Aargh. Another non-normal training week. I came down with a cold late Tuesday and by Thursday it had turned into a heavy cough and congestion. Thus I skipped my Thursday workout as well as the mini-tri and interval ride on Saturday. I even stayed home from work on Friday.
Sunday I went for a 113 mile ride from Bridle Trails down past Orting and then back to my house. This was a group ride for Jill and two groups of her athletes - Mark and Shannon training for IMAZ (along with Jill and I) and Jason, Char, and Michael training for Ironman Cour d'Alene.
I had a fantastic ride - a "best ride ever" day - on my new Cervelo P3 Carbon. This is my second outdoor ride on the P3C, and I tweaked the aero position by flipping over the stem. This was just as comfortable and a lot more aero. On the second half of the ride, I raised the seat about 4mm which also improved aero position and leg extension when sitting up.
This bike is just plain fast! This was my first group ride with it, and thus I had some comparison points. It really picks up speed on the downhill - without pedaling, gravity alone accelerated me way past the other riders (most on road bikes with clip-on aero bars).
In the middle of the ride on Interurban, Jill had us ride at AeT + 15 which is 159 bpm for me. My splits per mile were all in the mid 19 mphs, with a 20.5 mph miles. And this was despite having many road crossings in this stretch. On the way back, the goal was to ride it at AeT+10. My splits were similar with a couple 20s. I got a bit hot at one point, with a 21.1 mph mile at 157 average bpm. I was just enjoying the steady speed at this point. I was practicing keeping aero while sighting forward - not always an easy task.
Past Orting, we were on a fairly new trail, wide, smooth, and flat with no intersections. Jason and I flew down this section at average speed of 22.3, with my average HR at 160. On my Trek, I would have been happy to do this in the mid 19s.
On the way back, the rest of the group was returning to Bridle Trails for their 112 mile ride but I split off to ride the rest of the way home. My guestimation was a bit off and I ended up with 113 miles, with the last mile the 400 foot climb from Newport Way up to my house. Tri bikes are not made for climbing, and I know my Trek with it's Ultegra triple would have been a lot easier.
The thing about the 78 degree tri bike position is that it saves your legs for running by engaging your muscles differently than the more relaxed 73-74 degree road bike position. I did a 30 minute treadmill run when I got home, and while my legs were tired, they weren't nearly has bad as they could have been. It seems to work.
Good Luck with IMAZ...I too am training for it.
Cheers,
Jennifer
Posted by: Jennifer McKinney | Tuesday, March 06, 2007 at 04:56 PM
That's hot. I want one now...
Posted by: Tony | Tuesday, March 06, 2007 at 06:49 PM