Disappointed
The Ride: Neighborhood Crit, 8 laps (cut short)
Miles: 15.0
Time: :59
Ave. Speed: 15.3 mph
Weather: Sunny, 84, Wind, 10-12 mph
2018 Season Outdoor Miles: 747.0
The Story
When you Google Image the word disappointed, this is the picture that comes up first...
What started out with such promise ended with much disappointment for me today.
Totally pumped after watching Stage 11 of the Tour de France in the Alps, I jumped on the bike to turn my 10-lap neighborhood crit with speed in mind. I wanted to attempt to land a nice high average speed at the end of the ride, utilizing my usual approach to that, which is to ride the odd-numbered laps hard and recover on the even numbered laps.
I started strong with a faster than usual first lap. The trick is to not take it too easy on the even laps, but just maintain a steady pace. Then on the odd laps I treat it as if it were an actual crit, with fast cornering, getting out of the saddle and back up to speed out of the corners and hammering up the one little hill.
Lap 1- Quicker than usual warm-up lap/good start
Lap 2- Good steady lap/all according to plan
Lap 3- Into the Motel Pain on parts of the lap, just as planned....all is well.
Lap 4- Solid recovery lap...not taking it 'too' easy
Lap 5- A burner! Wow I was Peter Sagan on this flawless lap that left me breathless.
Lap 6- Take it easy and recover
Lap 7- Back on the burner once again....only there WAS NO BURNER....there was nothing! Tank=empty.
Lap 8- Try to recover.....nope. Nothing there. .
On that Lap 7 in addition to having nothing in my legs, I started to feel that little bit of a tightness in my chest. Something just doesn't feel right. It's almost as if my heart is skipping a beat, and I don't mean that in a good way, like in high school when the cute head cheerleader smiles at you in the hallway!
Then the area of my upper back between my shoulder blades has a tightness to it as well. It just throws everything off and is a little concerning on the bike because your mind has thoughts of having some kind of heart attack right there on the road!
My bet is that it is some kind of indigestion working its way through, since I had eaten lunch while watching the Tour.
Turkey sandwich
Nectarine
Peach
....all healthy, right?
Well, there was also the two pickles, jalapeno potato chips and half a chocolate bar to be honest.
Looking back....not the best pre-ride menu. Maybe that's what got to me out there on the road today. Or that big effort on Lap 5 that I was feeling so good about was all I really had in the tank to begin with today.
Who knows?
All I knew was that after eight laps I pulled off the course, figuring what was the point...I'd live to fight another day....I hope!