August 23-25 Weekend Bike Rides

[Catrin]

I will start

Yesterday I experimented with a very brief ride with my hydration pack to see if my neurological symptoms would return. I ONLY had water in the pack and had everything else on my rack. 30 minutes was golden - no problems As it was supposed to be a rest day after 3 days of HARD workouts, I called it good.

Today I expanded that to a 13 mile ride that took a bit over an hour - our coach wants us to get 1-3 "long and low cardio output" sessions a week (HR in the second zone). That helps get my lazy azz out the door. I ALSO replaced my beloved Frogs with my Sunringle ZuZu pedals - it seemed worth an experiment since I am not riding near as hard or as long as I once did. THAT was a mistake!

All of a sudden I didn't feel in control of my bike when I stopped, at one point I was in the big gear at 18mph on the flats when BOTH of my feet came off at the same time. I think I am so accustomed to being attached that I no longer focus on keeping that contact between shoes and pedal. Some will remember that I put several thousand miles on those pedals before moving to Frogs (LHT days) and I had more trouble today than I ever did then. My knee was also cranky - which was why I moved to clipless, and Fogs in particular, to begin with. To cut it short, I kept my bike under control, didn't crash, and slowed down while focusing on that shoe/pedal contact.

I had a great ride notheless, and the Frogs are going back on tomorrow I wanted to trail run today, but trying to loosen up a tight calf.