Oh That hurt!

Well, got back in town on Saturday afternoon after a long week of altitude training, too late to get out on the bike. So, Sunday morning I awoke with a sore neck, a bit of too much wine head and an eagerness to test myself on the Airport ride. The ride started out mellow for the first 10 minutes, then TT1 (mainly Phil) decides to tkae a dig at the front and it's a quick 30 second sprint. I am staying in the top 10 of these hundred odd riders so I am getting a bit of wind. So thirty minutes in, we stop at the nature break, you can see several people going up the road to get a head start of what we all know is soon to come.

We head off, I see Phil and a teammate come by and start picking off singles off the front. Well, I think, I want some of that so I bridge and a few seconds later, Phil puts the hammer down! There are four of us and I am sitting on, heart rate going up as he pushes the first hill and all of the suden we are going by little groups like they are standing still. Phi comes off the front, we slow just slightly and the main closes it upas we approach another climb. Hmm this is hard but I am staying seated as several around me are out of the saddle up these climbs. We start the climb up to the first KOM/sprint, I don't contest it as we have a longgggggg way left to go. Around the corner to the next sprint and I am near the front but again don't contest it, I think I could have but I would have been done for the day. At the split< I am feeling pretty good and fairly confident as we start the hilly section. Through the hills I am hurting but recovering, till we get to the KOM and oh does that hurt (later found out average for that hilly section to include a wait at two stop lights, plus slow to a crawl for two railroady tracks was 24 mph). After the KOM I think okay, I am hurt bad but still here, just stay on!

We make the last climb onto HWy 29 and oh man they are whipping it up! The Garmin says 32 mph and stays there! How in the world are these guys working through on the front? I am just trying to survive! (average for the next 15 miles 29.3 mph). Oh thank god we are slowing down a bit as the last 10 miles is a sedate 24.5 mph. 70 miles in 2 hours and 29 minutes! I get to the car and am whipped but I made it. Woke up this morning slightly leg tired, lower back sore and trying to psych myself into getting on the bike for a couple of hours. I have to keep telling myself that riding with these guys (several pros, 1's 2's and 3's) learning from them, covering the digs of guys like Phil should be giving me confidence that I am getting faster. My numbers sayy I am, I guess we'll see in two weeks. I have a final training block this week from now till Wednesday evening when I head to Nigeria, back on Saturday. Thinking about heading to Albany this weekend to race, not sure if I want that far of a drive after just getting off a long plane ride. Anybody doing that race?