Last weekend I was able to do both team rides leaving from the Valley at 10am. Usually my family is in town and I spend one of those days with them, but since they are out of town, I splurged to see what I could do. Looking ahead, I am trying very hard to play it smart and build the endurance to go the distance on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, 2009, which is our team training camp. Over that weekend, there are two 100 mile rides planned in and around Centralia, WA.
Saturday’s ride took us from Olympia to several of the points out into the Sound. We had a nice ride down to the water via French Loop and finally over to Steamboat Island Rd, which I’d never done before. I’d also never gone around Gravelly Beach Loop with the team, and “ouch” was that a burner. I did reached my max speed of 42.5 mph at the start of the loop and that was fun for sure.
I woke up Sunday morning feeling very tired and has some nausea of unknown origin. I didn’t really feel sick, but just a little run down, I guess. The previous day of riding was a big stretch for me. I think I knew I was looking down the barrel of another day like it. Fortunately, it was a little lighter duty starting out and we rolled quickly down to Rochester and beyond at a fairly mild pace that I could hang with. I made my way up an incredibly steep hill I’d never been up before, which felt great. (not the right word, maybe proud?) Anyway, I made my way back and made it fairly close to town before the pace picked up and dropped me off the back. Considering the weekend and how far the riding was, I’d say I got an A. Nice to be my own teacher. I was also happy to get some “way to go’s” as I was being dropped. I think it was some recognition for hard work. Believe me I know this project takes a long time, and I love seeing little days where it looks like it’s paying off a bit. 🙂
