First Organized Ride Of The Year

Saturday I did the Murfreesboro Bicycle Club “Two County Metric Century” with my brother Robert and some people with whom I work. I measured 63 miles total. I averaged 16.5 mph which I considered low given that I was able to draft off people for a significant portion of the ride. This ride covered areas of two counties as the name suggests. I personally don’t know which counties we’re talking about, maybe Rutherford and Williamson. Anyway, it was a beautiful ride and the weather was great. I felt very tired from the get go and after 20 miles I felt worn out. I really don’t know why. Maybe I was dehydrated or maybe I had not eaten properly the day before. Robert seemed fine throughout and had to wait on me again. After the ride I was really drained and it took me a while to recover. All of this has not helped my confidence for the Etape. It has, however, reminded me that I need to be mindful of proper eating and hydration procedures before long rides. And I will admit, I was not concerned with the length or difficulty of this ride beforehand. I was confident I could do it easily since I had already done a 4 hour ride last week and felt ok.

I need to have a big week of riding this week. I hope to do 150 miles at least and then next week I will drop down a little. I am trying to employ a periodization training schedule.

Total mileage to date: 422
Total hours: 28.90
Current weight: 158 (goal 145)