May 9, 10:52 PM by Steve | Showing imPRovement
Posted in Cycling
Ok, so how many more words do you think I can find to use that have “PR” in them? I guess I’ll run out eventually…
I had three personal records today. I felt very strong, had lots of energy, and didn’t just eeek past my previous records, I shattered them.
First, my ride in to work. I live really close so I go out of my way to get some extra time in before work; lately I’ve been riding out to Winchester, and back through UCSB. And I’ve been using the really cool “virtual partner” feature of my Garmin GPS to “race” one of my previous rides for extra motivation. My virtual partner course was a reasonable pace—not slow but easy enough to beat most days. Monday (the day after San Luis Rey) I rode the 14 mile course at 20.0 mph average. All of my rides for the day added up to 95 miles, so I should have been slower on Tuesday, but I actually beat my time by 4 seconds. Tuesday’s total was somewhere around 75 miles, so I really wasn’t expecting to be faster again today. I told myself I was going to take it easy, and started out at an easy pace, with little effort. I lumbered up to speed and soon enough was flying down Cathedral Oaks. Surely I must have a huge tailwind, but I checked for the telltale signs and didn’t see any. It turns out I must have had a tailwind, because I had a moderate headwind on Hollister. I knew I had the potential for a really fast time, so I pushed through it and didn’t lose any time to my virtual partner. Going through UCSB is always tricky and I did lose some time, but I made it all up and more on te bike path after Goleta Beach. I beat my virtual partner time by more than 4 minutes, almost 1 minute faster than yesterday’s time. Average speed 20.5 mph.
Second, climbing Old San Marcos. I didn’t feel particularly fast riding out to Alamar, but I figured that I had a slight headwind, and confirmed it when I turned around to head back. I saw a pair of Ed’s right before the base of the climb and told them that I was it. I was feeling really good at this point and didn’t want to lose momentum so I didn’t wait for them when the turned back to start the climb. They are both faster than me so I figured they would catch me soon enough anyway. Right from the start I was all out, pushing hard and rockin’ up the hill. I thought I could PR today and I wanted to try to hold off the Eds as long as possible. I passed a group of 3 right away, then cought another guy just above Twinridge. I looked back and I couldn’t even see either Ed. Finally I was caught and passed by Ed K. in the twisties after the long straight, but managed to keep him in my sights. Ed F. was still nowhere to be found. I hit the top of the second switchback just under 17 min, and I realized that if I pushed really hard I may be able to break 19 min. I was about 18:40 as I approached the final corner. 18:50 I was very close… felt like I was going to puke but was pushing through it. 18:58 almost there, but it’s just… too… far… I cross the finish tree at 19:02 and shout out an expliative. Two guys (that I didn’t know) were cooling off in the shade and when I came back around one said “so I guess you didn’t get your best time?”. I responded, “no, I got it, but it just wasn’t the time I wanted”.
Third, crit practice. I hung on for several laps after the pace turned up following the warmup, and was actually able to catch back on when they came around again, and stay on! For a few more laps anyway… The next time I tried to catch back on I had no jump left, then suddenly had nothing left. I limped back to the start/finish and polished off the sandwich that I fortunately had in my backpack. After a few minutes rest, I hopped back on and after a lap or two by myself was able to catch back onto the group again fairly easily. I stayed on this time until the final lap when the gas was really turned on for the sprint. There were casualties all over the road so I certainly wasn’t alone in not being able to hold on. This one can’t be quantified, but it certainly was a personal best by far.
Tomorrow I’m going to climb OSM with the big boys. I’m sure I’ll be hurting and dropped like a stone, but I believe that there is enough of a spectrum of abilities in the group that I won’t be dead last.
Review of Hollister Brewing Company >>
