Good Ride

Yesterday after many thwarted attempts, I finally made it out for a LONG ride. Seriously long, mega long. Over two whole hours long. Two whole hours and one whole minute to be precise. It seems kind of silly to be excited about a 2 hour ride this time of the season but it was easily my longest ride so far in 2009. Usually I'd have countless 2hr rides and a handful of 4+ hour rides by this time of year but not this year. Oh no, not this year.

The ride started out well, it was sunny and warm-ish at 45 degrees, as I cruised along coastal roads trying for once to do a proper warm-up before jumping into the real workout. I started my sprint interval routine shortly before crossing the Wiscasset bridge. Similar to my Augusta ride a couple of weeks ago, I love to do hard efforts while in town in Wiscasset. It's a small town but the bridge always proves to be a good launching pad for an all out effort. Plus, immediately after leaving the bridge you head uphill through town with cars continuously passing, going just slightly faster than a bulging from the eyes, vomiting in mouth cyclist can maintain. In short, it's my ideal environment to get in a solid 1-2 minute all out effort. There is something inside of my (probably vanity) that just loves to hammer in those kinds of situations. In fact, if it wouldn't make me look like an escaped metal patient in a leotard, I'd circle back multiple times to do it over again.

Anyway, I finished my intervals just shy of the 1 hour mark which mean that I'd have some time to enjoy just being outside. That didn't last long. Apparently my body has become accustomed to the short rides I've been getting recently and anything over 1:15 becomes a real question of survival. As an endurance cyclist this makes me sad, very, very sad. By about 1:30 I was hitting a serious wall (maybe I should have been carrying more than a bottle of water perhaps?) and was forced to stop and get a can of pepsi for my final SLOWWWWWWW 8 mile crawl back to the house.

Once back to the house I immediately popped open a Dog Fish Head 60 min IPA, ate a couple handfuls of jelly beans (thanks easter bunny!) and made up some lazy man's burritos. Nothing has ever tasted so good.