Pushed

This evening it was my pleasure to ride with a group that really handles itself well out on the road. Six of us—all familiar faces—left West Bend on the popular Covered Bridge Ride. We picked up two more riders en route. Though we were committed to keep the ride together, there were moments when we turned on the gas and allowed the group to split temporarily. Sometimes I stayed with the fast riders and sometimes I didn’t, but the overall effect was a great workout. My average heart rate was 136—a comfortable 74% of my maximum—but my highest heart rate during the ride was 167. That’s 91% and you can bet I didn’t stay there long. I had some soreness in my still-not-back-to-normal left shoulder, but nothing I couldn’t ride through. And though most of my post-crash rides have been flat, I was happy with the way I climbed today. The route didn’t have any really difficult climbs, but I gave a good effort on what was out there. It was a solid effort all around and now I will go into Saturday’s WCBC ride feeling confident that I can ride the road bike without much discomfort. That will be a much less competitive ride, so maybe the shoulder won’t complain as loudly. And there was no back pain tonight. That’s just a conditioning thing and hopefully it won’t resurface. I’ve now done seven rides for a total of 214 miles in the last 10 days and it seems like I’m hardening to the grind once again. Sunday’s metric century will be a good test. It won’t be a fast ride, but the miles will add up.