This past memorial day weekend while most people were enjoying a near perfect NW weather weekend with BBQ's, time with family, lazing about I was hammering my legs into shape on the bike.
I was back in Hood River for the weekend with another big focus on the bike. I arrived in Hood River very late Friday night after getting a short late afternoon ride in and quickly packing the car only to sit in heavy evening traffic on the way to Oregon.
Saturday morning I loaded up the tank at Bette's for breakfast before heading out on the bike. It would be a long day and my first 100+ mile ride of the season. Knowing the miles I would put in the next couple of days I opted out of doing the big climbs, there would be plenty of shorter climbs on the ride but I didn't need to tax the legs right out the gate. I eased into the ride and headed east through Mosier and The Dalles. Once I hit a great little road called 15 mile road, I had never been to the end of this road as there is no place to refuel out there so I was always leary about getting too far out. Today it was a little cooler and decided to go past my normal turnaround spot which is an abandoned farm at the top of a 1.5 mile climb. About a mile after this spot the road ended and turned to rock and gravel.
Back I headed as I rounded a sweeping bend in the road there was cow in the middle of the road straddling the center line. I moved into the oncoming traffic lane and slowed to go around the cow when it turned and started running the same direction I was riding. I figured I'll just kick it in and blow by this bovine. Nope I was doing 30mph and this darn cow was holding right next to me. Now I was concerned on which way it would swerve, luckily it went right into a field and not directly into me. I didn't know cows were so fast. I happened upon a few more cows a mile later but it was less exciting this time as I came to a stop and rolled around them. It's a good thing there isn't much (well any really) traffic on this road or there would be some fresh ground beef for the taking.
I rolled back towards HR and hit the climb up Rowena Overlook. I rode the grade twice but was feeling it the second time. The wind was mellow until I got back to HR where it kicked up to 30mph which would be a sign of things to come. It was a good solid 100+ mile day
Sunday I rolled my tired legs out of bed early and headed out for my 2 hour run. It was a good run, not great but good. I grabbed some breakfast and hydrated a bit before heading out for my afternoon ride. Again I headed east beyond The Dalles to 15 mile road. This time I took a new side road which I knew connected with a road I was familiar with. On the way out I was flying along comfortably. One 10 mile flat or slight uphill stretch I was holding 26+ average and very low watts. When I made the turn onto this new road I knew it was going to be battle the rest of the ride. I immediately began to climb up a steep grade into that 30+ mph headwind. I was 40+ miles from home and I was going to be into the wind the rest of the way home. At one point I was riding uphill at 2 mph pushing 330 watts. That which does not kill me will make me stronger. Another good ride but my legs were sacked by the end of the 4+ hour ride. That night I ventured to my friends the Downer's farm and caught up with a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was a much later night that I had planned on.
Monday I was up early again and out on the bike. Again I headed east this time doing the ride (modified) a bit the reverse direction from the previous day. My legs were pretty tired early but they loosened up as the day went on. I hit one section of road which is a long fairly gradual downhill grade with no real hard turns and with the tailwind I hit 56 mph. It's a bit of a white knuckle ride at that speed but Eleanor was solid as a rock. It was another good ride nearly 5 hour ride. My total for the 4 days of riding was 320 miles. Needless to say my legs are a little sore to start the week but I had a great aerobic run test yesterday and will be in the pool and on the track later today. I'm looking foreward to this weekends race, the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon. I think I should do pretty well in this race given my recent training and previous finish in this race and other local sprints. We'll see come Saturday. What I do know is it will be an all out push for an hour.
Here's a picture from the Capitol City Marathon the weekend before last. This was just as I was making my move in the last 800 meters. I had been chasing this guy for about 2 miles and had just caught him then eased up before kicking it to the finish.
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