Some Old Hills
I rode 50 miles with my older brother on Saturday. He is also in training to ride the Etape. It was a beautiful day for a ride, sunny and 75-80 degrees. I had not ridden since Thursday. This is my longest ride to date since starting my training for the Etape. I felt weak within the first two minutes of the ride and thought I might have a rough time. Sure enough, I didn't have much energy for the entire ride. I had eaten early in the day around 9am but we didn't get on the bike until about 1pm. I don't think I ate enough anyway. Then, I didn't have as much Hammer Gel as I needed and I was probably dehydrated. This type of poor preparation is what I can't afford when in France. I will be careful when that day comes.
Other than my poor condition, the ride was good. We took a route that I have not ridden in years, but one that I had first mapped out about 15-18 years ago. It contained some fairly short but steep hills and it kept me tired throughout. We did pass a market on Franklin Road at Moore's Lane where I was able to refuel with water and Gatorade. (By the way, I hate to drink Gatorade on rides because it is too sweet and, depending on how hot it is, makes my stomach upset. That's all they had, though, and it's better that than bonk because I had nothing. After all, we were about 20 miles from home at this point. HammerGel works well for me because the sugar is in the form of maltodextrin and glucose polymers-no added simple sugars. Gatorade is simple sugar city. It tastes great for a thirst quencher when I have not been exercising.)
I am fairly sure I held Robert up for most of the ride. He doesn't have the obesity problem that I do and he regularly exercises when not in training for some ride. He will no doubt blow me away up all mountains in France if he gets near the training I do before the ride. My only hope is that I remain more dedicated to the training so that I can narrow the gap. I am not in a competition with Robert, I would just like to be able to keep up without slowing him down. I hope we do the whole ride together.
Total Miles: 237
Total hours: 16.65
Current Weight: 159.8 (145 goal)
Other than my poor condition, the ride was good. We took a route that I have not ridden in years, but one that I had first mapped out about 15-18 years ago. It contained some fairly short but steep hills and it kept me tired throughout. We did pass a market on Franklin Road at Moore's Lane where I was able to refuel with water and Gatorade. (By the way, I hate to drink Gatorade on rides because it is too sweet and, depending on how hot it is, makes my stomach upset. That's all they had, though, and it's better that than bonk because I had nothing. After all, we were about 20 miles from home at this point. HammerGel works well for me because the sugar is in the form of maltodextrin and glucose polymers-no added simple sugars. Gatorade is simple sugar city. It tastes great for a thirst quencher when I have not been exercising.)
I am fairly sure I held Robert up for most of the ride. He doesn't have the obesity problem that I do and he regularly exercises when not in training for some ride. He will no doubt blow me away up all mountains in France if he gets near the training I do before the ride. My only hope is that I remain more dedicated to the training so that I can narrow the gap. I am not in a competition with Robert, I would just like to be able to keep up without slowing him down. I hope we do the whole ride together.
Total Miles: 237
Total hours: 16.65
Current Weight: 159.8 (145 goal)
posted by Tormax at 6:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home