After a week of training indoors due to cold and wet weather, today we really lucked out for our weekly team ride. It rained a lot last night but they stopped early morning so by our 11 AM start the sky was blue and the roads were drying up. Since this week was a recovery week for me, I took Monday completely off, then did LT and tempo work on the rollers the other days. I also hit the gym for my strength work and attended the mandatory weekly yoga class. Even though it’s a low-volume week for me, I still wanted to take advantage of the weather and get a good hard ride in.
We met at Reed Cycles and headed west. K&E showed up just as we were rolling out and they stayed with us for a little then turned back. So by Middleton, it was down the usual suspects: Ted, Ben, and me. We went north on Emmett Rd. As the road increased grade, Ted started to lay down the power. He loves those gentle grades. I think when he hits those kinds of grades, he actually accelerates, with complete disregard for keeping his power consistent. I usually get frustrated with that, but today I wanted to do some L5 and L6 work so I dropped off of Ben’s wheel and worked it in the wind. Ben then took a short pull, but I wanted to keep the pressure on so I took over. I’m sure Ben wasn’t expecting this ride to turn out so hard!
We then took it easy on South Slope Rd in anticipation of Old Freezout. I told them that I wanted to hit it pretty hard. I started out at a decent wattage and paced myself. I was keeping it right at the bottom of my Level 6 range. It felt hard but sustainable for the ~8-minute climb. I finished the hill with a kick and really felt spent, but in a good way. We waited for Ben and then we headed down Hwy 16. Just as I was settling into a good tempo pace, I heard a sound. When I looked back, my riding companions were stopping. At first, I thought Ted got another flat. Maybe the granola bar wrapper we used as a tire boot last week didn’t hold up!? But this time he popped his chain! If it’s not one thing, it’s another!? I had a chain tool with me, but Ben actually had a Super-Link in his saddlebag. What a lifesaver!
After a botched installation, that required another stop (the chain was placed over the rear derailleur tab like it was last week!), we finally got going again. By this point, my legs were feeling the ride but Ted and I still rotated through at about a threshold pace. We finally made it to Beacon where we ran into LD, LR, and a friend. We chatted for a while and I tried to stay at the front into the headwind to keep my power in the Tempo range. All in all, it was a great ride and it felt good to “blow out the pipes”. LTs and Tempo work is the meat and potatoes for this time of year, but hitting the upper training levels once in a while feels good, in a masochistic sort of way! For me, the ride was 2:42 with a norm power of 252 watts and a TSS of 190.