Sunday 6 February 2011

Team Ride Dynamics

Fergie sucks, that 'Sweet Child of Mine' rendition was embarrassing to watch. I feel bad for having seen it. Who gets famous as an entertainer is random. Anyhow, in one minute of play time I think Drew W will be ecstatic and LP will be pissed.

We had an interesting group today for a "miles" ride. (update DW is indeed happy - take the knee it's over). Three 3s - one who's on his way to Masters Pro, one who's in fair shape and one (me) who was in very good 'base' shape before a big bout with serious flu that ended Friday. Three 4s - one who hasn't gotten to train much lately but is usually a tempo monster on a ride like this, one who's becoming a monster and who reasonably intends to be a 2 by season's end, and one who's well along the long road back from serious health issues.

My favorite way to do these is on the double pace line, which we were able to do for a short while today. For some reason, it didn't hold up. Mostly just the need to single up so much I think. It was a pretty awesome day, though, so happy to be feeling healthy-ish again. But when you get a group in a zone and there's always someone who wants to drive it, it can't be beat. I'm not a big talker on rides. My sinuses are too f'd up so it gets hard for me, and I like to enjoy the scenery and the work. Sometimes a quick word will get someone to take it for a while and keep the rhythm alive. Often it's just a 'hup!,' which sounds more obnoxious to write than it works out being. I love that zone where the thing is just going. It's hypnotic.

P has become so strong, he's almost hard to ride with, apart from his being my favorite person (except the other) to ride with. I don't think he feels it any more, he just does the demon plow horse and eventually everyone has to fall away. I was psyched to more or less be able to go stride for stride today, although I was often breathing harder than he was. He pantsed me at the top of Mass, coming up from Goldsboro. 15's a pretty good clip up that stretch, but it didn't fray him at all. No one else had it to give at that point, it was just the two of us on a pace, and I buckled about 50 yards from the top. 60 miles in on the first ride back after most of a week blacked out in fevered delirium, not awful, but he could have done it for ten more minutes. Wow.

Strange and scary cool to see some of our product in the wild, even if it was a proto/demo frame we'd loaned out and it was on a car, headed to a ride. People freak over the RFSCs when they see them. They're just really good looking. They build so nicely, too. I like them a lot.

The rule on digi-cam video is WIDE focus when you're riding. So jumpy otherwise. Need to get better at on-ride photography. Took some shots today, none were that good. Tried to get one leaving Poolesville, with Leesburg across the river in the far background. It didn't come out. We were going fast then.

The coffee shop in the gym in Poolesville is open and it's super cyclist friendly. Great refuel spot. The guy loves the cycling traffic, and their bathrooms are sweet and they have hair dryers so you can dry and heat your gloves. All good.

2 comments:

Tim Rugg said...

Wow, great info on the Poolesville Gym. I've always wondered about that. With that spot and the bike shop in town in case you double flat on the way out... you're set. Sounds like you're putting in a healthy base this year, nice work.

Drew Armstrong said...

Co-sign Rugg on the coffee shop.