Yesterday was our first “buddy” ride: a non-TnT, totally optional ride that covered 20 to 33 miles depending on which route you took. It started and ended really rainy, but the weather gods took pity on us and gave us a dry spell that conveniently lasted most of the ride. Everyone went out with the notable exception of… OUR COACH! Oh well, I’m sure she’s earned that right.
Since I suck at on-bike navigation, I paired up with TnT mentor Mark who knew to route and the general area and is my paceline teammate. We had a very nice 25-mile ride and picked up Roni on the way back, who took her own route. Roni is new to cycling. I give her and others like her HUGE props for undertaking something like this century with little to no cycling experience! That is a major leap of faith.
Hill repeats—with a twist.
Today was completely different than yesterday: bright and sunny with temps in the low 50s. I toyed with the idea of wearing leg warmers instead of my windstopper tights, but decided that it was better to be too warm on the climbs and just right on the descents than to get a chill on the downhills. So I wore all of my gear, but swapped the rain jacket for the windbreaker since there was no rain in the forecast. It worked out okay. I was a little warmer than I’d expected, but riding with my windbreaker unzipped toward the end of the day solved the problem.
We did four climbs but Patrick threw us a curve; on one of them (I think it was the second or third), we were supposed to do as much of it as possible while standing and using a taller gear. I was only able to do about half that way. Incredibly, it was my arms and hands that got tired, not my legs! I’m just not used to pulling up on the bars. I guess I need to mix in some rowing exercises at the gym. And work on standing climbs next week, too.
Since the road was mostly dry, I also worked on my descending technique. I’m a wuss on downhills, even on my motorcycle, but I had more confidence in my braking so I opened it up a little. I also wanted to work on my footwork—getting my outside foot down on turns. I normally just do downhills with the pedals level, but supposedly getting your outside foot down lowers your center of gravity more. It felt okay, but I can’t tell if it’s any better than keeping the pedals level. Maybe I’d feel the difference if I were carrying more speed. Either way, it was a good day. My legs are really feeling it now!