More often than not, I ride with other people. I like the company. I feel safer on the roads. Sometimes I like to be pushed by strong companions. But once in a while, I like riding alone.
This past weekend, instead of doing the PA 1000k, I went on a five-day trip with my wife Jill to the Berkshires of Massachusetts. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, saw a Shakespeare play (walked out on Richard III at intermission, due to uncomfortable seating and insufficient plot development), walked a ghost tour of Edith Wharton’s old house and saw the collections at the Clark art gallery and the Norman Rockwell museum.
Even better, I was able to go out between 6 and 7 each morning and ride alone until I joined Jill for breakfast at the B&B about 9. That gave me between two and three hours each morning. What a great way to start the day. I rode over Mount Washington (not that one) to Bash Bish falls the first day, then did the same route in reverse on day 2. The third day I followed a New York Cycle Club route from their ride library, which is a great resource at www.nycc.org. It took me through Beartown State Park. I struggled up a steep broken road for eight miles, seeing no one, not even a house or a campsite. All I heard was birds and insects and an occasional larger animal breaking brush, invisible in the overgrowth.
Finally I emerged from the wilderness at Benedict Lake and headed back to the homestead. As I entered Great Barrington, another rider came up behind and passed me, without a word. When I caught up to him and said hello, still no response. Proving that I have not completely matured, I decided to put the hammer down. I have no idea if he even tried to match me, but soon I didn’t see him anymore. That was probably the fastest I rode the whole vacation.
The last of the four morning rides was to a small falls outside of Sheffield. The end of the ride featured about a five-mile descent, not too steep but very pleasant. I rolled into the B&B feeling exhilirated as usual, ready for the rest of the day.
Jud
WEEK 11 hrs 15 min
GOAL 12 hrs 30 min
I really don’t have a strict training plan right now. I’m kind of doing build/intensity training in preparation for the Sept. 19th Hillier Than Thou Century. I was on the spinner yesterday doing another one-hour time trial. I must still have some fitness left because I averaged 232 watts (or 835 kcal), a new high. To give you some basis for comparison, my best time up Mount Washington (yes, that one) was 1 hour and 29 minutes and I averaged 229 watts then. Of course, I weighed about five pounds less, too. The most power I’ve averaged for an hour this year was 240 watts up Whiteface Mountain during the race in June.