Implosion

Strength period only has two days per week. I've started to get on the bike in between those days. Yesterday John and I did the Flatwoods loop. Flat is not correct. There's some steep grunts on this ride.

My legs are screaming. The biggest limiter is the lower back. It's fatigued from the lifting. It's quite apparent to me how important the lower back is to cycling. It's the keystone for power transfer. With it fatigued I can just feel or actually not feel the power getting put down. The legs just can't tick over when the grade increases.

The good thing is that I'm strengthening the lower back a lot during this time and just have to accept that right now it will feel fatigued on rides. About 1.5hrs into a road ride it starts to ache.

My head was aching the rest of the day and into the night. Must have a sinus infection as the congestion I've been experiencing has been going on for a few weeks now with no sign of getting better.

Today Scott joined us. He didn't hear the part about it being easy. We rolled down one of my favorite rides in the area. The Tabor to Gravel Hill to Harding loop. It's got some rollers in it but not too bad. Coming back on Harding it is just a screamfest. This road just begs to be ridden hard.

At the county sign just before Gravel Hill I tried to sprint for it. Scott's sort of new to the area and wasn't really aware of the sign. You know it's a bad sprint when someone is on your wheel the whole time and then after your sprint they ask, Oh was that a sign to sprint for.

Scott got on the front on the way back on Harding and just dieseled it. It was interesting to watch his technique when hitting some small rollers. It looked like he'd keep the same gear or even drop to a lower gear and stand just slightly, sort of like squatting over the bike. And then increase cadence. Very similar to what I do in mountain biking when hitting a technical section. Momentum is conserved and you can roll right up and over.

Things were going well until we hit this short climb. It's a climb that is always a gauge for me. If I can roll up it w/o losing momentum I'm on. If I have to drop to an easier gear I'm not.

At the bottom of the climb Scott pulls off for me to take the lead. I can feel my head getting dizzy, and my back aching. And murmur to no one in particular that I'm going to pop. And then I just imploded.

John smelled the blood and shot off with Scott in tow. By the time I got to the top I could see them all the way down at the bottom. It's a privilege to watch John get better and better every year. Though it's starting to hurt now.

Going up Harding was survival mode. And actually felt the twinges of leg cramps.

At the top
Scott: Are you guys riding tomorrow?
Me:Awww, nooo I wasn't planing on it.
John: Not really, I'm fried.

Without missing a beat
Scott: so is anyone riding tomorrow?

Ok twist my arm.


It's not the time of year to go too hard. And I'm wise enough to take it easy and will. But before tomorrow's ride I'm taking Sport Legs.