November 12/13 rides

[azfiddle]

I started the 3 day weekend early - and concentrated on refreshing my memory of a few sections of the El Tour de Tucson for next week.

Thursday after work: I rode 16 miles, about 6 on the ETT route- reviewing the first big hill on the route, near Saguaro NP. Friday's ride was 27 cloudy but pleasant miles, 12 of which were on the next section of the ETT route. This morning I revisited the steepest hill on the course: It climbs 160 feet in 1/2 mile. I was standing in the pedals in my lowest gear, but I made it to the top. My heart rate was 175!!! Another cool and cloudy day, and the predicted wind did not arrive until after I got home.

Tomorrow, there is a 50% chance of rain, but it is the last ride with our El Tour training group. I have 3 different rain rackets, none of which have ever been put to work on a bike- I live in the desert! Maybe one of them will get a chance tomorrow.

[7rider]

Mtb'ing with DH at Rosaryville State Park....Fun stuff.

[MojoGrrl]

Haven't ridden in almost two weeks and was starting to feel depressed about it! Went out today for 21 miles. Rather dry, cold wind and I felt warm enough riding but when I got home I realized that my eyeballs were so dry I could barely see, my lips were almost cracking, and my face was freezing. Time to start moisturizing/coating on the petroleum products/carrying eye drops!

[redrhodie]

Yesterday we did our old 30 mile lbs "peace ride", so named because we're not supposed to ride that fast, or drop each other. As is the case with bike rides, that never happens, but at least it's not so hard we can't talk. We've been doing another shorter route for a few weeks, now, so the old loop felt long and the hill felt hard. The guys I was with dropped me on it, and I ended up riding the rest of the way in the middle of the 3 groups we split into. It was pretty fun, despite lagging on the hill. It was in the low 30s when we started, but the time change had us in full sun and we warmed up rather quickly, even with a hard headwind for the last 10 miles.

Today I did my 22 mile ocean ride. It was over 20º warmer than yesterday, and the SW wind felt good. I was just spinning, trying to keep a high cadence and recover from yesterday's hard hill effort, when a guy on a Ti bike passed me. I kept doing my thing, and without even trying, I passed him back on a hill (see, I'm not the worst climber ). I could feel him trying to get onto my wheel after the road flattened out, and I got a bit of the devil in me, and sprinted away from him. It wasn't very nice, but if felt good. So much for spinning. More like intervals at the end.