MISCELLANEOUS

     It has been quite awhile since last I posted anything.  Not that I haven't been cycling, but it's been quite boring.  In preparation for State Road Race, I took the aerobars off my bike, to get my arms used to the regular position for over an hour and a half.  State is 33 miles, with hard climbs and I like to think I can do it in ninety minutes; reality tells me it will come in more like an hour and 45 minutes.  My Sunday rides have suffered, but I like to think I'm getting stronger.  This coming Thursday my friend, Barry, and I will drive up and preview the course.  It's the same one I did two years ago, so it will be more of a refresher.  My age group starts with the young (60+) guys, so once again I'm hoping just to make it over the first hill (which is two-tiered) with the group before being dropped and having to ride the rest of the course by myself.  By way of explanation, if I'm in the peloton after the first climb, then I can stick until the second, which gets me one-third of the way around the course.  Most of this first ten miles will be ridden (if hidden in the peloton) in the upper 20mph range, which is why I'm hoping for only 90 minutes of pain. 

Recovery ride felt slow and plodding

     Yesterday's ride left a bit to be desired, in terms of how my heart/lungs felt, so I proclaimed that this would be a recovery ride.  It takes a lot of determination to hold back, especially when I had a favorable wind for the first fourteen miles.  I thought I would have a dramatic increase in heart-rate when I turned into the wind, but with an ego-busting use of the large cogs, I kept the increase to a minimum.  Stats: 1hr 11 minutes in Zone 1 (60% of maximum heart-rate), and 44 minutes in Zone 2; only 2 minutes in Zone 3 (mostly the one big hill on this route).  Average HR with the wind at my back was 92 and in my face: 99.  Interesting enough, my time was only 10 minutes slower than when I try to hustle.
     After the road race I'll re-install the aerobars for a month of Time Trial training in anticipation of defending my Tour de Gruene championship (age group).  Unfortunately (I think), they cut the route from 17 miles to 10.  I do better in longer routes.  However, this year it is at least a loop course, so I end up back at my car rather than 18 miles away.