041809 - 041909 Long Bike Rides

Last weekend I went to CT to ride with Griff.  I have to say it is only now that I recovered enough to write about it.  I arrived on Friday afternoon and felt a little crappy because of allergies.  I took a Claritin and found out the next day that that was a bad idea.  I think I pissed every 90 minutes on Friday.  

We woke up on Saturday and headed out around 9:30 for a 108 mile ride.  Unfortunately, we only completed 70 because I felt really bad and was not used to the hills.  We chatted with Max that evening and he asked a few very good questions.  He explained that I should have had a lot more to eat on Friday and the Claritin was a really bad idea.  I may have been dehydrated, but aside from all of that, I think the hills really hit me hard.  I was not used to riding on terrain like that and I learned a really good lesson about the importance of nutrition and hydration.  My HR average for day 1 was in the low 160s.  

Because we did not finish the full ride, we decided to head out on Sunday morning.  I had a better dinner and felt much better in the morning.  We headed out on similar terrain and knocked out 5o miles in just over 3 hours.  I tried to focus a bit more on my pace (rather than trying to keep up with Griff) and I took a gel every 20 minutes (rather than every 30 minutes on Saturday) .  I felt much better and my average HR was 141.  After a big burrito i was able to drive back home to DC.

I have to say I really was happy to get this experience under the belt.  I always chat with Griff about the crazy rides he is doing, but now I have a new found respect!  I also realized why I need to make some slight changes to my training to get in better quality rides.