Geonz
01-23-2007, 08:51 AM
(cross-posting)
I've been going to the LBS "group training rides" (so I could ride in the back with the fun people ;)) and working reasonably hard. I "won" the first COmputrainer ride, going faster than the only other woman doing it, but slower than last year.
So on the last training ride before this one, I told Larry who runs the things to dare the guy whose time was two seconds slower than me ast time to sign up to ride with me. He did!
Larry puts my bike in the COmputrainer. 175 pounds for bike + rider (all bikes counted as 25 pounds; no, Sioux did not weigh less than last time). Jay gets set up. He warms up a *lot* faster than me, spinning at 13 while he goes 18. I think, "okay, I beat him once, but he had no competition. He can probably go a lot faster. Then again, he *works* at a fitness place. He probably knows how hard he can push."
Go to ten mph... ready... set... GO!!!!
Jay takes off at 24 mph. Sioux pulls it up to 23. She thinks, "that's *way* faster than he did before." She's seen lots of these computrainer things now and noticed that other people started out fast and slowed down. So she holds her 23 while he nudges out, out, out. The Computrainer has a little number in blue that shows how far the blue bike is ahead of her.
Larry says, "Keep a steady pace, Sue, I can hear him breathing!" Yea, he was breathing louder. I caught myself automatically breathing harder like I do on Saunter rides so that hill-strugglers might not get discouraged, then told myself this was a RACE, so if I were going to breathe harder, I might as well work harder!
I switched gears a few times but tried to keep it above 21 mph; previous average 20.9. Jay was kind of uneven, so a few times I could slow down his lead gain and for a few seconds (especially when he was looking down :)) be going faster than him.
Larry cheers me on... "looking good... you have time to get him back in!"
Somewhere around 4 miles Jay was flagging just a tad and I decided to make that "lead" number shrink. 400... 350... "Plenty of time, Sioux, you're reeling him in!!" I guess Larry is rootin' for the folks who work out here, not the fitness center. Then he doesn't look for a little while and chats with the guys on his racing team.
"Yea, Sioux, you're really closin. no, hey, you've passed him!!Go, Sioux, Go!!" Sioux has a momentary "choke" reaction (she *hates* being told what to do!) but then goes and nudges that speed back up over 22.
Jay says, "tell me when there's half a mile to go," and Sioux wonders if he'll do what that other guy named Jay did and go screaming past her at the very last tenth... but SIoux has always done better from a lead so she casually nudges up her speed another two tenths and suddenly it's that "countdown" from 6.00 to 6.20 and she *knows* that poor Jay ain't gonna blow by anybody, which may be why I didn't *quite* beat 17:00 and finished at 17:02, average speed 21.8 mph. Jay screamed in at 17:09... both of us over 30 seconds faster than last month.
I peeked at last year's results. My fastest time was 17:24; Jay's was... 16:44. Miss Geonz is *glad* she hadn't seen that little piece of info to get psyched out by it.
SHe also realized that she was a lot mroe tired after that time trial than most of the others. So! SHe has gleaned much from this day:
1. SHe won She doesn't have to pay next time and she gets the adulation and admiration of others.
2. She knows that she can work that much harder than she thought she could work, and she did *not* bonk or "blow up at the end." She just might work harder on her commutes and video rides.
3. She is going ot find out when Jay does that swimming clinic and stuff 'cause he knows a *lot* about this training stuff.
I'm not sure why more people don't like these things, especially the other women.
I've been going to the LBS "group training rides" (so I could ride in the back with the fun people ;)) and working reasonably hard. I "won" the first COmputrainer ride, going faster than the only other woman doing it, but slower than last year.
So on the last training ride before this one, I told Larry who runs the things to dare the guy whose time was two seconds slower than me ast time to sign up to ride with me. He did!
Larry puts my bike in the COmputrainer. 175 pounds for bike + rider (all bikes counted as 25 pounds; no, Sioux did not weigh less than last time). Jay gets set up. He warms up a *lot* faster than me, spinning at 13 while he goes 18. I think, "okay, I beat him once, but he had no competition. He can probably go a lot faster. Then again, he *works* at a fitness place. He probably knows how hard he can push."
Go to ten mph... ready... set... GO!!!!
Jay takes off at 24 mph. Sioux pulls it up to 23. She thinks, "that's *way* faster than he did before." She's seen lots of these computrainer things now and noticed that other people started out fast and slowed down. So she holds her 23 while he nudges out, out, out. The Computrainer has a little number in blue that shows how far the blue bike is ahead of her.
Larry says, "Keep a steady pace, Sue, I can hear him breathing!" Yea, he was breathing louder. I caught myself automatically breathing harder like I do on Saunter rides so that hill-strugglers might not get discouraged, then told myself this was a RACE, so if I were going to breathe harder, I might as well work harder!
I switched gears a few times but tried to keep it above 21 mph; previous average 20.9. Jay was kind of uneven, so a few times I could slow down his lead gain and for a few seconds (especially when he was looking down :)) be going faster than him.
Larry cheers me on... "looking good... you have time to get him back in!"
Somewhere around 4 miles Jay was flagging just a tad and I decided to make that "lead" number shrink. 400... 350... "Plenty of time, Sioux, you're reeling him in!!" I guess Larry is rootin' for the folks who work out here, not the fitness center. Then he doesn't look for a little while and chats with the guys on his racing team.
"Yea, Sioux, you're really closin. no, hey, you've passed him!!Go, Sioux, Go!!" Sioux has a momentary "choke" reaction (she *hates* being told what to do!) but then goes and nudges that speed back up over 22.
Jay says, "tell me when there's half a mile to go," and Sioux wonders if he'll do what that other guy named Jay did and go screaming past her at the very last tenth... but SIoux has always done better from a lead so she casually nudges up her speed another two tenths and suddenly it's that "countdown" from 6.00 to 6.20 and she *knows* that poor Jay ain't gonna blow by anybody, which may be why I didn't *quite* beat 17:00 and finished at 17:02, average speed 21.8 mph. Jay screamed in at 17:09... both of us over 30 seconds faster than last month.
I peeked at last year's results. My fastest time was 17:24; Jay's was... 16:44. Miss Geonz is *glad* she hadn't seen that little piece of info to get psyched out by it.
SHe also realized that she was a lot mroe tired after that time trial than most of the others. So! SHe has gleaned much from this day:
1. SHe won She doesn't have to pay next time and she gets the adulation and admiration of others.
2. She knows that she can work that much harder than she thought she could work, and she did *not* bonk or "blow up at the end." She just might work harder on her commutes and video rides.
3. She is going ot find out when Jay does that swimming clinic and stuff 'cause he knows a *lot* about this training stuff.
I'm not sure why more people don't like these things, especially the other women.