Just a three hour ride

My cyclocross races were typically forty to fifty minute events where you went full gas from start to finish.  You laid down your base of long rides in the summer and sharpened your fitness with intervals in the early fall.  By the end of the season you were managing your training to be fast and fresh for the races.

When the season ended and Sundays went from racing to the Coffee and Lies ride, the two hour ride felt long.  The short, intense hill repeats brought explosive fitness and a lack of patience for longer saddle time.

I remember after my first France trip how short that 2 hour Coffee and Lies ride felt and how the climb back up to the coffee shop seemed so short.  It felt like the climb was so short it wasn’t worth shifting out of the big ring.

My first year of road cycling I had planned a thirty five mile ride that took me across farmland to a small town before retracing my way back home.  When I got to the town I stopped and bought a Gatorade and felt like I was an explorer on an expedition.  “I come from a land far, far away,” was my thought.  I returned home and knew I had entered a new world of long rides.  Over the next year those long rides culminated in a double century ride.  I owned one inherited jersey and one pair of shorts and the chamois was leather. I didn’t know what a base layer was.

In 2018 I’ve been building my base for another summer adventure.  Only on two of my long rides have I had any company.  I’ve stretched my indoor sessions to an hour and a half or two hours during the week (I’m sick of the rain).  I’ve got the aches and pains to validate that I am building a base.  I confess the solitary nature of my build up this year has challenged my resolve.  Lucky for me I have been looking to Hottie as my inspiration for doing hard things.

I’m finishing a rest week and my plan calls for easy Z 1-2 rides this weekend. In my head I’m thinking, “Just a three hour ride on Saturday.”  I guess the fact that a three hour ride is prefaced by “Just” is a sign I’ve put some money in my base training bank.

With that said; I wish we could get some frickin' sunshine on a weekend this month.  Solitary rides are one thing; but the wet, long, solitary rides sometimes feel like I’m paying for my past (or future) sins. I have been able to channel my inner-Belgian to convince myself to go out alone on Saturday, but I seem to be out of courage/stupidity come Sunday.

I have some big training weeks/weekends coming up and I’ll need all the courage/stupidity I can muster. Five and six hour rides are on the agenda and back to back to back days should get me the fitness I need.