Another solo ride yesterday; ex-pilot was up at Tahoe and younger Kevin is doing just two rides/week with me at the moment (Tuesdays and Sundays). I never really know, the night before, how I’m going to be feeling climbing up to Skyline. The indications from my commute home from work, riding up Highland, weren’t terribly favorable. But, I’ve learned not to put too much meaning into that.
It took a little bit to convince me that I’d be OK, probably once I got through Huddart Park and onto Kings. Before that, I had some of the more-often-than-should-be feelings of, maybe this would be a nice day NOT to climb the hill? Think I’ve given into such feelings 4 or 5 times over the past 40 years. b
When riding solo, the goal has been to try and ride at a strong effort all the way through, something not so easily done with others, where the pace can be variable and include brief stops to regroup along the way. Consistent hard efforts are important not just because you get stronger, but also because it allows you to keep the fire burning on a cold day, helping you stay warm. It’s also a control thing, something that gives you more confidence that you’ll get through, whatever the ride throws at you.
To some extent I’ve been held back by Kevin’s (younger Kevin, not ex-pilot) knee issues, limiting how long and how hard he can ride. It’s kind of like revisiting 2005-2011 again, when my rides centered around transforming the 13 year old 225 pound version of Kevin into the 170 pound version that would drop me like a rock on nasty climbs. Back then, I wasn’t worried about the long-term effects of taking a few years off (a few years off of doing the gnarliest rides I was capable of, focusing instead of improving Kevin’s ability to do gnarlier, longer rides). But twenty years ago I was only 49. At 69, any slacking off takes its toll on me and there’s no guarantee I can get back to where I should be.
OK, about those pictures. Turkeys! Yes, Turkeys, this time in the yard of the house at the corner of 84 and West Old LaHonda.
Next we have my normal Garmin screen, showing that I got back to the start/finish of the official Tuesday/Thursday morning ride, Canada at Olive Hill, at 9:34am. Back in the day, it would have been between 9:18-9:22am; these days, it can be as late as 9:45am. I’m OK with 9:35!
Then the overall ride screen, showing the map, total distance, avg speed etc. 14.0 mph for the whole ride. Unfortunately I recall the pre-Garmin days when the goal was to keep average speed above 16.4mph. Yikes! But if you take 10 minutes off my Kings time, that alone is going to make quite a dent in the average speed.
Second from last is the “how hard was it really?” screen. Just barely into the bottom range for “good” on the FTP. 207 watts for sustained 20 minute effort… sigh… I remember when it was 280. But the “load” figure of 501 is very much welcome. That’s an indication that this ride counted. Anything in the 200-300 range is just cruising along, out for a ride. Above 400 and you’re pushing.
The final screen show’s the week’s effort. Anything about 1200 for exercise load is keeping me from losing whatever ability I still have, so that number’s really important to me. Two weeks ago I missed a Sunday ride and it dropped to 893. Not good! But missing a Sunday ride is a very rare thing, and won’t be happening again, at least not prior to my mid-July trip to France with Kevin.