So Saturday, we started from SF, at Sports Basement, by Crissy Fields, onto Marshall Wall, which is in the North Bay, past Nicasio, over to Tomales Bay, then back. With very little base miles, I figure I would be in for a load of pain ... doing 100 miles after doing only 30 miles? WTF ... am I crazy ... yes.
I knew this would be an endurance exercise, so when Ramon, Ben, and Donnie pushed the pace a little bit, I just let them go. Besides, they'd be waiting for us anyways. That plan worked, for awhile at least. I didn't push it going up Camino Alto, and I didn't push it too much going up and over Sir Francis Drake.
As usual, we made our typical stop at Nicasio, before heading over to the Cheese Factory. I was the last one to make it to Nicasio, so was this an omen?
Refueled, then onto Cheese Factory, then onto Marshall Wall. I started to feel a little weak climbing Marshall Wall, and that's expected ... it is after all, a hill, and is after all, a wall!
After finally making it up and over the wall, we head south towards Pt. Reyes. It couldn't come soon enough ... started to bonk a few miles before reaching Pt. Reyes. This is where my lack of endurance lately catches up with me. It hit me hard, to the point where just pedaling was difficult. When we finally got to Pt. Reyes, I quickly got my Turkey sandwich, got a Mocha Frappacino ... mmmmm, and just tried to gather as much energy as I could. I also downed whatever e-pills and advil I had.
This helped, but it was still a struggle for me making it back. Every little hill was difficult. The hill coming out of Sausalito over to the GG bridge was just sinister and evil. I did make it back, but I had no energy at all.
So with all this, I was glad to see the Slowpoke ride is on Sunday. I figured this would be a great recovery ride, right? Well, true, it is a slowpoke ride ... but that doesn't mean it's all flat ... and it wasn't. I still didn't have any energy, and struggling up the other side of Pig Farm Hill, became a chore.
There was a good side to this ... since there were some who were not as strong, it did give me some time to rest and recuperate. So yes, there were hills, but at least they weren't the hardcore pace that Ramon would set ...
Now all I gotta do is rest my weary limbs .. work day tomorrow, so it will at least give me some time to rest. I don't think I'll ride in tomorrow, but may be at it again on Tuesday. My forced PTO begins Wednesday, and not sure yet if I'll be driving down to LA this coming weekend, or the weekend after that.
More pics:
Saturday's Marshall Wall
Sunday's Slowpoke Ride #3
2 comments:
Oh, Ron, I've so been there and know how it feels to suffer. BTW, your legs look fierce...dude, you've been riding! Great pics. :-)
Your bonking before Pt. Reyes sure brings back some painful memories, been there, done that, many times. Suddenly all the painful hills before home comes to mind, even slight rises. No matter what you ate or drank didn't do too much good. Thanks to the small chainwheels! The Sausalito hill adds the final lash so you remember.
Well you seemed pretty strong at Martinez to me.
Post a Comment