Riding Twofer

Two, two, two posts in one!

Friday, 6/19 -
I had a "brick" on my calendar. 1:20 ride, followed by a :20 run. I don't know if it was that I was tired from the day before, or cranky, or just plain stubborn, but I really didn't feel like doing it. :::sigh::: I finally got my act together and headed out on the bike. 8 minutes into the ride I knew it was going to be a long ride. "8 minutes? That's it?" It was time for "Let's Make a Deal Cycling Edition." "2 more minutes and you will be a 1/4 of the way through the first half of the ride." I didn't choose the most exciting route, straight down Williams, its a pretty long straight street. "13 minutes? Just keep pedaling." It was kinda windy which isn't that unusual for the evenings in San Jose. "20 minutes! 1/2 way through the first half, 1/4 done." My bike shorts and skirt were drying so I was riding in my running skirt. Maybe not the best choice, I felt a little exposed when the wind blew back my skirt. "30 minutes. Getting closer. You can turn around at DeAnza whether it's 40 minutes or not." And, I forgot my gloves. "36 minutes . . . 4 more minutes . . . 3 more minutes." Oh, look DeAnza. Fine keep riding. "2 more minutes . . . 1 more minute . . ." Then the street ended at exactly 40 minutes. Ahh . . . heading back. Much faster then going out. Turns out that I was going slightly uphill the way out. I ended up getting home 5 minutes faster. My sore achilles tendon was irritated so I decided to skip the run. Stretched, iced and fueled for my big ride on Saturday.

Saturday, 6/20 -
3 hour ride. 3 hour ride?! Where? How? Why? I enlisted the help of my friend, C. She planned a route that she was pretty sure would take about 3 hours. 39 miles in 3 hours? Yeah, right. We headed out for Morgan Hill at 8am. With a headwind. blech. "wind is a good training partner." yeah, yeah whatever. We were on a "country" road with rolling hills. Some were easier than others. At the top of a hill by Calero Reservoir I tried to change into a harder gear and the chain wasn't catching. My left foot (the one with the irritated achilles) was flung forward and I had a pain go up the side of my ankle. Eek? We stopped at the parking lot so I could stretch my calf. I was worried but it was fine for the rest of the ride. At 1 hour we had made it all the way to Chesboro Reservoir in Morgan Hill. How did that happen? Then we took a smaller country road through some nice trees and horse ranches. There was a surprise hill, but after a little break I was okay to continue. I had a lot of fun on Hale Avenue, which I remember from my childhood. It was fun to be on a straight flat road without intersections. I was going pretty fast, ~18 mph. Too bad the road surface wasn't smoother. Then it was time for Bailey Hill. Dun, dun, duhhhh. I've heard about this challenging hill. C chose this route because it is similar to the route for the AquaBike on 8/1. I got myself in a good head space and tried to remain calm. I did pretty well. I think it was about a mile long. I stopped three times to catch my breath, but rode up that darn hill. Then we were back on McKean Road and had some fun on the down hills. We ended up back at the cars 30 minutes early. "What the heck?" So, we continued on Camden for 15 minutes out and back. Which included Camden Hill. Oof. Usually, I stop once on Camden Hill, but this time I stopped twice and used Coach H's counting technique to get to the top of the hill, "30 . . . 31 . . . 32 . . . 33 . . . 35 . . . 36. Done!" We headed back to the cars and were back in that headwind. Grrr.

I have tired legs but I'm very pleased. 36.25 miles in 3 hours. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do 56 miles on August first, but I still need to work on the chafing.