Missed last week's post, it was a long hilly ride, 50 miles, but a beautiful one through southern Maryland. At least it seemed hilly until this week. 54 miles of Hills (that's a capitol H), and up Sugarloaf mountain, with a wicked headwind. That's me in the vest looking suspicious at the beginning of the ride last week. Maybe I was just cold. They call this one the the Hidden Amish ride, since a lot of Amish live in the area, and most people don't know it. At least, I think that's why they call it that.
The picture of me smiling was taken at the second rest stop. The smile is because we're only 10 miles from the end of the ride. My mentor Lisa suggested I ride with team veterans Karen and Rob, with the thought that they might be about my speed. We rode together the whole ride, which was terrific, and they waited for me when the hills were steep :) That's them sitting at the school where we met after the ride. We brought a picnic lunch (no restaurants nearby) and ate outside. It had warmed up a bit, but you can tell from the layers that it's not exactly warm out yet. Particularly when we start off in the morning.
The support car carries the extra layer that we shed, it's a great system, plus it shows up with food. Not pie this time, but fig newtons and bananas. One of my teammates snapped a photo of the Amish (see told you that's why they call the ride that) and the last pic is proof that I stretch after rides. Mostly I was getting sore already, so it made sense at the time.
The support car carries the extra layer that we shed, it's a great system, plus it shows up with food. Not pie this time, but fig newtons and bananas. One of my teammates snapped a photo of the Amish (see told you that's why they call the ride that) and the last pic is proof that I stretch after rides. Mostly I was getting sore already, so it made sense at the time.
Sunday after last week's ride, I went for a professional bike fitting. So a new saddle (apparently it'll start to feel better any day now), a new stem - to make the handlebars a little closer (shoulders and arms feel much better), a seatpost to bring me in the right position with respect to the pedals and a rear cassette with bigger gears to make hill climbing a bit easier (it is, and the last two are making it much easier on my knee that started hurting last week). Ice and ibuprofen last week, this one too.
And this week...it was hard. Considered by on alums to be the most hills per mileage that any ride we do. Here's a picture of me on top of Sugarloaf mountain at the second rest stop. It's a terrible picture and I look like a mess. That's the new white saddle at the bottom of the picture...pay no attention to the rider, she's 41 miles into a 54 miles ride and just glad to have climbed the mountain. Now, I'm no whiner (who wants to ride with a whiner?) but but I'll say that when we started I could feel my Thursday night ride in my legs, at 15 miles into the headwind I was horrified that the worst hills could still be ahead, at 30 miles, my legs were really burnt out, at 38 miles I climbed Sugarloaf (needed to see if I could climb through switchbacks) part of it at 4 miles an hour, and then the last 10 miles were actually more like 13, but rolling so actually felt not too bad. It was a relief to be done.
Today's 15 miles recovery ride was a lesson in pain, for the first 1/2 mile I couldn't sit in the saddle, I kind of perched close to it...Apparently the recovery ride helps with muscle recovery and with soreness on the second day. Had lunch with folks afterward, including my friends son Alex who's adorable and who loves black beans.
So changes coming up: This week, I ride during the week on Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday's not enough time to recover. On Saturday, I'll carry more gels with me and I eat more in the first part of the ride - carry a banana in case there are no more at the first rest stop. I ordered a foam roller for my IT band (my knee pain) and I'm icing and taking ibuprofen for the next couple of days. Next week is a "metric century" in Northern Virginia - 62 miles. Theoretically less hilly, apparently this is a lot of people's favorite ride. Looking forward to it, and hoping for warm weather!
Most importantly I hit my fundraising minimum this week! And I'm still getting donations! Thank you! Creeping up to $5000 and, as ever, incredibly grateful. Here's the site if you're been meaning to donate: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/ambbr10/phyllisfrosst
Go TEAM.
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