It’s a gray, cold fog tinged morning with little chance for
sun. I’ve already put in two long rides for the week, working heavy legs back
into shape after a short layoff. So I’m torn. Should I stay or should I go? Not
feeling all that motivated, even a little depressed by the gloomy weather. I
need to shake out of it and ride, instead of be in the house, doing other
things, then brooding because I didn’t get on the bike.
Once I’m on the trail, it’s not too cold, my fingers are feeling
it, but they’re far from numb. Still, it’s cold enough to focus on pedaling to
keep warm. I’m not too bundled up, just a T-shirt under my jersey, so once I’m
warmed up, the airflow will keep me from getting hot.
I look up to the midmorning sky and see the white circle
that is the sun veiled behind the overcast. It would be great if it burned
through the overcast, and heated things up. But for now, the clouds have the
upper hand.
Not many riders on the trail today, the first few coming the
other way are red-faced and cold, like they’d come out a lot earlier when it
was a lot colder. I see a few older riders, even a few grandma lookalikes, but they’re
bundled up, pedaling nice road bikes. I’m impressed.
I’m thinking the only riders out today are the salty dogs,
the ones that will ride in cold, dreary, less than great conditions. I
definitely qualify as a salty dog. We’re stubborn about getting our rides in,
even if we have to suffer to do it!
There’s a long power line strung across a wide grassy field
flanking a section of the trail, and usually there are birds on it, checking
out the view. Today, a lone mid sized hawk has the entire wire to himself. I
look up and say, “Hi bird!” as has become a weird habit of mine. When there are
more, I say “Hi birds!” Sometimes there aren’t any. But today I see a white great
egret standing in the field near the trail, and I know what he or she is up to.
The tall, majestic bird is standing silently, eyeing the lumpy grass around it
for any snack ready rodents in striking distance. A couple years ago while on a
ride, I saw a great egret further up the trail in this same field -- could be
the same bird for all I know -- quickly snatch a mole, or mouse, or some such
varmint, up from the ground. Its pointy beak went up in the air with the
struggling little bugger, and in no time, that was that, live snack was down
the hatch.
I’m in the middle of my first 14.5 mile split, and coming up
is a spot at about the 12 mile mark where I check my time. I usually try to
predict what it will be based on how my legs are feeling and my general sense
of my speed so far. Most of the time I’m pretty close. Today, it doesn’t feel
like I’ve been riding all that fast, even a bit slow. So I guess my time and
look at the computer. Whoah, three minutes faster than I thought! I was way
off, but in a good way. I get charged up to get on it for the last two miles of
the split to see what kind of time I can get. There are a couple short hills
over the this stretch, and when the energy is flowing it’s fun to bang it out all
the way to the split finish.
I get to the split finish line with a medium fast time and
that feels good. Because I really didn’t think I had the legs for a quickish
pace early in the ride. The second split is nine miles with one long flat and about
1,000 feet of climbs that are short, medium and long. It’s tough to do fast. I
have spots along some of the flats and false flats where I try to maximize my
speed to bring my average mph up, since the climbs slow everything down. Today,
I work on mashing it as much as I can overall, and it feels like I may have a
strong time. I get to the end of the split, the halfway point of the ride at
the end of an extended climb, and check my time. It’s about a half-minute
slower than I would have liked, but a lot faster than for my two rides earlier
in the week. So I’ll take it!
I stop to eat snacks but walk around instead of sitting
down, since it’s easy to get cold and stiff sitting still for a few minutes.
On the way back, the nine-mile split is faster, going down all
the climbs I rode up. Some wet downhill sections of pavement make me take it
easy where I usually hammer for optimum speed. I had a recent slap-down fall
from a slicked front tire. It raked up my right forearm enough to make me more
mindful of the hazards of a wet road bike tire. I get to a long, flat section
under some cliffs next to a lake where, if I have the legs, I go all out.
There’s usually a headwind/tailwind, depending on the direction of the ride,
and charging hard into a headwind is a pain-fest toward the end of the flat,
which feels like about a mile long, but may be less. Today there’s no wind to
fight, and that’s nice, but going fast either way brings the pain, and at the
end of the flat I look down and see I’ve maintained a 21 mph pace, which is
about as fast as I can expect from my legs. I huff and puff into a steady
uphill section then try to get some momentum for the slight downhill and
rollers ahead. This is the part of the split where the most time can be gained
or lost, depending on how consistently strong high-gear pedaling can be
maintained. There are short spots for backing off a bit, and they’re needed for
energy on the last quarter mile flat where I try to get to 20-21-22 mph. I hit
this section strong, then and after some varied uphill riding, and fast descent
to the finish of the 9-mile split, I find my time is fast, but about 30 seconds
below the time I wanted to make up from the climb up. Still, I’m at the start
of the 14.5 mile final split with a brisk cumulative time. So I settle in to
get the most pedal power I can out of the rest of the ride.
This is the toughest part of the ride to keep a strong pace,
since it is where the cumulative fatigue of riding a lot of miles at a strong
pace begins to set in. This is where I love it when a fast rider passes me.
I’ll do all I can to catch the rider’s wheel, than relax with the fast pace.
But today, there are very few riders, I’m not likely to get any help. Toward
the final few miles, I really hit the pain cave, everything blurs around the
vision of the trail ahead. I’m putting everything I have into a strong cadence,
deep breathing. I flip into the highest gear for the last 200 yards of the
split and do a stand up sprint to finish it out. I get a time 30 seconds under
my goal, and I’m happy. The sun still hadn’t come out from behind the clouds when
I got home, but it didn’t matter. I’d just had on of my fastest rides in the
past two months. My day was made.
Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you
get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely and have a blast.
-- Mark Eric Larson
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