Recovery riding?

After yesterday's hammerfest with Bart trying to drop John and I, I was looking forward to a nice, easy recovery spin. John's wife Sheri and my wife Melanie joined us, so I knew it wouldn't be a hammerfest. My wife is still a much slower rider, and insists that we just go enjoy our ride and that she'll see us later. It's an out-and-back loop, so I wasn't worried about her, we'd see her on the way back, and then when I got back I'd jump in the van and go track her down.

Chico showed up - hmmmmm, he's a hammer monster that takes some work to tame even on recovery rides.

Melanie dropped back at the 3rd or 4th kilometer. Chico took the pull up the first hill and kicked the pace up a bit - I jumped on his wheel. As we climbed he kept kicking the pace up higher and higher. "hey!" I thought to myself, "this is stupid." I looked back and saw Bart, Sheri, & John a fair ways back. I eased off and let Chico go.

Most of the ride out to the turn-around was like that - generally a nice, easy pace punctuated by the occassional flat-out sprint. I didn't get involved in any of those. My legs were feeling really heavy today. John and Chico hammered for a couple of signs.

A couple of kilometers after the turn-around I saw my wife coming towards us - she was looking really strong, but I thought she could probably use a food-break, so I turned around and rode for a bit with her and checked to make sure all was good. She was wearing a wind-breaker that was acting as a pretty good parachute - I suspect next time she'll take me up on the offer to get her cycling jacket... She sounded good, and looked good, so I turned around and realized that my friends had continued at a nice little clip and were now about 1km away. AGGGHHHH! Oh well, so much for a recovery ride!

I jumped back into the big ring, dropped to my 14tooth cog and began spinning madly. My HR started to inch up. I'd been careful to keep it around 135-140 except on a few short climbs - it was now inching up past 160. I got down low and wished I'd left my Zipps on. Hmmm, aerobars would be nice right now, too. I could see the gap coming down, but so slowly! On the hills I tried to push it extra hard, knowing that they wouldn't be hammering on the hills. Finally, I caught up to them (after chasing for a good 6 or 7km!) and tucked into a wheel. Whew! Now I get to recover - don't think this is what a recovery ride is supposed to mean.

We got to my favorite false-flats section. There's two of them on this ride, and this is the longest. Usually we have a bit of a tailwind through here and can easily hold speeds in excess of 60km/hr without pushing the heart rate. I called out, let's go! And off we went. Of course, we had a HEADWIND today, and top speed was only about 50km/hr, but it was still fun! The pace was too high for Sheri and she got dropped. We gathered a little at Leavitt and prepared for the assault on Monson's hill. Bart dropped off a bit as he took a drink. John went to the front and began the initial pull up the hill. This is always funny 'cause we all know how much this hill hurts at speed, and we all want to draft, but nobody wants to change their pace. John ended up being forced to the front. Then Chico went by him and I stuck to his wheel. Half-way up Bart came spinning by, looking really strong. Chico jumped on his wheel and I had to sprint to catch back on. Then Chico waves me by - it threw my pace out as I had to slow a bit as he eased up. I jumped onto Bart's wheel and we continued a pretty quick climb. Suddenly Bart eased up and said "I'm done." My HR was only at 173 (great advantage to sucking a wheel into a headwind! - Bart's was 185) - and then Chico accelerated past us. I knew I COULD have jumped on his wheel, but I just didn't want to hurt that much! Bart and I eased up and took it easy while we waited for John to catch back on.

The next hill was more of the same, but it's not much more than a roller. Then, the last "climb" - the back side of the first one that Chico and I hammered up. We all took it fairly easy, except for Chico who just blew us all away. The power he's been able to harness out of those legs this year is really impressive. As we crested Bart took the first pull. This is the beginning of the second "false flat" of the ride.

I took the next pull. We went by Chico with what I figured was about a 7 or 8km/hr differential. Amazingly he sprinted up and got on to a wheel. He really was riding strong! As we approached the corner everybody started to get nervous - the first traditional sign sprint was approaching - who would go? Bart was pulling, and pulling at a pretty good clip - about 50km/hr - so I know it would take a hard effort to get around him - the sign sits at the crest of a little hill, so it makes for a pretty good sprint effort.

I was 3rd wheel - John had dropped back a bit out of contention for the sprint. I decided to go early and started to swing out - just as I got my front wheel even with Chico's rear wheel Bart must have had eyes out of the back of his head, 'cause he kicked it up. Suddenly he was pulling at 54km/hr up hill into a headwind. Chico couldn't get around him, and I couldn't get around Chico - that's how we crossed the line. Chico kept hammering for a bit after the crest - Bart and I let him go. John joined us and we reeled Chico back in.

As you enter town we used to have to take a quick right hand turn and then a left on the access road - now that there's a good second lane on the highway we typically don't take that and stay on the highway - out of the corner of my eye I saw that Bart had gone hard at the corner and was hammering away on the access road. I yelled, "Bart's taken the access... Go! Go! Go!" Chico and I hammered for all we were worth - Chico got a gap on me right away, John dropped off, so I knew this would be all about time trialing it in. I knew I could make up alot of ground on the corner, 'cause I can pedal through some pretty tight lines. (165 cranks with Speedplays make for LOTS of clearance!) Bart and Chico got to the interesection at the same time, I cornered hard and closed the gap. Then I hammered for the last corner - oh oh, somebody's having a garage sale and lots of traffic at this corner. I shoulder check and only Chico is there - I cut hard to the inside and sprint through the corner - Chico stays with me for about 25 yards and then eases up - I continued on down the line. Admittedly, it was a rough finish as they are tearing roads up all over the place, but I won the final sprint!

So, our little recovery ride turned out to be another hammerfest. In actuality, this is what I really needed. Good riding, good friends. So what if it's not the best thing for building performance right now - it's good for me just to have some good motivation to get out and ride again!

I jumped in the van and went back to see how my wife was doing. Sheri had gone straight down to the bike shop, and we met her there later. Melanie's hip had really started to hurt, and I told her to stop and get in the van. She was disappointed at not finishing the ride, but better to prevent an injury and be able to ride again next week. It was great to be able to sit back and relive the adventure with my wife. She rode really strong and it won't be long before she'll be hanging with Sheri on these rides.