Today I just felt like hammering, and hammering I did. There was a decent turnout today, but no one really fast other than Teaters. The ride started out pretty reasonable but then it quickly turned fast. Not fast in the sense of race-pace, but just no dicking around, enough to make the occasional person drop off the back every now and then.
On the rollers just before G I decided I needed to up the pace a bit so that's what I did, and quickly the group broke up. When we got on G, we had a paceline going but in the end, only Teaters, Justin, and myself were able to make it to the end. It was a really tough stretch, and Teaters took the Stop Ahead sign just ahead of me, but I had no sprint to speak of. I also managed to take the sprint into Gibbsville, one of my favorites on the Cedar Grove route.
All-in-all I got 46.5 miles for the ride, and it's the first time in a very long time that my legs have actually been sore after a Wednesday ride. I road hard cause I really didn't get any hard intervals in on Tuesday, and I don't plan on racing for a week or so, so I had some energy to expend.
Dano called for a ride this morning, so a crap-load of people showed up, and a lot of fast guys! Where the hell are all these guys on a Tuesday when you're hoping they show? Anyways, we went pretty far north and west, into Manitowoc county and then back through Cleveland and home. The ride was 48 miles of pure spinning, NO hard efforts whatsoever (although we did have one little spring, Steve, Adam, and myself).
It was nice to just relax, chat, and spin the legs on a beautiful day. No one was in the mood to go fast and if anyone was, no one really said anything, or made it known. I'm guessing that tomorrow's ride will be slightly faster seeing as to how it's the last official ride before Superweek, which starts this weekend.
Yup, we took the 'route less traveled' we take every so often in the summer to Oostburg. This ride is always pretty fun...it presents a good mix of rolling hills, long straight-aways (for some nice pacelines), and some good sprinting spots. It's also nice cause we get to stop at Dips 'n Sips in the summer where the food is always good. It's always kinda weird to stop in Oostburg in the summer on a Saturday cause we're use to walking out with wet clothes into 20 degree temperatures, but this Saturday it was more like 84 when we got done with breakfast!
I tied for one sprint today, made a nice long pull to try to bring a small break back and worked well in a paceline that lasted for about 5 miles. I can feel my strength really coming along, and my ability to suffer for much longer periods of time...hopefully I can turn this into some results once Superweek rolls around. 57 miles today and I feel good, but kinda drained from the heat.
I was watching radar and saw a strong cell moving through Sheboygan county at about 3:30 this afternoon...behind it, clear skies. I was hoping it moved through fast so it could dry up for the ride. Well, it did, and I was pumped to do another Tuesday, afterall, I think it's been over a month since I attempted one.
We had 12 show up initially and those numbers kept changing as riders were permanently dropped and new ones were picked up. By the time we were on our way out of Falls, the pace picked up, and it never really slowed down. I managed to impress myself when I was able to hang with the fast group on Silver Spring till about half way up. I could've hung just a little longer but I wanted to drop off and set tempo the rest of the way up rather than blow up completely and struggle the rest of the way.
The ride was a usual pre-Superweek ride in that everyone wanted to go extra fast and no one really wanted to rest at all, which was fine by me, it gives me a good race simulation since I haven't done any road racing yet this year.
Another 48 miles tonight and I felt pretty good most of the time. My legs don't even feel all that sore. I remember when I first started these things a few years back and my legs would hurt for three days after a Tuesday ride...not anymore!
Another night of fast group Maywood riding for me. Tonight Dave concentrated on easy interval training by taking each rider out of the pack individually and having them do a tough little interval (for them). The riders each week in this group always seem more than willing to learn and are very thankful we're (Dave especially) teaching them a thing or two about how to ride more efficiently, especially in a group setting.
Once again I logged 27 base miles, which worked some of the kinks out from the long Saturday ride. Hopefully the rain will hold off and I can finally test myself on a Tuesday night ride again.
What the hell...today was supposed to be the Brillion ride but once we got started, the clouds scared everyone and they bitched and moaned that we were gonna get pissed on...c'mon! When I complain about that stuff I look like a wimp, but when everyone else does it, it's ok.
So we took the usual route to Kiel, then ate breakfast. When we left we basically headed out towards (and through St. Cloud), then through Glenbulah, then around Crystal Lake and Elkhart Lake, then past Plymouth and on to Falls. On our way out of St. Cloud, we headed east on C to Glenbulah, and boy were those some nice tough climbs, just the kind I like! Erich, Mikey, Tony, and myself all lit it up in this section and dropped the rest. It was nice to hold on most of the time on such a challenging road since I know I've gained some strength this spring and summer.
Once I got home I had logged 81.5 miles, a far cry from the 100 that I wanted, but oh well, my legs are feeling it anyways. Since I rode hard today, I'll be skipping the SCIO fundraising ride tomorrow as that is another hilly course and I don't feel like killing myself two days in a row.
Due to Dave Nagode's persistence, we managed to take a completely different route today, one filled with hills and some fast paces. I was all for it as everyone knows who reads my blog, I'm sick of the same old crap...it's time for a change of scenery.
The route took us out on Sumac Road to Blueberry Lane to U, then U all the way out to A, where we turned right and headed towards Z. We took Z all the way into Plymouth, then PP out of Plymouth to Falls to end the ride. Z was crazy though...first we have a huge downhill section where I reached 47 mph, then the climbing started along with the fast pace. There were only about 6 of us who could hold the pace, and I even went to the front several times on the climbs to really turn the screws up. Dave was sitting in the back and once he shot out from behind, I popped, but luckily this was just before Plymouth so I wasn't dropped too badly.
Then, when we crossed 57 on PP and headed towards Falls, same thing, blistering fast, and only half of us were able to hang. I hung about a mile or so before the Armory parking lot where the pace just got way too fast. Eventually I could see others popping so I didn't feel all that bad, especially since others were not able to hang from the start.
When I got home, I saw that I had 44 miles on for the day...a nice total for a Wednesday ride, and finally a new route with some really fast paces being set, I liked it a lot.
