Group Ride

A lot of stuff has happened since my last post. I missed the Out Like a Lion Road Race and the City Park crit a week ago, and missed the races in Greenville, NC yesterday, and am now trying to get back into shape for my next race, which unfortunately is not until April 19th at the earliest.

On my last post I talked about the races in Blythewood, 2 weeks ago. During the next couple of days, I was training more intensely and was feeling good, although my cold, which never really went away, got a little worse. Then, I woke up Friday morning with a fever and feeling really congested. I was hoping that I would feel better, but I missed my race preparation ride and still had a fever Saturday. I felt a little better Saturday night, but not really ready to race.

Sunday I got a little better, but I didn't ride again until Wednesday. Having taken 6 days off, I could only hope that I could get back into shape quickly and not miss my next race. I felt pretty good on my ride Thursday, but felt bad on Friday. That and the fact that the weather in Greenville was forecasting thunderstorms and hail was enough for us to decide not to go, much to my dissapointment.

Well, today I did the Group Ride. The first half of the ride was in a rotating echolon because of the strong crosswinds. After about an hour and a half, one rider took a long pull and dropped everyone except three of us. We waited for the others, and then resumed our paceline. We got onto the longest climb of the route after 2 hours, not very steep but one of the longest climbs in the area. I had just finished my pull when a rider, the same one who had taken that long turn on the front, pulled away from the group. I was a little boxed in and was 10 bike lengths behind him when I started chasing. I caught him right before a short downhill, and pulled the next time the road went up. We traded pulls a couple of times, until I got onto the front near the crest and pulled until the road finally leveled out. 220 to 250 to 280 to 300 watts for as long as I could hold it.

After that I rode back to the bike shop, then turned around and rode home. I'll download the powermeter when I get the chance