Turn Me Over and Stick a Fork in Me

Cooked: The best word to describe how I feel after the morning ride.  My legs are wobbly.  I sweated gallons.  I started to cramp up some.  But … I did go fast and had a great ride.

We had a good group of riders at the Rusty Bridge just after a spectacular sunrise.  The sky was a deep red just before sunrise, certainly communicating how humid it was.  It was warm, about 77° F.  Our forecast high on the day is 100° so despite the humidity, this was the best time of the day to ride.  I started out in the front group, so I’m not really sure how many riders were out.  We quickly split into two groups, but at streets where there was cross traffic, the groups often came together.  We had a quick pace throughout, and true to form I chose to stay on Old County Road rather than doing the hill in Round Bay.  Five others went with me.  It was fast enough that I logged my 4th fastest time on that segment.  We picked up the pace once we got back on the trail, organizing a paceline on the last stretch of the trail.  With about 75 yards to the finish, I sprinted around a couple of guys and “won the sprint points” for that section.  (Yes, watching the Tour kindles our imagination.)

From there, Dan, Bryan, & I extended the ride.  We rode to the peak of the Naval Academy Bridge, then made our way to St. Margaret’s Road and down toward Sandy Point.  We had a fast pace going, holding about 21 mph pretty steadily.  My heart rate spiked on the hills and settled down into a high range on the long steady flat.  But by the time we got back to College Parkway, I was feeling the high speed on the morning.  I had an average speed at that point of 19 mph for the day, and knowing that I couldn’t hold that on the hills that were ahead, I simply chose to continue on College Parkway while Bryan and Dan wound their way through the park and neighborhoods.  I was hard-pressed to keep the pace up during some of the longer hills and emptied my water bottle with about 4 miles to go.  I had some muscle twinges bordering on cramping within the last 2 miles.

By the time I arrived home, I had added about 10 extra miles to my usual morning ride and averaged 18.7 mph on the day.  Not too shabby!  (In fact, my 5 mile splits for the 20 miles of the group ride were 19.6, 19.8, 20.0, & 19.2 mph.)

The odometer has clicked over 17,000 miles in the last 31 months.

Now, it’s a matter of taking care of recovery while sitting at a desk all morning.

This Ride: 32.5 miles
Month: 195.6 miles
2012: 3,151.2 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 17,004.9 miles