"Partial" Weekend

I had planned on riding with my brother, Mike, on Saturday on the MTB, but when I woke up I just didn't feel right. And my legs (quads, in particular) hurt really badly. The quads thing may have been from doing too many squats on Friday, but part of the pain felt like I was also super dehydrated, which I didn't think I really was. I ended up spending most of the day in bed feeling like complete and total crap. It felt like maybe I ate something bad the day before (could have been some juice I drank from a can that was expired--I tossed it all out), although I never did vomit.

Sunday's plan was to ride 100 miles at the Rotary Ride. Although they didn't offer a 100-mile option this year, I could combine the 80-something with something else or just repeat part of the course. When I woke up, my legs weren't aching, but my stomach felt a bit off still. I dawdled in getting ready and finally left just after 7AM. I drank most of a Coke, and the fizziness felt good in the tummy. I'd made a 5-hour bottle of Infinit. The weather was peachy perfect with a high predicted in the upper 70's and mild winds.

I started riding at 7:55AM. I didn't feel particularly energetic, and convinced myself that due to yesterday's failure to do anything, I should be OK only doing 85 miles, but that might make it tough to do 200k next Sunday at Bike Psychos. Even though I started late, I began passing people right away. One guy I passed then decided he must be faster than me even though I caught him, and he repassed me about a 1/2 mile after I'd passed him. I thought fine, maybe he was just chillin'. But his pass didn't last long at all and I caught him and passed him again for the win. I always laugh when a guy does that--if you are going to pass me, then BE FASTER THAN ME!

I caught a group of girls that I think were training with their coach--5 or 6 of them. Initially I thought I'd hang with them, but they weren't going very fast, so ahead I went. Later in the ride, I took a wrong turn and added about 8 extra miles, but then I caught up to the same group of girls maybe 15 miles later. They left an aid station about 5 minutes before me, and I caught back up to them at a dangerous intersection. I'd already sensed that some of these women weren't expert riders, and I was right on the money when one of them pulled a stupid turning maneuver. At that point, I decided I needed to ride away from them, so I hit the gas and passed them all and didn't see them again for awhile until the coach went off the front and passed me--I knew she was really fast but just pacing the group. I told her she had the patience of a saint, and she said something like, "Well it's worth it to ride with others." I guess that might have been meant as a diss to me since I was riding alone, but hey, to each their own. I would not have felt safe riding with that group--well maybe the coach, but not the rest of them. I like to ride with others, too, but I'm OK riding alone.

There was a guy who I introduced myself to when finished that I rode up on a few times, and he was riding nice and steady. I complimented him on his riding, and turns out he's doing his first Ironman in Wisconsin soon. I bet he will do well, as he wasn't out there trying to be super speedy macho dude, which is how you ride successfully in an IM.

I forgot to mention that when I was about 60 miles in, my quads were burning like hell. I guess that's because the week before I didn't ride much because I did that race, and then the week before my longest ride was only 68 miles! I was momentarily worried that I would need to be sagged off course, but thought I should just ride easy for a bit and would be fine. I rode easy for maybe 5 miles and then started catching people again and sped back up and forgot that my legs were sore. So I guess it was sort of an HTFU-ish ride. Oreo cookies and Infinit seemed to give me plenty of energy to finish strong. So I got in about 93 miles which was close enough to 100.

I'm still a bit wary about doing 200k on Sunday, but it's not like I'm running lots so I should be fine. I'm predictably tired today, though, and my stomach is still a tiny bit unsettled, but I will be fine. Another gorgeous day today, going for a super easy run!