Nothing like a 4 hour recovery ride...

The alarm when off at 6:15 am and I hit the snooze button 3 -4 times, I can't remember. I didn't want to get out of bed. I had a sore head from staying up late last night and having one to many beers, and the 3 cigars didn't help. I was to meet Mark Rutledge at 7:40 am at a designated cross road in the Escapement, which was a 25 minute ride away. I didn't have to go, I could have jammed out and stayed in bed, but I didn't. I got up, ate, got ready and was out the door.

It was a beautiful, cool, morning. I met up with Mark and he brought Walt with him. Walt is also an Ironman triathlete, who did a blistering 10:05 at Lake Placid a couple of years ago in the 35-39 age group. Last year I met and did a ride with Walt and a group of Mark's friend. This year Walt's taking it easy and not really doing any long races. Mark was doing a 180 km today and is training for Ironman Canada at the end of the month. This morning we looked team Cervelo with our bikes. After a couple of hours Walt left us and then after 3.5 hours I left Mark, strategically just before a big hill.

My legs were flat and at times, especially on the hills, my heart rate went into the red zone to keep up with them. This was the first long ride I used my new Shimano cycling shoes and clipless pedals. Turns out that the shoes are too tight. What I didn't anticipate was my feet swelling on longer rides. I also started to get knee trouble from the clipless pedals.

Mark noticed an imbalance and we stopped and he helped adjust the shoe. I was a little better after that, but I've decided to go back to my speedplays. I'm going to see if I can get a larger pair of cycling shoes and I'll sell the ones I have on ebay, they've only been used 5 hours. I may also sell the clipless pedals and use the money to buy another set of speedplays. Since I'm at it, I'm going to sell my Zoots running shoes, after just one run. The idea behind the Zoots is that you can wear them sockless for faster transition times. When I tried them sockless they rubbed on the back of my foot and caused bleeding. Not something I want to deal with during a race.

I'm now wondering if I ever even needed to get the Zoots or the Shimanos. The reason I got them was because I wanted to reduce my transition times. Now that I think about it, I'm doing Ironman and Half Ironman distance races. The extra time to put on socks and fasten three straps instead of one is not a big deal in the whole scheme of things. Comfort is much more important than speed in those race distances. Live and learn.

Today's ride was fairly uneventful. It was hard doing the backside of Appleby hill and going downhill I was able to get over 77 kph with no speed wobble. Along the way we met a rider named Fransico, who moved here from Columbia and just finished his first ever triathlon at Lake Placid this year. We exchanged contact information and now I have another potential long ride partner. After a couple of hours Walt left and then after 3.5 hours I left Mark, strategically just before a big hill.

For what was supposed to be an easy 2.5 hour recovery ride, it turned into a 4 hour ride. I was thinking I might do 180 km, but I was fading and my knee was sore. I'm looking forward to another bike fitting. I noticed that I'm getting callouses on the palms of my hands. I know what your thinking and no it's not from that, it's from the aero bars. I think I'm leaning to far forward and pushing my palms hard against the bars, and they rub when as I go over the bumps on the road. When I got home I was feeling like I was going to bonk, I had forgot a couple of my powerbars at home before I left, and my head was sore from last night. After an Advil and some food, I started feeling better and after a nap, still wearing my cycling clothes, I woke up feeling back to normal.

Long Bike - 4:05:03 / 120 km / 29.3 kph / 131 avg hr

4.5