Dec 30^th, 2005 – 4:45 / 87 miles

Finally a REAL ride. Hooked up with Justin England (United Pro) and Hugh Moran (Aerospace) for a solid endurance ride. These guys are a couple of the best climbers in the country and it is an honor to ride with them. Unfortunately Hugh is moving down to Athens GA on Sunday, so I won’t see him until the racing starts up…but hopefully I’ll be able to get some long rides in with Justin before he heads off to his team training camp at the end of January. We headed out over the climb on Rte 74 and down around Lake Lure. It was cold at the start (35), but by the time we were at the lake it was a nice 50+ degrees. I actually felt great most of the ride, but since I didn’t think it wise to get 6 hours in after just a few days back on the bike, I turned around at Bills Creek rd just past the lake. Continuing with the guys would have meant lots more climbing and an extra 1-1.5 hrs that might have put me past my current limit.

I was hoping for about 4 hrs, but over shot a little again. Man, was I feeling it after 4 hours! I groveled up the climb to the house and felt the deep fatigue that only comes after really long endurance rides…I have missed that feeling. I have found myself really wanting some metrics on the rides. I miss my SRM! I gotta get that thing fixed so I can see some power numbers….and I gotta stop being lazy and start wearing a HRM again. I have found that after 15 years of racing and training to race I can read my body pretty well…I know what I need to do, and what energy systems I am stressing at any given time…..but it sure is nice to see these things confirmed with HR and power numbers…especially at this point early in the training season. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to relate some of these numbers here as well.