Intense ride yesterday (Feb 6), both as an endurance effort and interval training. Most of the ride was spent at zones 3-4, cadence 90-110, with some interval efforts going to threshold and anaerobic. After a good stretch, started the ride off at the airport Starbucks, along Koapaka St, riding at a cadence of 70-90 to warm up the legs & aerobic system. From there, went onto Nimitz Hwy. When the bike lane started, began an intense interval at sustained zone 5/cadence 90-110 until the fire dept's boathouse near Aloha Twr. From there, recovered in zone 1 until King St. Pedal & cleat problems at Piikoi; difficulty in unclipping. At King St, took it easy for fear of not being able to unclip in time for at reds, and there were a couple. Stopped @ McCully Bike to replace the cleats, which worked. Rode to Manoa, up Univ Ave until Sinclair Library, then checked mail & and had a shot of gel. Rode back along Metcalf St, then intervals @ zone 5+ along Young St between lights (recovery @ zone 1). Down Pensacola, stopped @ Ward Centre for H2O & shot of gel. Backroads of Kakaako until Aloha Twr, then long intervals @ zone 5 along Nimitz until Houghtailing. Backroads thru Kalihi, then onto Kam Hwy. TT'ed along Nimitz underpass, one end to the other, zone 4-5, ave 18mph, with recovery @ zone 1 @ the reds. Nice wind tunnel effect produced nasty headwind both ways. Recovered 2 min after the full effort, then TT'ed the other way. Final efforts were TT's along Lagoon Dr. Going makai, full effort in zone 5+, cranking steady @ 90-100rpm, ave 20mph. Didn't realize how long that street is, but was suffering by the end. Long recovery in the parking lot, zone 1. Then TT'ed back, this time against a bad headwind, zone 5+, 42 chainring, 26 & 27 cog, ave 13mph. Recovered along Koapaka St, stopped to raise seatpost about 2mm, then back to the van.

Had trouble unclipping again, so I checked, and I think the pedal is the problem--especially the right underside pedal. Too much float, even w/ new cleats. Need to look at it again. Maybe it's the way I clip in & out? I've got a day to figure it out, as today (Feb 7) will be a recovery day after three days of intense riding.

Numeric data for this ride can be found at bikejournal.com.

I'm writing this because bikejournal.com has a limit on 2000 characters for the ride description, and it's going to take me forever to edit it down to under that number. Believe me, I tried, and took a good 40 minutes just writing and editing. So instead of continuing to put myself through the suffering (feels like I'm in English class again!!!), I'm just going to post it here, with a link from bikejournal back here. And the date of this ride was Saturday, Feb 4, not Feb 6 as the post says. Although I posted it on Monday morning, the ride actually happened two days ago...hey, it's been busy, with the Super Bowl, work, and all. Anyways, data on the ride can be found here. As for last Saturday's bike ride description...

HBL ride, and first time back on the bike in two weeks! Had a fabulous time! Paced myself well, keeping most of the ride in zones 3 & 4, with some zone 5. Going up Diamond Head wasn't too bad, and going down was pretty fun, but going along Kahala Avenue was pretty hard, as it was against a headwind without any riders to draft off. Most were ahead already, but I ended up latching onto C & G's paceline until the first rest stop. Had to massage my leg at that stop, since it started twitching and cramping; I didn't stretch before the ride, so that was the result. From there, we rode a nice tight paceline along Kal Hwy, with everyone taking 2-3 turns pulling, and rotations happening at every bus stop. It was great being able to conserve energy and ride in someone's draft. By the second stop (and after a shot of gel), we were re-energized and ready to attack Heartbreak Hill. Unfortunately a couple of mechanicals along the way made life complicated; G fell because she misjudged a curb, and I fell because I was coming to a light and couldn't unclip from the pedal. For some reason, my right cleat was having a hard time disengaging, and since that was my usual unclipping foot, it made the ride interesting since I had to unclip with my left foot at stops. Heartbreak Hill was hard; by the end I was in 30t ring & 26t cog just trying to crank away. The descent felt much better. The pace slowed going up to Makapuu. After resting a few, we headed back. Many of the group continued on to Kailua, and while I longed to join them, I had a meeting in the afternoon that I needed to take care of. On the ride back, the group splintered, and so I pretty much rode solo along Kal Hwy with no benefit of a paceline to share the effort. I did reconnect with C & G at Kilauea Ave, but by then G was winded, so we ended up just traveling at a leisurely pace back to the park.

After saying my formal goodbyes to the group (and getting a copy of "Inside the Postal Bus" from C to read), I headed out to Manoa, going along Date St, up University Ave, to UH. Intervalled the ride, pushing up to zone 5 for maybe 5 minutes, then riding recovery for 5-10, and repeating the process. On the ride back, I cut through the MU/bike path at Ala Wai, and then realized why I hated riding those things--too damn bumpy compared to the road. So it was back onto the road until I was at the van at Paki Park.

Got to my appt on time, was a great meeting.