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.
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.
posted by Marino - Ninja Entertainment at 2:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home