mentally proved his strength of will. Sometimes the hard workouts give us the best benefits.
I was the lone rider to finish the day with a run, though shorter than the week before. I ran 2 miles, the first with my lovely wife. After that I was done for the day.
Now the cold really set in that evening, and Sunday was even worse. I considered not going to work today, but we are so short of subs I didn't want to put the school out. I soldiered on, finished the day, then went for a 10-mile run and half hour lift. No, I still don't feel good, but I will get through the night and tomorrow too. Things definitely feel better.
Tomorrow we ride from the church at 5:15 pm. I plan to run afterward if anyone is interested. I do plan to ride cautiously. I also plan to arrive an hour early, hopefully picking up another 20 miles if I'm lucky.
Roy and Scott returned for another century ride despite the difficulties from the week before. This showed great resolve, but could they take the previous week's experience and learn from it? Did conditioning improve? How about the mental game? It's a long day, no matter how you slice it. Everything must be managed.
Galloway surprised us all by starting out with us. The reason that was surprising was the temperature. It was only 50 degrees when we left, and this is below the Galloway standard for suitable riding weather. He made an exception, and we're sure glad he did. We've been missing our swarthy little buddy.
Allen, Jimmy, and I are no strangers to century rides, but in terms of conditioning, mine far outstripped the others. They planned to be careful, drink a lot, and hold the pace down early. The only question was "what kind of course were we riding?"
Which brings me to a point... things worked out just fine the last couple of weeks, but I'm afraid we might be headed for a disaster of sorts. We need to try to settle down a course, or a mostly course, before we start down the road. Some guys just need to know where they're going. Most are flexible, some don't care at all, but some have to know where they are going. It may not seem like a big deal, but there's no sense alienating anyone from the group for something that is so easily avoided.
For my money, I say give the job of course master to Scott. This weekend's ride was a thing of beauty. We went toward Orangeville to start, and in places it was simply breathtaking. Did we climb a bit more? Yes. So what? We need to do that anyway. But the scenes, the rolling hills, wide vistas, bright blue sky spilling onto fields awaking to intense yellow-green early spring growth... and ahead of me, in a slow, sweeping downhill left turn, my friends ride silently in aero, in line and evenly spaced, hunkered down against the cool morning breeze... The experience was visually intense and vibrant, a mental snapshot I will have always.
Another great aspect to the ride, and this was a bit more collaborative in nature, was that we didn't have to double back or circle aimlessly around to make distance. We cast a wide net and found all our miles in our first haul. About the only negative about the course is I didn't get a Campbellsburg hamburger, but it was worth it.
Back to the pacing... early on Scott started to lead off again, and then, he didn't. He found his way to the back from time-to-time, admitting he needed to watch himself. I began to feel good about his chances of finishing strongly. Allen hugged the back tenaciously, as well as his head wrap. Even when temperatures had nearly reached 70 degrees, he still wore his arm warmers and head wrap, as well as cold weather gloves.
I started to nag him to get it off. I teased him, mocked him, warned him, but Allen is a stubborn man. Finally, at nearly 40 miles into the ride, I got him to stop and remove the head piece. The sun was quite warm by this point, and it could very well be the difference between finishing and not finishing the ride. That's the thing about a 6-7 hour workout; the little things you do early magnify over time. Like a small snowball on the top of a mountain, by the bottom of the hill they can become massive boulders of snow.
This is where an interesting dynamic of the day played out again. Jimmy, Scott, and Roy continued on while Allen stopped and removed gear. I told them I'd wait for Allen, and I knew Jimmy and Roy had some kind of time restraint. It would have been okay if they had gone on, Allen and I would have ridden it out just fine. Instead they got to Livonia via Highway 56, with us trying a slow chase from behind, and waited for us. This is what I couldn't understand at the time; if they were going to wait anyway, they might as well wait with Allen, who was clearly struggling to keep up. By doing it the other way around, they were wearing him down quicker. In other words, if they thought he was slow before, do that to him a few more times and see what happens!
We headed down Hardinsburg/Livonia Road south to Hardinsburg. This was largely Scott's/my idea, mainly to avoid backtracking. The bad part of course was it included more climbing. That's where I suppose I owe Allen an apology - I should have known better. I felt we needed a little bit more to get in the necessary miles, Roy and Scott hadn't seen Chainsaw, so... up Route 66, up the big hill, and there we were at the apex point headed south. It was a high price to pay, but from this point on we would be headed north.
This is where we needed a bit of strategy. There would be a headwind all the way home. It wasn't terribly strong, but we had 40 miles of riding to get back. Once we reached 337 I would pull lightly, 20-21 mph. That would keep speed where everyone could stay on, and if I didn't give up the lead, no one would get a wild hair and take us up to 25 mph (would have been easy to do). That would have dropped riders, something we didn't need to have happen at this point.
So I held a very steady effort. The speed went up and down, but it followed the terrain. Everyone held in there, and that 10-mile piece of road disappeared effortlessly. Even from the front I'd conserved a great deal of energy. We were about 20 miles out, and decided we could take a pretty much direct path home. So we headed down 37 in the modified Tuesday night return route.
Scott got on the front and was gone. I mean G-A-W-N. Jimmy and Roy went with him, but I stayed with Allen. There was no way for Allen to even consider getting on the back of that line. I rode in front of Allen, allowing the other three to slowly slip away, trying to minimize the damage, and gave Allen a wind break as much as I could. I'll give it to Allen - it must have been frustrating. We've all been there... sometimes you just feel bad.
Once back in Mitchell, we took the regular routes to get home. It only took one turn on Hillcrest Circle to make everyone's distance come out right. With another century ride in, I would probably assess everyone in the following way:
Scott - dominant rider of the day. He could have left us any time in the second half. I think, at least for this day, he sorted out some key elements to day-long exercise.
Roy - nearly dominant. I would have given him dominant except he broke off the back of the lead group on the climb out of Orleans. Scott was just a bit stronger.
Jimmy - strong enough to cover any move made, and smart enough to recognize them when they happened.
Myself - with a huge base, it was never a question of finishing the ride. I coasted the back much of the day, but could pull anytime it was needed. The other three guys were stronger, but it was a solid ride.
Allen - struggled near the end. It was a great effort, and mentally proved his strength of will. Sometimes the hard workouts give us the best benefits.
I was the lone rider to finish the day with a run, though shorter than the week before. I ran 2 miles, the first with my lovely wife. After that I was done for the day.
Now the cold really set in that evening, and Sunday was even worse. I considered not going to work today, but we are so short of subs I didn't want to put the school out. I soldiered on, finished the day, then went for a 10-mile run and half hour lift. No, I still don't feel good, but I will get through the night and tomorrow too. Things definitely feel better.
Tomorrow we ride from the church at 5:15 pm. I plan to run afterward if anyone is interested. I do plan to ride cautiously. I also plan to arrive an hour early, hopefully picking up another 20 miles if I'm lucky.
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