Day 33 - Bicycle Race

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Bicycle, Bicycle...

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my biiiiiiiiike.

Queen's ever-rising tones fill my truck as I drive home from work.

It's a fitting song for my training tonight.

Cycling for about an hour inside, on the Wahoo Snap, with Zwift taking me through a virtual world.

I actually have come to enjoy cycling over the past few weeks. I still suck at shifting but at least I'm having a good time.

Walking through the door at this time is always a treat, because my dog is always excited to see me.

Our 1.5 year old English Bulldog is a literal bull in a china shop, and when I get home from work she is ready to roll.

It's no wonder they are nicknamed "Man's best friend"

We head outside for a bit.

She loves to lay in the sun until the Florida heat, already back up in the high-80s, until her not-made-for-heat cooling system calls us back in.

A couple hours pass until my wife gets home from work. We talk a bit about the day, dinner plans, and general life.

Now off to the bike.

I plug in the Wahoo, put the heart rate strap across my chest, and fill up some water bottles to take along with me.

Looking for a course is always fun, but today there is a race starting in 9 minutes.

I've never done a ride, so why not?

Looks like my experience group isn't in on this with only 4 entrants. One from the US, one from Hungary, and two from Japan. The 9pm EST race seems to have joined different cultures together.

We start at a good pace, and soon the Hungarian begins to pull away. I have to actively resist the urge to keep up, my heart rate in the zone I need to be.

The Japanese duo and I trek forward, battling back and forth in a mini race that no one is watching except for us.

As the race continues, the pattern becomes apparent. Flat ride, small hill, small decent, repeat until exhaustion.

My heart rate is getting away from me a bit as I realize I am in the 140s.

I slow down, and realize that I am beginning to pull away from the Pac Rim. The Hungarian is keeping a pace that is well above my pay grade, so it's really a race for second place at this point.

Fourty-five minutes has passed and I've built up quite a lead on these two.

That's when I see it.

The line that drives almost straight up into the sky. The line that shows the grade of the hills.

'Surely that is wrong' I think.

I immediately find out that it's not.

The grade gets to 10% quickly and I struggle to keep the pedals moving.

I still have 1.5 miles left, and it literally is all uphill from here.

Later I find out that it was a 350ft of elevation over this time period, my Kickr Snap making me feel every foot.

My heart rate is rising, my lead is shortening, but my will to win (second place) is in full effect.

I crank away, pedal stroke by pedal stroke, until I hit the final stretch. A small plateau that feels like I'm moving downhill.

I end the ride sweating profusely on the mat that sits under my bike. My heart rate has peaked at 155, and my legs are wondering where the so-called easy ride went.

It feels good to push it though, even when you aren't supposed to...