Epic Territory

Today's ride ventured into epic territory despite being only 2:15 long. Mostly due to the weather (chillier than expected and windy) and the pace at times. I am tired. Tempo for at least 1.5 hours with the LT intervals, breaking away from the group of Jake Finn and Mike. Did the windmill twice, once as a warm-up (127bpm/1hour)then Northwest Passage in 1:10 (153bpm avg for hr2) and then windmill again (149bpm/3rd hour) and then a .5 hour cool down, part of it on the trainer.

After getting off Old Dutch, I got on the front and pulled a majority of the way to 86, doing an LT invterval from the top of the last hill to the turn for webster. After recovering I just got on the front and hit out on 86, 23 was recovery, windmill got faster and finally I took off to go for a solo 3 miles out from the townline sign, Jake and Finn came with. We ended with the Speedlimit sign sprint, all agreeing that it felt like a race, that it felt good, and that it was, well, awesome. Here's how it played out:

I took off thinking no one would come with. I look back and see Jake sitting on, I attack over the first hill to try and drop him. No such luck. By this time, Finn's with us. The pace drops. eyeballing. lots of eyeballing. Finn comes to the front/attacks, everyone sits on, he gets off I pull half way up the hill, Jake does a short turn, Finn attacks in the big ring, pulls everyone up the rest of the hill. Weak attack from me at the top before the descent, everyone sticks. Jake lets me get behind him, Finn starts the lead out 800 meters from the line, Jake goes I go, I get around Jake and gap him. Game over, sit down and power in for the win.

yes, the glory from the training ride sprints...

good ride had by all.

I chalk it up to a few factors: adequate base, chocolate milk recovery drinking, and 9 hours of sleep over the last few nights (to the chagrin of my roommate). Tomorrow should be a recover day, maybe an hour and a half easy on my own. Just finished d/l'ing the newest Modest Mouse album, should be good for a recovery ride. This weekend I hope it stays nice outdoors, so I can get in another 4 hours Sat and Sun.

3/4 of my profs have ok'ed my trip to Arkansas in a little over two weeks. Nice, two weeks. Hearing from and about my teammates has kept me hyper-motivated for the indoor training. Hope you all are riding back in WI, it's already been a 13.5 hour week for me here in the nolongergreatwhitenorth.

all done

ciao