Hello,
In general, the new first few posts will be retrospective because I’ve been putting off this blog for some time. I will try my best to remember my first few months on the bike and my experiences with the transition to becoming a better cyclist. During the first month on my road bike my body was taking a pretty good beating. My endurance base was horrid and my lactate threshold lasted about two seconds. I started off with a few ten mile rides so that I could get used to the bike and being in the drops, etc. I didn’t have a rough time with sprints, but the hills were by far my biggest problem. Furthermore, I just didn’t have the power to maintain a high speed for extended periods of time. Looking back on my first rides, I just remember mashing gears to accelerate for about 100 yards, only to drop to a turtles pace in order to let my heart rate come back down. I tried my best to improve my position on my bike and to get my form down. I read some articles online and bike up two books to read about all the components of cycling. After these periods I felt that I was in enough shape to attempt a race. I choose to ride in the 10 mile Tour De Strongland. I was still quite new to cycling, but I wanted to get some race experience and ride with some more experienced riders. I felt good for the ride, or at least I thought so at the time. I didn’t warm up for the race and figured I could just keep pace. As the race began I made sure to stay will the lead pack. Everything was going great until the first hill and everyone got split up. A break away pack disappeared over the hill, but I remained with the next big group. I ended up sprinting down the hill and caught two people who had passed me. I was in a group of three for the remainder of the race. This was my first experience riding in a group and working on pulling. I did my far share of the work, but when we approached the last hill it was everyman for himself. I was going head to head with this one rider, he passed me up the last hill, but I caught him on the straight and beat him to the finish. I ended coming in 7th overall, but I was satisfied with my performance. I talked to everyone who beat me and they all had more experience than I did and I was about ten years younger than all of them. When considering my level of training and endurance I thought that my pace was decent.
In general, the new first few posts will be retrospective because I’ve been putting off this blog for some time. I will try my best to remember my first few months on the bike and my experiences with the transition to becoming a better cyclist. During the first month on my road bike my body was taking a pretty good beating. My endurance base was horrid and my lactate threshold lasted about two seconds. I started off with a few ten mile rides so that I could get used to the bike and being in the drops, etc. I didn’t have a rough time with sprints, but the hills were by far my biggest problem. Furthermore, I just didn’t have the power to maintain a high speed for extended periods of time. Looking back on my first rides, I just remember mashing gears to accelerate for about 100 yards, only to drop to a turtles pace in order to let my heart rate come back down. I tried my best to improve my position on my bike and to get my form down. I read some articles online and bike up two books to read about all the components of cycling. After these periods I felt that I was in enough shape to attempt a race. I choose to ride in the 10 mile Tour De Strongland. I was still quite new to cycling, but I wanted to get some race experience and ride with some more experienced riders. I felt good for the ride, or at least I thought so at the time. I didn’t warm up for the race and figured I could just keep pace. As the race began I made sure to stay will the lead pack. Everything was going great until the first hill and everyone got split up. A break away pack disappeared over the hill, but I remained with the next big group. I ended up sprinting down the hill and caught two people who had passed me. I was in a group of three for the remainder of the race. This was my first experience riding in a group and working on pulling. I did my far share of the work, but when we approached the last hill it was everyman for himself. I was going head to head with this one rider, he passed me up the last hill, but I caught him on the straight and beat him to the finish. I ended coming in 7th overall, but I was satisfied with my performance. I talked to everyone who beat me and they all had more experience than I did and I was about ten years younger than all of them. When considering my level of training and endurance I thought that my pace was decent.
No comments:
Post a Comment