Friday was supposed to be a mileage day on the road bike. I figured since Saturday was my girlfriend's parent's wedding ceremony (only legally married prior) I was planning to bang out around 50 miles so the next day I can relax and enjoy. Well one bad timing decision after another lead to me sitting around for 4 hours. On the bright side I found one end of the famous 9W bicycle route here in NJ. Definitely have to ride that soon. I decided Saturday morning 7 hours before the wedding I will lap around Lewis Morris to make use out of my fresh legs.
Saturday July 17th - Wedding Day
7:15 A.M I'm at Lewis Morris unloading my Rockhopper and dialing in the tires. Breakfast was only 45 minutes prior and I'm starting to regret the bagel (wheat w/ butter). I start climbing, the first leg of LM is about 1.1 to 1.25 miles of straight climb as depicted on my tracker.
This is from a previous time, in my rush to mountain bike I forgot to enable the tracker. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207102467016784305848.00048ab97aad8ba9e0f75
I'm the only mountain biker on the trail except for two trail runners going against my path, no biggie it is important for all of us to respect the rules so I yield, comment on the weather, and wish them a safe run. 25-30 minutes later I'm back at the parking lot, legs feel like they JUST warmed up. It's 8 AM and I run into a fellow my usual group met the previous Lewis Morris group ride. We spend some time stretching and talking about related topics and then I go on for my 2nd lap after 10 minutes of rest. I warned him that Lewis Morris was a little bit different today because of the rain 48 hours prior. Also during that first climb the soil is extremely soft packed. At some points on my first lap I found my rear tire sinking into the ground while I was wasting precious energy to keep myself moving. Lesson has been learned. Now I know the trouble spots.
2nd lap was a little faster than the first. I had dropped the aforementioned fellow on the climbs and just continued on the trail only waiting at the forks, there were only two of those thank God. By the end of my 2nd lap I was happy with my performance and the fact that I had completed my second lap without stopping. It help's to feel like you have to set the pace.
Fast forward to 7pm, I finally had some food. The ceremony was brutally hot. I was sweating more in that suit then on the mountain with my BPM at 170. I know that suit wasn't meant for the summer. On a positive note I was wearing my terramar boxer briefs. They keep your "you know whats" the same temp if it were 10 degrees or 110 degrees.
I consumed about two plates of all the best food anyone can want after a workout, but I wasn't truly relieved until I was home with the suit off... I'm pretty sure that material was meant to be rented in the winter. I would've appreciated it more. :-D
Sunday July 18th
The whole day was spent basically doing the normal stuff. Picked up some new Pearl Izumi Shorts, a Specialized Jersey, and some Gu/Shotblocks (on sale at REI in East Hanover) . These items came in HANDY later.
Come 6 P.M I decide to put in those miles I never got to do on Friday.
I completed around 30 miles until the sun set completely. Sorry for the backtracking on the map. At one point I wanted to surprise visit a friend to only find out he was in a location .10 miles away from my furthest leg. I trekked all the way back to stock back up on fluids. Then I spun as fast as possible back into Clifton. Problem was I ran out of sunlight and without the proper gear I did not want to chance the ride home. I was 15 minutes too late... Called the wifey to come rescue me. God I love her.
I didn't have the rear light during the Sunday night ride... Both the light and the helmet are extremely important when cycling.
Monday July 19th
We decided to stay in today. We woke up to a huge thunderstorm and decided that was a sign to just relax since the past 2 months have been hectic with wedding planning and random adventures.
Just completed a 10 mile recovery ride on the road bike. Just to get something in. Mounted some tires with less rolling resistance on to the wife's mountain bike to help her keep pace. She's faster than she lets on.
Back to work tomorrow guys. I'm scheduled to do my back/triceps.
.... on my Journey to Fitness.
Thanks for the new tires babe! Love the Blog! :-) Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI like the pics lol and the GPS tracker thing..so high tech =)
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