When it comes to cycling in a group, some people like it, I don't. The beauty of riding in a group or peloton is the ability to draft. Essentially, it's much easier to ride at a faster speed.
As a triathlete, we aren't allowed to draft in a race and I've always trained like I race, no drafting. Aside from the false ego boost of a drafting ride, I find group riding dangerous. If you don't pay attention, it's easy to hit someones wheel and wipe out. Or if someone else is not paying attention they can wipe you out.
I incorporated today's training ride with the Tour de Palm Springs. It's a huge fundraising event, 9000 riders. The ride is a 102 miles. Today's training schedule included a 7 hour ride, followed by a 30 minute brick run. My plan was to ride the Tour and keep riding until I finished 7 hours in the saddle.
Last night and this morning I had a headache. I never get a headache, unless I'm hungover. Maybe it was jet lag. I only had about 6 hours of sleep and was up at 5:15 am. My Uncle guided me to the start line, I followed his car in my car. He's never been to an endurance event before and was blown away by the amount of people. After the gun went off and I left, he hung around for another 30 minutes watching everyone leave and listening to the school band play. He seemed to really enjoy himself.
There was a LOT of people riding. I tried to get off in the front, but when I got on the bike, my shoes wouldn't lock into the pedal. Sand was caught inside. I had to stop and clean the sand and stones out. In that 5 minutes, a thousand or so riders took off in front of me.
Last night, as I was laying in bed, I was wondering what my strategy would be for this event. During my Ironman China winter training, my cycling has felt poor and my average outdoor training speeds have been about 27.5 kph. Albeit, bundled up and in sub -5 C weather.
This was going to be the first time I've gotten to ride outdoors in warm weather with just one layer of clothes on. Was it going to make a difference? My fastest ever average long ride speed was about 31 kph. My fastest Ironman bike ride averaged 33.5 kph.
As I lay in bed I was thinking my ultimate ride today would be at my Ironman speed. It was a dream really. Truthfully, I'd have been happy with a 30 kph average. I decided to ride as hard as I could while keeping my heart rate close to my 143 maximum and let the chips fall where they may.
This ride was tough. It was hilly and windy. In total there was close to 5000 ft of climbing. I went out as hard as I could, while still maintaining my heart rate under 143 bpm. For the first 60 minutes I think my average speed was about 27 kph and I was getting frustrated. The hills, the wind and the poor roads were getting to me.
From the beginning, I did NO DRAFTING. Just pulling. Even though I was riding slower than I wanted to, I was riding faster than most. Every time I'd look back, there would be group of riders on my tail. I think the largest was about 30 - 40 riders. I was the engine at the front and never got off the front. EVER!
The only potential mishap was that I dropped my water bottle while riding up front. Luckily, no one hit it and wiped out. That's another reason why not to ride in a group. I may wipe you out with my poor water bottle handling skills.
The only time I'd get off the front is if I stopped at a rest stop to get water and food. I was going so hard that at the 90 minute point, I stopped for water and felt like hell, like a bonk was eminent. I envisioned a major bonk before the day was over. I felt better after having something to eat and drink and I was back on the road.
Again, I started out riding alone and in short order I had at least 30 riders on my tail. One time, I caught a huge group from about a kilometer back and blew by them like they were standing still. Then they grabbed on to my wheel. At times, a couple tried to take the lead, but I wouldn't let them have it. When I ride, I'm not a box car or a caboose, I'm the engine. Period. I'm "Bryan the Train Payne".
It turns out that that first 90 minutes had the toughest hills and head winds and the tides started to turn. I started hammering at paces between 40 - 60 kph. The average speed started moving up and eventually I got it up to 33.5 kph and I decided to work to keep it there for the entire ride.
The Tour was a well run event. The rest stops had more food and drink than I've ever seen. They even had sandwiches. Over the coarse of the ride, over 4 stops, I had Roast beef, Turkey, Ham & Cheese and Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches. They also had M & M's, fig bars and pretzels and all types of energy drinks. Eating all that food reversed my bonking sensations. I was feeling strong again.
