My concern is that I will be away at a conference next week in Yellowstone, but I am taking my bike and hope to be able to get at least a few rides in. This coming weekend is the one where the RTR site suggests I take a couple of long rides. So we are heading up to Summit County and I plan to try to get in a long ride both Saturday and Sunday at altitude. I'm a bit nervous about how much I bite off, but I think I'll do ok. Which leads me to some rambling thoughts...
Fitness: I think I have been doing a good job. I certainly feel in pretty good shape. Of course, it is all relative. When I am doing my usual 25 mile loop, I tend to pass a fair number of bikers and keep up a good clip, so I feel good. But then, I ride up Deer Creek Canyon and get passed by a bunch of riders and I feel like I am hopeless. I guess relative to the "general public" (including myself three months ago), I am in quite good shape, but relative to the "biking class" I am pretty much at the bottom range of fitness.
It was interesting this morning the number of "serious" bikers out. I went out on Monday and today at 5:45 am. Monday there was almost no-one on the road, but today I must have seen close to 50 serious bikers out on the same loop (many of them passing me!). It was like someone all of a sudden announced the start of bike-day. It may be because they were talking about it getting up to 90 degrees and so everyone went off early, but I really felt like a slug compared to all these other bikers who were whizzing by.
I looked at the map of each day and it all seems doable for me, not that I feel in reasonable shape. But then as I am riding around my morning loop I look at the mountains and they look really, really imposing! It is like they are looking at me and being totally unimpressed with the pitiful "hills" I am going up and down. That is one of the reasons I am a bit apprehensive about my planned rides in the mountains this weekend. I am going to try to do at least some reasonable climbs each day, so I'll get a better handle on things then.
Fun: I asked last week if I was having fun and wasn't sure. Well, last week I had a really fun end to one of my daily loops. I went off in the afternoon and there was a really stiff wind in my face almost the whole way out. That was definitely a grind. I hate wind as it is the gliding and efficiency of the bike that makes it so much fun and the wind wipes that out. So I pushed hard for the 12+ miles out, but then, when I started back, boy was that fun! The wind was right behind me the whole way and I was able to really get going. I probably average 21+ mph, and almost never dropped below 20 the whole way back---and it was easy and great, great fun. I had a smile on my face the whole way.
I am trying to make sure I enjoy my training rides more on a regular basis. Partly I have my head down trying to get a good workout, but I am trying to remember to look up and enjoy the scenery, etc. It certainly is beautiful when I get up to Cherry Creek park around the reservoir. Especially in the morning with the slanting sun giving everything a magical illumination and the mountains lined up across the horizon (albeit looking at me with great skepticism). And then there is the wildlife...
Wildlife: Every day I see lots of birds, including once a large blue heron, and my friends the prairie dogs, not to mention numerous rabbits and squirrels. With some regularity (if I go in the early morning) I'll see the deer herds in the park and from time to time a coyote. I saw a beautiful fox one time in Deer Creek Canyon. The most "exciting" wildlife I saw, though, was one morning when I came around a corner and there was a HUGE snake crossing the bike path. I do not like snakes and this nearly sent me off my bike. It was, I would guess, between 5-6 feet long and filled most of the bike path. There was maybe 8 inches behind it, which is where I went flying by, hoping it wouldn't twist around and take a bite at me. It was probably as traumatized by the encounter as I was, but I did not like that one bit!
So, I plan to ride every morning this week, two long rides in the mountains this weekend, and then catch as many rides as I can next week. The following week is the one before the RTR and you are supposed to slow down a bit. I may feel the urge to get out strong on Monday and Tuesday if I don't get many rides in when on my trip, but we are definitely, one way or the other, getting to the end of my training. Soon, on to the real thing!
No comments:
Post a Comment