Went out on my first real ride last Thursday and as expected I sucked. I was going at 18 mph and that was a strain, couldn't go faster than 20 mph on the straight stretches of the roads and was dropped by dudes I easily handled before the injury. Although it was a sad realization that I have a lot of catching up to do; it also a motivating force. I am planning to ride this weekend and see how it goes.
Monday was a rest day so I cleaned my bike. For 5 months it was sitting in the garage collecting dust and rusting away. I should have cleaned it before riding it but I was too eager to ride. I did noticed that the shifting was sticky while training so the bike not only needed a good wash but also some lubricant. I spent a good hour cleaning the bike with solvent and then wiping the grease off the chain and lubing all the key points on the bike. The effort was worth it as my bike looked brand new, except for the dirty, sweat-caked handle bars. I also set my bike computer so I should get accurate miles and mph readings. The first time I did it I screwed up the wheel size measurement so it doubled my speed which I found out about when I was out hill climbing. I know before the injury I could climb okay but never up 10th avenue at 14 mph. I am no Marco Pantani. So on the next hill climb session my speedometer will measure the more pedestrian but accurate 7-8 mph on the climbs. Bummer.
The bike on the trainer.
Dusty wheels
Today I did the second hill climb session since my recovery. Started out climbing half the hill starting at Moraga, then moved down to Lawton, which is probably the second hardest part of the climb, and then to Kirkham. I timed my climb from Kirkham at 5:42 which isn't good. I think that is like an 8 mph average. I drank too much Gatorade before the climb and half way up I was regurgitating some of the Gatorade. Not too much but definitely enough for me to taste it. I think my second climb was my best. My last climb I was just trying to get up the hill. So I'll try to climb it in 5:00 or 5:15 the next time. It is a good target for 0.6 miles and 290 feet of climb. My weight in the evening was 136.5 lbs. I flucuate between 134 and 138 lbs during the day.
Well, spent Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday riding in the big gears (52x15 and 52x13). Started out on Wednesday and Thursday just cranking pretty slowly in a 52x13 but on Friday I did some fast spinning and 10 second sprints in 52x13. Saturday spent an hour on the bike doing 3x10 minute intervals at 52x13. Kept a steady moderate pace with fast pedaling for 60, 90, 120 seconds. The big gear is a killer and it is much harder getting the legs to get used to spinning fast but it has only been 3 weeks since I started training. Next week will be a month and I will do a nice easy ride probably on Canada Road to test out the form. But today I have some hill reps to do.
