With my race season rapidly approaching I have been trying to ride a bit more distance. Unfortunately, life has its own ideas and my miles have been hard to come by. Knowing this is a marathon and not a sprint, I am just taking what I can get.
First off, Friday night I headed to Yankee to meet up with Matt and Nate. Kevin from my team joined as well as Jimmy from the East side of the state. Jimmy and I are former rivals that will be rivals again this year, since Jimmy dumped his SS in favor of some gears. Yankee was good, but I have major work to do. I was ready to quit, and the guys just urged me to continue. We slogged away and finally arrived at the trailhead, I was happy to be done.
Sunday I met up with Matt again and Brian joined us. It was a brisk 25 degrees, but the wind chill had to be lower. It was pretty windy and the shivers were evident before we started. Thankfully, once we got going the temperature wasn't a factor. This ride I decided to ride The D.U.F.F. to see how much of a difference there would be between it and Albert. On the first "climb" which is still on the pavement, Brian and Matt put some distance on me. I stopped at the top of the first sister to check my phone (that had rang 3 times and had 3 messages) so they were a bit further ahead. I spun up the second sister and could see them ascending the 3rd. That is a bitch of a hill. I dropped into my low gear and spun very slowly to the top and we rolled onward again.
The roads were a good mix of packed dirt, normal gravel, sand, and super loose gravel. Should be interesting in the race if we don't get any rain to help tighten it up. Mentally I was just trying to concentrate on spinning steady. At this point in the season, that is really all I can do. We reached the dairy farm climb and I was already feeling gassed, about 5 miles in. I was being left behind and didn't really care for how it was making me feel. I crested the hill and had to smile as I saw Brain chasing down Matt. By the bottom of the hill Brian was pretty well past him. I think that was the turning point of my ride. I was warmed up for one, but mentally I started to come around too.
We chatted about the differences between the 36 mile and 22 mile courses after turning to the short distance. There is a pretty nasty punch climb that I just have to spin up. The power in my legs was feeling better, but I didn't want to burn up. Spin spin spin. Did you know there are more feet of climbing per mile on the short course than there is on the 36 mile course of Barry-Roubaix? Yeah, its true.
We kept plugging along and just riding our own paces. Heading into the cemetery climb the guys had a solid gap on me, but I closed down on Matt...because...gravity. Then we went uphill...and he passed me again. I was starting to close in on Brian and got to his wheel right at the top of the hill. We pressed on and each hill was different. One he would lead to the top, the next I would. He would gap me on a flat, and I would reel him in....then another hill and we would go back and forth. On one hill I felt a tug...and Brian grabbed me to get a slight edge. We laughed for the rest of that climb.
The rest of the ride was like that, back and forth. We made the last left to head back into town. A grinder climb then a few rollers. I was feeling pretty good so I attacked one of the rollers. I was carrying speed into the next one, so I stood and mashed that one too. Then we hit the pavement and the slight descent into Hastings. Matt was on my wheel but I never looked to see where Brian was. I hit the stop sign and stopped to look back, he was right there with me. I suppose it was arrogant of me to think that I had put a gap on him, because he is a stronger rider than I am!
It was a good ride with good friends. The hills of Barry Roubaix might not get any smaller....they might not get any easier....but...slowly.....we get a little bit faster each time we see them.
2 weeks to my first race!
We kept plugging along and just riding our own paces. Heading into the cemetery climb the guys had a solid gap on me, but I closed down on Matt...because...gravity. Then we went uphill...and he passed me again. I was starting to close in on Brian and got to his wheel right at the top of the hill. We pressed on and each hill was different. One he would lead to the top, the next I would. He would gap me on a flat, and I would reel him in....then another hill and we would go back and forth. On one hill I felt a tug...and Brian grabbed me to get a slight edge. We laughed for the rest of that climb.
The rest of the ride was like that, back and forth. We made the last left to head back into town. A grinder climb then a few rollers. I was feeling pretty good so I attacked one of the rollers. I was carrying speed into the next one, so I stood and mashed that one too. Then we hit the pavement and the slight descent into Hastings. Matt was on my wheel but I never looked to see where Brian was. I hit the stop sign and stopped to look back, he was right there with me. I suppose it was arrogant of me to think that I had put a gap on him, because he is a stronger rider than I am!
It was a good ride with good friends. The hills of Barry Roubaix might not get any smaller....they might not get any easier....but...slowly.....we get a little bit faster each time we see them.
2 weeks to my first race!
No comments:
Post a Comment