Monday Ride...

It's always nice when a three day weekend rolls around at this time of the year because it enables me to get off the trainer for the day. Unfortunately I was mildly overzealous while doing yard work and did not save myself enough time for an adequate over distance ride. I managed to squeeze in an hour in a quarter of very solid up tempo riding.

As I was heading out the door with the Tarmac equipped with the Hed Jets I realized that I hadn't taken the time to put on my heart rate monitor strap. Given that I didn't feel like redressing I decided to for go the monitor and just ride on feel for the day. The temperatures were in the low forties with a fairly constant wind out of the west that added extra bite to the air.

Down 124 I was sizing myself up and was curious about what the ride would bring. I felt ok but was seemingly a little flat from working in the yard all day. Onto 101 opportunity reared its head again as a Waste Management truck was passing. With the echos of Saturday in my head and a clear road I jumped into the draft of the truck and started hammering. The driver of the truck could sense my presence and my impression was that he was slowing to drive at a pace that I could maintain. I worked pretty hard for five minutes making big power all the way into Keene. At the Stone Arch the driver pulled over and gave me a pretty serious earful. I honestly felt awful about the confusion and later called Waste Management to apologize. I really thought the driver was setting tempo for me and was not trying to be a jerk! I felt awful all night thinking that I had ruined this guys afternoon. Off 101 into Keene I decided to hit some hills at a moderate pace. I made a pretty go effort up Roxbury Road to Peg Shop Road and got into the low 1300s VAM wise. I felt like there was more in the tank if I needed it which I will chalk up to having four weeks of training under my belt. After the climbs I mostly just rode moderate through West Keene before jumping back onto 101 for the cold ride home.

My training goal for the week is to hit twelve hours so this ride can be tallied as an ok start toward that mark. I'm hoping to put together another group ride for Saturday morning if anyone is interested. Plan on meeting at Cheshire Medical at 7:30 and be prepared for a hilly 45 to 50 miles.

Cheers!

Mark