Slippage of fitness
11 days with no bike. That’s where I was this morning, as I had put my bike in the shop that many days ago after discovering my crankset had decided to show off its manufacturing defect my separating itself from the splined spindle that it rested upon, and proceeded to grind the inner chainring’s teeth into my frame’s chainstay. Not cool…and seeing how I took it in right before the Memorial Day weekend, the replacement shipment was bound to be caught in the post-holiday sluggishness of package delivery glut.
This afternoon I finally got it back and after getting home and changing clothes, I hopped back out for my first ride in almost 2 weeks. It hurt. Heading out I encountered a pretty good headwind and got the full effect of the last 2 weeks of minimal exercise, poor eating and too many beers. Sucked. I got to the point where in some stretches, I just putted about between 8-12 mph, but I managed to hammer up the hill after the wood footbridge in Burns Park and got to over 28 on the descent. I plan to cross 30 on that short downhill turn before too long…just a small milestone. Poked and putted and occasionally cranked it up until I got to the bridge and turned around. Stopped for about a minute to rest a sec and get a good couple swigs of drink in me, then headed back the other direction, where I immediately felt the benefits of a strong tailwind. Wasn’t below 16mph the whole time, with a good chunk at 18-19 in the big ring, which is another new thing for me. Powered up both climbs without much difficulty, and what’s better, no fatigue shortly thereafter.
I managed to pass a pair of fit folks on the stretch of road before Riverfront Park, but they were on MTB’s. Still, it was good, but after doing that, I felt compelled to keep my speed up, I guess to not get passed and feel like a poseur. This is where the stomach cramps and lower back soreness kick in…plus the rough saddle. My butt got soft in just 2 weeks, how disappointing. But I made it back to the car with an avg speed of over 15, which is quite nice considering how hard the ride out was for me. Hopefully next ride in a night or 2 will be much better.
So for dinner…some salad. Yum.
