Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

6 hours of hauling mulch and tackling the perennial flower beds leaves me more tired (and likely more sore) than 2.5 hours of hilly gravel road bike racing.
So I will call it an hour on AP and leave it at that. My kind of sandbagging :)

Event: Lowell 50 Spring Gravel Race
 

Not a very thorough warm up.

It rained enough this week that I could have the weekend off. So off to Lowell we went! 6 am departure from our house and no hassles at the border got us to Fallsburgh park shortly after 9 am. The weather was sunny and kind of cool, but with a rapid warm up by noon (10 am start). I opted for capris and my light jacket.....All clothing choices were good.
The so called neutral rollout was at 19 mph. What the heck? I was comfortable at the back, knowing I would spend the next couple hours passing people who went out too fast.
So many hills.....I haven't ridden this course for 2-3 years, and like the pain of child birth, I had forgotten how many hills there were. I remembered the first one that snacks me in the face within the first couple or three miles (which is why I needed to do a better warm up), and I knew there was a steep one about half way through, but where the heck did these other ones come from? But the Warbird climbed them all.
I never seen to end up with a group so we can exchange pulls on the flatter bits, or when going into the wind. So it was just me with my head down, pushing away out there.
Just before​ the 57 mile cut off, 2 farm tractors were heading out with manure injection units on the back. Of course, most of the riders had ridden past their farm by then, but there were still 100 or so of us yet to pass by. I didn't want to get in their way so I rode in the grassy ditch for a few yards to safely get around them, then through some sloppy mud just at the 57 mile cut off and back on the road. Cyclocross training starts now!
The roads were good except for pothole clusters at intersections etc. Since I wasn't in a pack, I could pick a line. But I saw 3 guys along the way with what I presume were pinch flats from taking a wrong line on a nasty pothole (not that I know anything about that....)
I passed a lot of people as their too-fast-at-the-beginning style caught up with them. Just a beauty of a sunny day.....And headwinds made it feel like a regular day at the office.
This was the fastest MI race I have done, and I think I would've done the Barry Roubaix at a similar speed, had the wet gravel not been a factor.
But still not fast enough for their 57 mile event. Folks who ride this course at 18-20 mph are amazing!

Rode backwards then right-way on the course out to the top of the hill at the orchard.
Stopped a couple times to take pictures and once to drink an Ensure.

Short ride to make sure all systems are functional.

Then we watched Breaking Away.

Thunder storm.
Brisk walk for 25 minutes of "hills" on the treadmill then 20 minutes on the bike.

Many one leg drills.
Legs may have mentioned that they were feeling the effects of last night's time at the gym.

Hamstrings, Smith machine, incline bench, prisoner squats, and a few more slightly tortuous moves