| Quick Stats | Amy | John |
|---|---|---|
| Ride Distance: | 100 miles | 89 miles |
| Elevation Gain: | 5,182 feet | 3,726 feet |
| Average Moving Speed: | 16.2 mph | 15.6 mph |
I did this century one month ago, and it really is a nice ride (when traffic is low on a non-summer week day!) so we decided to do it again, giving Amy a nice local century opportunity. Couldn't ask for a better day weather-wise, either.
However, before we got going I had a deja vu "not again!" moment. I was pumping up our tires and noticed my rear wheel was rubbing on the brake pad just like happened on the Broken Wheel Ride. Armed with this recent experience I was able to quickly figure out the issue: a spoke was simply loose. I tightened the spoke and the wheel became true. Phew!
We got going a little after 8 a.m. without all of the usual extra warm clothing: no booties/toasties, no jackets, no extra jersey, no leg warmers. What a pleasure!
Knowing I was a bit out of shape and prone to having coughing fits I was trying to take it a little easier than normal. I discovered that due to the heat or my fitness loss or allergies (or all of the above) my heart rate was simply higher than usual. My heart rate is usually about 10 bpm lower than Amy's at any given moment on a ride, but today for the few times we checked it was about 10 bpm higher than hers. Nonetheless I felt relatively good, all things considered, for the first 50 miles or so.
At our 50-mile rest stop Amy noticed I was wanting to take a longer break than she would have liked so she figured something was up. She didn't mention it, but she was right. I really struggled on the next stretch, a 15-mile loop out of Woodland, particularly the last stretch into a headwind. There are no hills, it is extremely flat, and one would expect it to be easy, but it is hard in a different way from climbing: there is no real break from pedaling. Pedal, pedal, pedal!
Needless to say I took another nice long break at the next stop. Thankfully though the next segment had some minor hills and downhills, so my legs got an occasional break. My heart rate was really up there though. When we got to Daybreak Park I decided I would take the direct route home and Amy would finish the century. As she rode ahead of me I considered plodding along behind her on the full century but I am so thankful I turned to go down 50th Avenue instead. I struggled as it was, and don't even want to think about how difficult and slow the extra 11 miles and 1500 feet of additional climbing would have been just to do the century.
As it was my average heart rate was 147 bpm. You can see from these two graphs that even on my training rides (where I push it fairly hard on a much shorter ride) my average heart rate is typically less than this.
If this had been one of our big rides of the season I would have chosen the full route and been happy to suffer to the end of it. However, since it wasn't, and given my issues, I am quite satisfied with my choice. Plenty of time to build up with more training rides so I can crush a ride like this without struggling at all.
Like Amy did!
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