Ache-ril
April is when the weather finally starts to turn for the better around here, and last weekend was both the first non-wintry one, and also the first really summery one. And with three months til the PMC, and all the joggers gone after last week’s storm-battered Boston Marathon, it was time to hit the road and see just how much of last year’s great condition I’ve lost over a completely sedentary winter.
Saturday I rode out to Waltham and picked up Jay, a younger guy from work on a red Felt. I immediately introduced him to the joy (read: pain) of Prospect Hill, which is about a mile from his house. We rode Baker Bridge out to Concord and Carlisle, then back, making my ride 60 hilly miles. It felt pretty good, but by the end, I was getting used up.
Sunday, despite an achy butt, I went and rode around the same area with the Quad Cycles group, doing another 70 miles. By the time I returned to Boston, I was completely drained.
The ride, however, wasn’t destined to end well. The bad news is that I flatted on the bike path before I got home; the good news is that I was by BU, which is only a mile from my house and half that distance to my LBS.
Okay, no prob; I carry both a patch kit and a spare tube, as well as a hand pump. Let’s try the spare tube first… Doh! It won’t inflate! Oh well, I’ll just patch the old tube. Nice. Get it back on the bike and pump it up… Doh! The tube tore by the nipple as I was pumping it up. I guess I’m walking home after all.
So I walked from BU down to Mass Ave and stopped in at the LBS. I picked up three tubes, and two brandy-new tires (to the tune of $85). Frankly, I had been planning on replacing them this spring anyways, because worn tires are much more prone to punctures and flats, and the old tires-which came with the bike back in 2005-have about 4000 miles on them.
So that made for a less than stellar ending for the weekend. But I did get 130 miles in, which is good, considering the first phase of training is to put in a lot of “base miles” at a very moderate pace, to acclimate the body to distance riding and build up aerobic capacity.
And 130 miles over two days is exactly two thirds of the 195 miles I’ll need to do on PMC weekend, three months from now. That makes me feel pretty good about the state of my condition at the moment. Now if only the weather is as good on PMC weekend, everything’ll be great.
But this morning I’m aching in all kinds of places. That’s what spring is about: you have to expect some aches after your first good ride of the year, and stressing your body a little is how you make it adapt and grow stronger.
Welcome to another season…