Real Ale Ride 2011 ride report.
I've been asking Jamie to put all these organized rides on my schedule, or just doing them as the assigned workout when applicable. However, I did not ask to do Real Ale this year, because I now remember consistently that Real Ale is very hilly and hard. Aaaaand so of course Jamie put Real Ale on my schedule. Doh.
Didn't know of anyone else doing it, so I headed out to Blanco alone. The nice things were (a) I was to do 50 or 65, not 80, and (b) I was just to do it as a long ride, no intervals, no paces. It's been a while since I got to just do a long ride!
It turned out to be a good ride. It was absurdly humid, so much so that the tops of many of the hills were not visible for the haze. But that wasn't such a big deal on the bike. And it kept it from being sunny. I came up on Vicki, Denise and Laurie, and rode with them for a short while, but mostly just rode alone the whole time, and enjoyed myself. The hills were predictably tough, but I got up them just fine, and they didn't wear me out too badly.
I figured I'd choose between 50 and 65 (the schedule let me choose) when I got to the split. The road surface was kind enough to help make my decision, because the middle section of the ride just had horrible road surface. I couldn't feel my hands for several miles. Between the bad road, the hills, the heat, and knowing I had to run off the bike (and run the next day), I decided to do the shorter option.
Not too many people near me toward the end of the ride (either there weren't that many people doing the 50, or they were all in front of or behind me), so not many random drafters, but I did pass one guy on a mountain bike wearing a fur barbarian costume with a plastic battle axe on his handlebars. He latched onto my rear wheel, and said he didn't have the fortitude to pass me, but he was willing to use me to catch up to his friends up ahead. So I pulled him for a few miles, until we eventually caught sight of a cloak billowing in the wind, and we came up on his friend, also on a mountain bike, wearing armor, a cloak and a centurion helmet. And then I was alone again.
Only other notable thing I can think of is the amaaaaazing downhill on the course. There were a few good downhills, but I seriously wanted someone to drive me back up to the top of this one so I could do it over and over. My max speed of the ride was 45mph, and it was on that hill. Wheeeeeeee!
(Oh, and there was a goat on the side of a small highway that looked lost, and I told it to go home, and it looked at me despondently.)
Despite the hills and the humidity and the lack of assignment, I averaged right at 16mph for this ride. I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. If my normal, just-go-ride pace is hovering in the upper 15s and lower 16s.. that's just amazing. I didn't think I'd ever see real improvement on the bike, but I might be getting there, after all these years.
And then I had to run. Ugh. 40 minute run off the bike, 15 minute relaxed just concentrating on turnover, 20 minutes strong, 5 minute cooldown. It was hot. The sun had come out. It was humid. Very humid. The run was supported, with a water jug at the 1 mile mark and the 2 mile mark, but it was also along a completely unshaded highway, on the shoulder. It was pretty awful.
Definitely slower than my run after Armadillo, but it was about 20 degrees hotter. Still managed mid 8s for the first 15 minutes, then low 8s for some of the strong part. I skipped the first water, then started feeling very, very hot, so I stopped at each water station after that, drinking a lot and pouring a lot over my head. It was the kind of heat/humidity that feels dangerous, so I wasn't taking any chances. All I could think about (other than, "Holy shit, it's really hot," was how miserable the folks doing Ironman Texas must be. At least on the way back, I had a headwind, so some air was moving. The last 5 minutes of cooldown just felt like a slog (even though it was at an 8:49 pace). And I stopped a second to chat with Kate and MaryAnn during my cooldown.
Then I ended up chatting with Nate and Katie, who're leaving town soon, and who were manning the HCRC transition run station. Drank a beer (a whole one!), ate a sausage wrap, donated my other beer ticket to Nate, and then eventually drove back home.
Hanging out drinking beer with Nate and Katie
So, overall, a hard, hot workout, but one where I could actually see how my training has paid off, which I love.
Didn't know of anyone else doing it, so I headed out to Blanco alone. The nice things were (a) I was to do 50 or 65, not 80, and (b) I was just to do it as a long ride, no intervals, no paces. It's been a while since I got to just do a long ride!
It turned out to be a good ride. It was absurdly humid, so much so that the tops of many of the hills were not visible for the haze. But that wasn't such a big deal on the bike. And it kept it from being sunny. I came up on Vicki, Denise and Laurie, and rode with them for a short while, but mostly just rode alone the whole time, and enjoyed myself. The hills were predictably tough, but I got up them just fine, and they didn't wear me out too badly.
I figured I'd choose between 50 and 65 (the schedule let me choose) when I got to the split. The road surface was kind enough to help make my decision, because the middle section of the ride just had horrible road surface. I couldn't feel my hands for several miles. Between the bad road, the hills, the heat, and knowing I had to run off the bike (and run the next day), I decided to do the shorter option.
Not too many people near me toward the end of the ride (either there weren't that many people doing the 50, or they were all in front of or behind me), so not many random drafters, but I did pass one guy on a mountain bike wearing a fur barbarian costume with a plastic battle axe on his handlebars. He latched onto my rear wheel, and said he didn't have the fortitude to pass me, but he was willing to use me to catch up to his friends up ahead. So I pulled him for a few miles, until we eventually caught sight of a cloak billowing in the wind, and we came up on his friend, also on a mountain bike, wearing armor, a cloak and a centurion helmet. And then I was alone again.
Only other notable thing I can think of is the amaaaaazing downhill on the course. There were a few good downhills, but I seriously wanted someone to drive me back up to the top of this one so I could do it over and over. My max speed of the ride was 45mph, and it was on that hill. Wheeeeeeee!
(Oh, and there was a goat on the side of a small highway that looked lost, and I told it to go home, and it looked at me despondently.)
Despite the hills and the humidity and the lack of assignment, I averaged right at 16mph for this ride. I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. If my normal, just-go-ride pace is hovering in the upper 15s and lower 16s.. that's just amazing. I didn't think I'd ever see real improvement on the bike, but I might be getting there, after all these years.
And then I had to run. Ugh. 40 minute run off the bike, 15 minute relaxed just concentrating on turnover, 20 minutes strong, 5 minute cooldown. It was hot. The sun had come out. It was humid. Very humid. The run was supported, with a water jug at the 1 mile mark and the 2 mile mark, but it was also along a completely unshaded highway, on the shoulder. It was pretty awful.
Definitely slower than my run after Armadillo, but it was about 20 degrees hotter. Still managed mid 8s for the first 15 minutes, then low 8s for some of the strong part. I skipped the first water, then started feeling very, very hot, so I stopped at each water station after that, drinking a lot and pouring a lot over my head. It was the kind of heat/humidity that feels dangerous, so I wasn't taking any chances. All I could think about (other than, "Holy shit, it's really hot," was how miserable the folks doing Ironman Texas must be. At least on the way back, I had a headwind, so some air was moving. The last 5 minutes of cooldown just felt like a slog (even though it was at an 8:49 pace). And I stopped a second to chat with Kate and MaryAnn during my cooldown.
Then I ended up chatting with Nate and Katie, who're leaving town soon, and who were manning the HCRC transition run station. Drank a beer (a whole one!), ate a sausage wrap, donated my other beer ticket to Nate, and then eventually drove back home.
Hanging out drinking beer with Nate and Katie
So, overall, a hard, hot workout, but one where I could actually see how my training has paid off, which I love.