Good Friday and Easter Rides

Tour de South Shore…Good Friday morning I took a solo ride from home down 3A to Duxbury.  The plan was to ride endurance (170W-200W) for the first 2 hours and then hammer down for the last hour at 85%-95% FTP (225W-250W).  3A is a bit of a sketchy road.  At parts, the shoulder is good, but in other areas there is no shoulder.  The worst part about it is that the cars drive on the 2 lane road like it’s a highway; pretty scary.  In any event, bundled up pretty good since temps were in the low 40s.  Tried out the bibs, Chamois Butt’r and the shoe covers.  Let me just say, I absolutely love the bibs – better for 135 bucks, but definitely make a big difference.  First 2 hours were pretty easy, plugged along at 200+W (a little too hot, but within reason) and then got off the bike in Marshfield after lollipopping around 139 to stretch a bit.  The back was a little tight and the ankle was feeling it with powerful pedal strokes.  Took off North on 3A at a steady state in the 240W range.  I found it difficult to maintain the steady work with the rolling hills on 3A, so focused on the average wattage being within range.  Worked well.  At one point, down the driftway, I didn’t feel like I had enough power to carry on, but was able to press those thoughts and feelings away.  I stuck with 1 Fizz tab only and the back was sore for that last hour.

That afternoon, headed over to Cycle Lodge to pick up my race kit – nice!  Beth was able to quickly squeeze me into the schedule and made some adjustments to address my pelvic twist that is still in play.  Replaced the Romin with a Tri-tip and we noticed that it squared me out a bit.  Furthermore, we raised the bars slightly and the seat for optimal power.  Beth believes this would reduce pinching in the shoulder and the back strain. 

Easter Sunday, went out with Adam M. on his Tour de South Shore.  All back roads through Norwell, Marshfield hills, Scituate and Cohasset.  Pretty good loop with some beefy terrain.  We kept it pretty easy in the Z1-Z2 range, but it was really fun getting out with him and testing his route.  We got in 45 miles, with plenty of add-on potential.  New saddle worked well.  I like it much better.  Bar set-up was insignificant due to limited time in the bars, but some back and shoulder discomfort remain.  Ankle appears to be feeling a bit better.  The quads were fatigued to some degree after Friday’s effort and Saturday’s squats and deadlifts…Cadence was low, but taking into account the hills, its was a reasonable tradeoff.

Great weekend of riding.  Got nearly 6 hours in on 100 miles.  Making some good progress on bike strength as this has been the focus due to my laying off of the run and the potential to make some big gains on the ride.