Strava Is Evil 

Most of you probably already know about Strava and it's ability to rank ride segments. You may have even heard about it in the news recently when they were sued by the family of a man who died trying to reclaim his KOM for a fast road descent in California.  I, of course, think the lawsuit is el-stupido, but that isn't why I think Strava is evil. It's evil because once you claim a KOM or get a 2nd or 3rd, you are consumed with trying to best the other times or improve yours to retain your crown. I've just recently started to use Strava and it is already the bane/salvation of my existence.  A couple of my Strava buddies have KOM's in my area so, yesterday, as I was pondering my ride plan I decided to try to beat a couple of them.  It was unlikely to work since they were late enough in my planned 60 mile ride that I was probably going to already be smoked but I was going to give them a shot anyway.

First up was WillC's title on Blinn hill.  I already held the third place spot but I hoped that with a little luck, I could unseat Willy.  Unfortunately, the legs didn't have it but I did, in the process, turn myself inside out trying which I likely wouldn't have done otherwise so thank you Strava for making me kill myself on a climb only a third of the way into a 3.5 mile ride.  Thanks a bunch.

Second up was TomH's title on a short section of road in Nobleboro.  I had unsuccessfully contested the section on Saturday because I had started on the wrong road so I decided to try again after 3 hours on Sunday (I have mentioned that I haven't done a ride over three hours yet this year right?).  I drilled the section, much to my screaming legs chagrin, and knew, just KNEW that I had bested Tom's time.  That is until I struggled the last 1/2 hour home and uploaded the gps data and found out that Tom had very sneakily added a tiny little section on a connecting road so Strava didn't recognize the effort.  farging cork suckers.

Oh well, I guess I have a couple of KOM's to chase.

I haven't done a riding self pic in a while.  Guess I'm rusty.

First ride over 40 miles this year.  I've had a slow, sad start to my season.

Damariscotta Lake for Bunker Hill

It has become exceptionally clear to me recently that endurance is my achilles heal which isn't good when you have a bunch of 3-6 hour races coming up so I've vowed to do one 3+ hour ride a week for the rest of the season. We'll see how that goes.