Sunday – 34 mile ride

I’m going through a creative writing block…I can’t write or document for shit right now so I’ll just bullet point some highlights

• To my surprise many people showed up to the Rebel Ride, even after the weatherman said there was black ice and a chance for snow, afternoon thunderstorms and hail.
• The Pumpkin Ridge hill was not as bad as I had thought. It was just a long moderate climb….I guess time flies when you talk the whole time going up.
• Worked on training in the “heat”. Lol, kind of…sort of. It was in the high 30s….add wind chill and that is pretty damn cold. To make sure I was warm enough I wrapped my shoes in plastic wrap, covered by booties, wore arm warmers, a fleece and a wind breaker. I was warm : ) a little too warm as I started climbing that damn hill. I started sweating bullets and there was nothing I could do about my layers…they were too bulky to take off. Oh well, I survived and at least I wasn’t cold.
• I finally did it! I got AERO!!!!! After a month or two of trying to hit my aero bars I finally did it with stability and control. River City fitted and installed my bars to give me the best aero dynamic positioning….well that’s all good but not really for someone who has NEVER ridden aero before and has issues with balance. Up until now I have been able to drop an arm down and that was it…I had to keep balance with my other arm on my regular bars. BUT not on Sunday. I managed to ride aero 2 x 3-4 mins. Sure it wasn’t that long but it is a start….I’m going to work on it more on Wednesday’s flat ride out along Marine Drive. It’s an odd feeling being so low and the breathing is much different.
• Thanks Lindsay for giving the option for a few extra miles. I felt so good during that ride I really didn’t want it to end and it was nice to take an option to extend it. The added hills were good too.
• The shit weather held off for the most part. It misted as we rode up Pumpkin Ridge. As we hit our turn around the road was dry but the nearby grass and trees had snow all over them….and then it started lightly snowing. It was kind of cool to ride in. About 400 meters from our finish it started hailing, thankfully it was small hail and only lasted 60 secs. Even little hail hurts.