Bike 3/6

I met T2 and RG at T2's, for a ride around Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. I did 74.8 miles in 4:56, my longest ride yet.

It was tough - after our stop at Marymoor Park, I was never quite the same. I'd like to think I bonked, but it is probably more accurate to say that was just part of it. I had the PowerBar Endurance drink and two clif bars with me, and I need to experiment with gels as I need to take in more food on the bike. RG said something about burning 600 calories/hour on the bike, and only being able to take in about 300 calories/hour. You will run a deficit but not eating anything will leave you worse off. T2 threorized the clif bars weren't getting absorbed as fast, which led me to be a bit low on energy.

I couldn't keep up with RG and T2, and fell behind after each regroup. They were quite patient; I'm sure they could tell I was hard for me. I felt like a gimp, like I should have had a black leather mask on instead of a helmet. ;)

At 3:30 into the ride, we rode exactly 55 miles. That was just one mile shy of my goal race pace (halfway or 56 miles in 3:30), so that is a good sign. However, I was not at all feeling strong, so I need to work more on the bike. My pace dropped considerably: the first 55 miles was in 3:30 (average of 15.7 mph), but the last 20 miles was in 1:30 (average of 13.3 mph).

Still, I was happy. This was my longest ride, it was really tough, but I still had enough in me for volleyball. So while I was tired I wasn't completely wiped out. Yeah, not much but I need to find a positive in all of this. :)

T2

I tried to by all sly and take a pic of T2 while we were riding. Thus, I didn't want to pull up next to her, so I wound up with this "in the blind spot" angle.

RG

Taken at our break in Marymoor.