Riding in the warmer months is hard enough when you're 100%. Riding in the warmer months when you're hitting about 75% on a good day is hard too. But when it's 75-80 degrees and the humidity is between 80-95%, it truly sucks.
I'm trying not to complain since last year I never turned a wheel in the summer heat. I've made an effort to get out of bed early two weekends in a row and get my rides in. Each time I eclipsed 20 miles. Today I just couldn't do it. I think I wound up with 18.3. I just didn't want to sit on the trainer in the stagnant, warm basement air; so up and at it!
I slept 30 minutes longer last night; my dog woke up before I left, so I took him to potty. As soon as he and I walked out on the deck I questioned my sanity. It was stifling. The air thick, hot and humid. I am bound and determined to get back to where I was on the morning of 5/19/18 before Rocky Branch Road broke me; but I'm also realistic and logical. I headed out on my ride with a particular route in mind that had some "minor" hills to test myself on. Maybe not the brightest idea in this weather and for the 2nd ride of the weekend. I meandered my way around the UPS/FedEx Loop. Watched the sun pop up over Read Mtn.
Arrived at Peters Creek Rd, made a left and soon another left onto Frontage Rd which is right across the interstate from where I just was. This road makes a great place to sprint when you feel up to it. It borders an old, public golf course which has been taken over by the Airport Commission. Truly a huge waste of usable green space that is off limits" - stupid really because what freaking harm would bike/walking paths be or a community garden? The cart paths are still there for the most part so converting to usable paths would not be all that hard. Nonetheless it's trespassing to be there.
Back to the road, funny enough that it's basically becoming a parking lot for 18-wheelers or drop spots for trailers - not sure how this came to be and why zoning tolerates... wait I live in Roanoke City and they have no idea what goes on in half the City nor do they appear to give a damn. This is all north of Orange Ave/460..."no man's land over here".
Man, I'm tangential today - sorry. Anyway, back to my ride. I meandered my way through a small section of greenway and back to Peters Creek Road where an ascent through North Lakes would be attempted. I've never tried this before - not even before my crash. Not sure why as it's a very safe subdivision and the road tends to be in good shape. I guess it just doesn't fit into my routes. Right now I'm having to avoid major constructions projects in several places.
I made the right turn, selected a gear I could manage and up I went. At first I was all snazzy "like look at me", then the hill quickly reminded me of my weaker left side. "Uh oh, come on Jen. You can do this." I dropped the gearing to make life as easy as possible and could hear my friend Paula S.'s voice in my head - "just spin..." and spin I did. I made it up and over the first hill then tried hard on the second. This wasn't easy - by the time I got to the top of the second, I felt like I had burned off every bit of energy stores I had. I was instantly hungry and tired. At this point, I eliminated a complete section of my planned ride and headed back in the general direction of home.
One nice thing about this time of day is there is very little traffic, so I could pick the smoothest parts of the pavement to ride on. Back at Peters Creek Road again, another left and another - I was back in the neighborhoods again and used these roads to head towards Waldron Park. There's a slight rise when you're next to the park that for some reason has always seemed difficult. From here I had two more "climbs" to get home. The one on Plantation Road is simply at pain the ass and the one from Brookside Park to home is lesser grade, but annoying as well. One day I won't think so badly of these two hills again.
I got back home, put my bike in the yard, sat down in a chair and my sweat glands took over. I was soaked in no time. Ah well, every ride I do is a step back to where I was and putting miles into my legs is rebuilding my strength and my base. I'm really looking forward to cooler temperatures and fall riding weather. I plan to start trying bigger hills once it cools off. Meanwhile, getting comfortable with 20 miles and getting back to doing that in 90 minutes which is pretty good! (By comparison I was able to do 20 miles in about an 80 minutes prior to the crash - just sharing as an idea of where I'm at. I'm not complaining by any means).
As I told my friend Tim yesterday - it's been kind of nice to be forced to slow down. I'm getting to explore places and see things I didn't see or haven't seen before. Funny thing was yesterday - I saw three skunks within the first 5 miles of my ride. I had never seen a skunk on a road ride before! Craziness!!!!
I'm trying not to complain since last year I never turned a wheel in the summer heat. I've made an effort to get out of bed early two weekends in a row and get my rides in. Each time I eclipsed 20 miles. Today I just couldn't do it. I think I wound up with 18.3. I just didn't want to sit on the trainer in the stagnant, warm basement air; so up and at it! I slept 30 minutes longer last night; my dog woke up before I left, so I took him to potty. As soon as he and I walked out on the deck I questioned my sanity. It was stifling. The air thick, hot and humid. I am bound and determined to get back to where I was on the morning of 5/19/18 before Rocky Branch Road broke me; but I'm also realistic and logical. I headed out on my ride with a particular route in mind that had some "minor" hills to test myself on. Maybe not the brightest idea in this weather and for the 2nd ride of the weekend. I meandered my way around the UPS/FedEx Loop. Watched the sun pop up over Read Mtn.
 |
| The view was better just before I took this. |
Back to the road, funny enough that it's basically becoming a parking lot for 18-wheelers or drop spots for trailers - not sure how this came to be and why zoning tolerates... wait I live in Roanoke City and they have no idea what goes on in half the City nor do they appear to give a damn. This is all north of Orange Ave/460..."no man's land over here".
Man, I'm tangential today - sorry. Anyway, back to my ride. I meandered my way through a small section of greenway and back to Peters Creek Road where an ascent through North Lakes would be attempted. I've never tried this before - not even before my crash. Not sure why as it's a very safe subdivision and the road tends to be in good shape. I guess it just doesn't fit into my routes. Right now I'm having to avoid major constructions projects in several places.
I made the right turn, selected a gear I could manage and up I went. At first I was all snazzy "like look at me", then the hill quickly reminded me of my weaker left side. "Uh oh, come on Jen. You can do this." I dropped the gearing to make life as easy as possible and could hear my friend Paula S.'s voice in my head - "just spin..." and spin I did. I made it up and over the first hill then tried hard on the second. This wasn't easy - by the time I got to the top of the second, I felt like I had burned off every bit of energy stores I had. I was instantly hungry and tired. At this point, I eliminated a complete section of my planned ride and headed back in the general direction of home.
One nice thing about this time of day is there is very little traffic, so I could pick the smoothest parts of the pavement to ride on. Back at Peters Creek Road again, another left and another - I was back in the neighborhoods again and used these roads to head towards Waldron Park. There's a slight rise when you're next to the park that for some reason has always seemed difficult. From here I had two more "climbs" to get home. The one on Plantation Road is simply at pain the ass and the one from Brookside Park to home is lesser grade, but annoying as well. One day I won't think so badly of these two hills again.
I got back home, put my bike in the yard, sat down in a chair and my sweat glands took over. I was soaked in no time. Ah well, every ride I do is a step back to where I was and putting miles into my legs is rebuilding my strength and my base. I'm really looking forward to cooler temperatures and fall riding weather. I plan to start trying bigger hills once it cools off. Meanwhile, getting comfortable with 20 miles and getting back to doing that in 90 minutes which is pretty good! (By comparison I was able to do 20 miles in about an 80 minutes prior to the crash - just sharing as an idea of where I'm at. I'm not complaining by any means).
As I told my friend Tim yesterday - it's been kind of nice to be forced to slow down. I'm getting to explore places and see things I didn't see or haven't seen before. Funny thing was yesterday - I saw three skunks within the first 5 miles of my ride. I had never seen a skunk on a road ride before! Craziness!!!!
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