Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Anatomy of a Long, Slow Ride

When I tell people about my rides these days you can kind of see a question creep into their eyes. "How on Earth can you ride a bike for two and a half hours?" To them, understandably, the idea of turning the cranks around and around and around forever is just mind-boggling. For me, the idea of watching a half an hour of most network television ellicits the same response (I watched an episode of "Friends" for a week last night...) but I do understand why they might think what they think. So as a public service, I post the following timeline and anatomy of a long, slow training ride. Times will be referenced from the beginning of the actual turning of the pedals.

-:30 min: Get home and decide what, where, when, how, how cold, how much clothing. Factors like temperature, precipitation, previous ride routes, wind speed and direction, DVD movie availablitity, iPod battery life all are factored in. A steady undercurrent of praying that the phone doesn't ring with something that will offer an alternative to 150 minutes of boredom and cold.

-:15: Get dressed. At least 10 minutes of this time seems to be used looking for missing assecories such as glove liners, shoe covers, earbands, etc. Put on the heartrate monitor strap. For indoor ride this time is used to set up the rollers or trainer and picking the stage of a past Tour de France I'll choose to "enjoy".

-:10: Drop all accessories (iPod, cell phone, gels, energy bar, keys, ID, bits of lint, CO2 cartridge) into jeresey pockets. Put on gloves. Take them off agine to work things that require dexterity. Switch what's in which jersy pocket a couple of times.

-5: Remember to fill water bottles and check tire pressure. Go out door and think something's missing. Figure out what it is, run back in a get your helmet.

-1: Agonize over exactly what iPod playlist you're going to listen to.

0: Roll out and think...gosh, I can still feel yesterday's ride in my legs.

0-15: Get used to being on the bike. Rediscover the slowly forming saddle sores that you'll spend the rest of the ride trying to avoid. Decide if the route is really the one you want to do. Gear down because this is supposed to be slow and easy for base miles and you really want to go out and hammer.

15-30: Settle in. Get a sense of how your legs feel. This is where the ride is great and exciting. You're out flying, free of all the day's constraints.

30-60: Get bored. OK, the fun part is over now. Now you realize this is a training ride. Unless the sun is out, temps are warm, winds are low the ride is not much fun at this point. You feel cold and you wonder how much farther you will actually go. The wind makes you mad and there's always wind. This is where you have to fight the inclination to push and do intervals just because you desperately want something to do. All of the day's "things" start to crawl back into your brain. Endorphins are in short supply. Doubts and questions surface. You wonder what that funny noise your bike is making is.

60-90: The endorphins finally kick in and things get better again. The doubts go away and you sort of relax. You start dreaming about races you're going to win. You rethink your training plan for about the millionth time. You fantasize about getting interviewed by Phil Liggett after winning Nationals. You tell yourself to slow down because things feel so good you want to go fast. You squirrel around on the bike a bit enjoying rediscovering the balance.

90-120: You start to turn towards home. The ride seems like it's going to be over any minute. It's not. You're excited by your sense of accomplishment. You start doing pace calculations and then you check your speedometer only to find out you've overestimated your speed by half a mile an hour. You notice how cold your feet are. You realize than the sun is getting pretty close to the horizon and the sweat on your back under the three layers of clothes is starting to chill. You debate with yourself, "Do I get home faster and sacrifice the miles and time or do I stay out here and freeze, risking illness."

120-150: You fight the fatigue, your sore butt, your freezing toes and fingers and your desire to rush home . The closer you get the harder it is. As you get near home you realize you're going to finish ten minutes earlier than you thought and have to add distance somehow. Another internal debate ensues as you think of and reject about five different short loop routes all because they have short, steep hills that will spike your heart rate. Finally, you settle for the same boring one through town that you always use.

150: Get home, unpack jersey pockets, strip off layers, put everything away. The endorphins make you feel good all this time as you start to warm up. You vow to do it again tomorrow.

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