50 Mile EM

This 50 mile EM started in the rain. I was disappointed that it had been raining but I decided that I had no choice; MS Bike could be a rain day so I had better know how to ride in the rain. Actually, the worse part was that brief time between uncomfortably wet and now soaked. Soaked is better; you no longer are waiting to get there. It's kinda like Chinese water torture; the worse part is waiting for the next drop.

Anyways, I decided to make the first trip around the loop as a measure of progress and the second as a slower ride to complete my required 50 miles. A previously fast 50 mile ride at 03:09:56 was Sept.11, 2010. (see: Hilly 50 in the rain.) All together this was a faster ride. That said, the fastest ride around this loop was August 13, 2010, the first time I used the Garmin. I started late, after work, at 7:30 PM and with little light to monitor the Garmin and lots of flies in the air, I rode like the wind at an average of 17.6 mph. It remains to be my fastest pace even while the wind may not have been much an influence. Today's first trip resulted in an average of 17.0 mph. Close but no cigar. Wet rims and thus longer braking distances and care may have contributed to a lightly slower overall pace.

Today, I realized that a ride in a hard rain is not that big a deal. It can be novel, relaxing, enjoyable, even cathartic.

In an interview found in the 21st cycling issue of Rouleur published in 2010, Team Sky rider and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha, one of the greats in racing the cobbles shared, that when most cyclists escape the winter months and seek warmer climates he would spend weekends in the Pyrenees, unafraid of the cold and wet to sustain and improve his climbing ability.

Flecha learned to persist through inclement weather to condition his mind and body to become accustom to and embrace this cold and wet weather for it is wet roads that separate the skilled riders from the hopeful.





Weather Conditions: 0752 hours. Cool and raining. Light winds mostly from the NNE from 3.5 to 4.6 mph.
Min: 63 Avg: 64 Max: 66 ºF

County Rd A Endurance Mile Ride

O'tay.... The plan was to ride 31 miles. Ya, I know an unusual number. Actually, take a base of 25 miles and increase it by 25 percent "dot,dot,dot" until week 7, the week prior to the infamous Bike-to-the-Bay and then you are about at 100 miles. So, that's the plan.

I can almost hear JimmieJ laughing-out-loud!

This was suppose to be an EM (endurance) ride but that HR would require too much effort, i.e., too slow a ride. Besides, the wind gusts made it too attractive to not attack and take advantage of a little "intervalesque" challenge.

The ride went ok. County Rd A is a little rough but it is less travelled and fewer po-po! While the wind was mostly brutal on the return from the south Wabash trail, I made every attempt to stay above 15 mph, average.

Weather Conditions: 16:46 hours. Moderate and clear. Winds mostly out of the SSW from 9.2 to 12.7 mph. However, gust were a bit much from 18.4 to 21.9 mph. Min: 61 Avg: 62 Max: 63 ºF