2nd Group Brick workout was yesterday. We met at Blue Lake and headed out with warm clothes in anticipation of the descent off of Larch Mountain. I felt way too overdressed for the first part of the ride even though I was wearing shorts. Everyone else seemed to be in long pants and in Robbie's case some type of gel he spread all over his legs that he says would heat him up with ingredients like pepper and other hot stuff. He offered some to me, but I thought I would have enough worries on the ride without my legs catching on fire, so I declined.
The first picture is of Larch Mountain. It was a 44.8 mile ride (although I actually only went 42.8 miles) with about 2500 feet of elevation gain. We stopped at mile 13 at the Oregon Women's Forum for this awesome view in picture two. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but found this great pic online.
There was still snow up there but I didn't get that far. I saw my mentor turn around at the 7 mile marker so I followed suit only to find out that many others actually went up to 9, so I feel like I wussed out on another good two miles of climbing. The good news about climbing is that it didn't feel so bad - just slow and steady and Dad's advice about not pedaling for a second when changing gears popped into my head at the beginning of this ride and it made ALL the difference. Smooth shifting baby, smooooooooth! Thanks Dad!
The descent was CHILLY to say the least. My earwarmers and extra gloves and extra fleece jacket now became quite handy. I stopped with a group changing a flat (when will I learn to stop doing this? I was of no value/help in the situation and all I did was end up letting myself get cold) but in the end it turned out good because I knew if left on my own I would get lost at the bottom of the hill (sure enough, Abby went cruising down really pushing for a good bike time on her own and took a wrong turn which added a good couple miles to her ride). So the descent was fun in speed but I was so cold I was shaking.
We got back to the Lake at just under 3 hours. I think this ride could have been done in 2:45 for me if I had felt comfortable in breaking out on my own but then again, if I got lost it would have taken me 3.5 hours, so I'm glad with my choice to stay in the pack.
At the lake we transitioned into running clothes but I HAD to use the bathroom so within my "pack" I got left behind. BUT...again, I made the right choice as others were struggling with a full bladder - and I did catch up to my two girls, Amy C and Sheryl. We did one lap together and called it a day. Again, I wussed out as we were supposed to do two laps. A and C were heading in and I was all turned around at the park and not sure where I was so I just called it a day. My legs felt great and I had no transition troubles. I kept Lyndsay's words in mind the last mile and really put it into an easy gear and tried to spin at over 100 to get my legs ready for the run, which really appeared to help.
The only thing I would change about the day is that I wish I had gone the extra two miles on the bike and finished the second lap of the run, but all in all I'm happy with my performance and how I felt at the end...like I could go further! Always a good thing!
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