The Training Hits Hard

My log book has been jam packed with miles since my last post, because the crew and I have been restless, and glued to our saddles. We have begun deep training for the century ride coming up in just under a month, and since this serious cycling training is new to me, it seems like all I've been doing lately is pedaling! the crew has been putting on so many miles that we pedal in our sleep now, and it's scary to say; but we would rather be sitting on a rock hard saddle than our sofa. Why? because the count down has begun, and I'm confident that I will be riding that century ride with out crying for my momma or stopping to hold my blankey. So the only way to ensure I am prepared for this gig is by putting plenty of miles on my speedometer and taking less vacations from the asphalt.

Now of course being The Rolling Resistor I am, I'm proud to say that I've finally completed a 50 mile ride! This is my longest ride to date, and it sure was confident boosting to know that I can at least survive half of a century ride. The past Saturday just me and dad headed north for a solo ride. It was certainly an interesting ride where I got to see some new territory, and experience a new definition of tiredness. The rain at the last 15 miles of the ride didn't help either, it was cold and windy, yet I was able to pull through. Of course I did not have my nose in the wind much as dad did pretty much all the pacemaking as I was trying to return from the ride with the ability to keep on walking for the rest of the day. After all this was the day of my birthday party and I needed to entertain my friends. My actual birthday is next Sunday and I'm sure dad will be pulling me out of the bed at 6 am even then for the 60 miler, well I guess we don't need to worry about that yet.....

Any how going back to the 50 miler, saying your going to ride such a distance isn't easy for a noob like me, so I had to keep reminding myself that I was completely capable of doing this while I pedaled farther and farther away from my cozy warm bed; so its as much pushing the envelope mentally as its physical if not even more.

  I took the rest of the Saturday easy and relaxed with my friends. I even skipped out on Sunday ride to recover, but soon enough the days marched on, and we began carry on our usual routine rides with the crew. Monday's 26 miles to Linton Blvd was graciously easy the first half, but predictably brutal on the way back home due to Florida's bipolar wind patterns. The gang and I were still able to average a decent speed and dad gave us younger riders of the crew some nice practice on rotating, so everybody had to do pulls in front. 

Next thing I know I'm coming home from school on a Thursday afternoon and cramming in a snack as well as some homework before we are again climbing up the Lake Worth bridge for our night ride. We decided to go 30 miles instead of the usual 26 as we will be skipping Saturday ride for a full day of volunteering at a kids event at church. Nick, Johanna and I were also able to manage pulling the small group of ours, and we got a nice average speed. As we turned around and swirled our pedals to head back, the sun was setting and night time struck soon enough. I was looking forward to darkness because it gave me an opportunity to try out the new front light I had got in the mail today. The 1,000 lumen beam gleamed through A1A and beautifully justified it's price. Night riding is not too bad, because when you look down at your computer you can't see anything, so speed and distance doesn't matter. At my turn I pulled our group at my leisure speed and no one could complain (except of course dad, who has a light in his Garmin and was calling the shots on when to rotate to the back). The rest didn't even know the speed my legs guided them at. I call that blind relaxation; a newbie riders, best friend.