Speed equals danger...

Today was speed work on the bike. It was a great day for a ride, 22 C and sunny. It was a hard workout and my arms felt it. When I was a kid and I'd run track, I'd go so hard that my arms would get this "pins and needles" feeling. The same thing happened to me during my speed work session.

I was going up the first King Hill and my arms got that "prickly" feeling and my heart rate started going through the roof. For me that's about 160 bpm. I normally sit when I go up hill but today I decided to stand and go as hard as I could and didn't stop until I crested over the top. I felt like I was Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. It was probably a 13% grade and I think I went faster up the hill standing on the pedals versus sitting.

On the second King Hill I stayed in the saddle and had the same sensations in my arms. I hate doing the King Hills but I feel like I accomplished something when I finish. Going up the hills are hard and going down the hills can be a bit scary. On one downhill I got up to 78 kph and I'm always worried a car is going to pull out of the driveway, a dog is going to run out on the road or I'm going to hit a big bump. When I'm going downhill I keep telling myself to "relax and keep going straight, especially if an animal crosses the road". On the second downhill I did I had a major scare. 

Because I've got my racing wheels on and they have a very wide rim, the wind catches them. At the bottom of one of the downhills I was going about 55 kph and the wind caught the front wheel and I had to work hard to keep the bike upright. I thought for sure I was going to wipe out. This year I've been going hard and I've had more near miss wipe outs than all the other previous years combined.

For tomorrows ride I'm going to put on my regular training wheels now that I know there is no problem with my racing wheels. I'm also going to bring both sets of wheels to my races just in case there is high winds. Other than fighting the high winds I had a good ride and at times was riding 40 kph directly into the wind. Afterwards, my body was still feeling the intensity of the workout. 

Speed Bike - 1:15:37 / 36.32 km / 28.9 kph avg

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