One sidebar comment. I haven't had peanut butter and jam sandwiches in years. My last one may have been in high school. I must say, I'm going to get back to eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches. They tasted great and something about eating them makes you feel like your a kid again. There such a cool, sloppy and super easy to make sandwich. No care or love is required, just slap some peanut butter and jam on two pieces of bread. I may also start to bring sandwiches with me on my long training rides. They're a great training food. Much taster than power bars and such.
I met some great people during the rest stops. I met Greg from Denver, Roy from California and an Italian I call Gepedto from California, via Italy. All were great guys and all with great stories.
Greg, was around my age and a cyclist and a technology company owner with a second house in Cabo Mexico (I had to throw that in, a house in Cabo sounds so cool). He had an Adamo seat, like my old one, and he was having comfort problems. Same problems I had. Roy, 52, who used cycling to get in shape after an injury. He then got good enough to do double century rides and was doing his first Triathlon. A 70.3 in Oceanside. Gepedto was a 48 year old experienced cyclist and sales rep and fast became my shadow.
Out of all the riders, I only saw about 10 that had triathlon bikes. The rest were road bikes. Ten minutes after I would leave an rest station I'd look back and have a tail of riders. Gepedto stayed on my wheel the entire time. He and the group was blown away how strong I rode and stayed in front and un-relentlessly pulled. Gepedto even waited for me at the rest stops so he could continue to have me pull him. He wanted to beat 5 hours for 100 miles and I guess he figured I was his ticket.
I felt like a cycling God. I had so many people looking at me in awe and shaking their heads in disbelief. I lost count how many people said "you are a machine!". I was having an awesome ride. My competitive juices pushed me harder than any training ride. I was riding like I was in a race. The only time I got passed, and it was rare, was by a small group of team riders in a well organized peloton.
I finished the 100 mile mark in 4:49. I was happy with that. I've never broken a 5 hour century on a training ride. I finished the 166.5 km Tour in 5:00:35 at a 33.3 kph average. I would have finished much quicker, but we had to stop for a minimum of 20 stop lights. I'm sure, with no stopping I would have averaged over 33.5 kph. I guess the upside is the stop and go acceleration added to the workout difficulty.
I finished the Tour and then did the remaining 2 hours on my own. I actually enjoyed it. It was nice riding without having to avoid people. I also picked some roads that had less stop lights and the ones I had, I rolled threw most of them.
I rode hard, but slightly less than with the group. I was also riding through the downtown core and it was stop and go, it really slowed down my average speed. It was nice to finally finish and as much as I didn't want to do my brick run, I did it.
In the end, I felt surprisingly good. My legs especially. Which is I'm happy about because I have the Palm Springs half marathon tomorrow morning. Actually, it's the half marathon and then I need to tack some miles onto it to get it up to a 2:40 run.
After I showered, I was sleepy tired. My aunt made another great meal. She cooks like every meal is a holiday feast. Tonight was roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, gravy. Then chocolate cake, ice cream and fresh strawberry's for dessert. Between all the sandwiches on the ride and my aunts cooking, I probably gained weight today.
I finished dinner and passed out on the couch. It was the first time I really wasn't looking forward to posting my blog. I even considered not posting tonight and doing it tomorrow. I was just so tired. I slept and when I woke up, I was feeling a little better and started writing the post, I didn't want to let John Barclay down.
Today was a confidence boosting day. I needed today's ride. I now know my legs have something in them and that I'm more than a 27.5 kph rider and I didn't lose my riding mojo. It was also 83 F and I was able to withstand the heat, although even with heavy sunscreen on I got a lot of sun today. I've also got hope that I can pull off a good ride in China.
I can hardly wait until Monday were I can sleep in and not have to get up early for a race.
Long Bike - 7:00:28 / 226.58 km or 140.46 miles / 32.34 kph / 140 avg hr / 4867 ft climbing
Brick Run - 30:05 / 6.12 km / 4/52 pace / avg hr 130 bpm
February is in the record books with another PB. I ended up doing the most amount of monthly mileage ever!!! 1555.32 km or 964.29 miles. Not bad considering February is only 28 days long.
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