Let's see know. How was everything on last night's group ride?
Warmup: Fantastic. Hills and sprints both felt really good.
Legs: Felt snappy
Head: Clear and as focused as it gets
Water supply: 3 bottles
Food supply: PowerBar
Bike: Cannondale SystemSix - no worries
Group: 10 good riders
As we were heading out of town I felt really good and I had a great feeling about the ride. Couldn't wait to get it going at full speed for some reason. As we headed North on Union Rd., J. Fry kind of launched a bit and I easily stuck with him up the first hill and then settled in as the group came up and the rotation started. The problem started within the first three miles though when I started to yo=yo just a bit off the back. It looked like it wasn't just me so I wasn't going to worry about it and figured that once I was up front it would be fine. As I moved up it was confirmed that things were not bad and I was able to hold a steady pace although every time that I finished a pull the yo-yo effect went on for a few moments afterwards.
We began going over a larger hill on Union Rd. before turning to go towards Finchford and I put in a little burst of speed to get over the top where I looked back and Kisch was there with the group of ten in tow. He came around as we made our left turn to head West on C57 and as I got back into the group the yo-yo effect seemed to get a little worse. My mind started to think a little bit about the ride on Saturday and how I felt afterwards, like maybe I was still feeling the effects of my heat exhaustion just a bit. I was pulling the group as we rounded the bend to head North into Finchford and hopped back in line. As we began up the hill into town something happened. The pace picked up and everyone started rolling away...without me. I went from a full tank to an empty tank in an instant and had no power all of a sudden. It was like hitting a concrete wall head on.
As I was cresting Three-tier hill 2 miles later, the group was nowhere to be found although Chris Congdon did catch up to me. I hopped on his wheel and the two of us continued on to C57 and then headed East to Hwy218. When we arrived at Old Hwy218, I saw the group already over half a mile North going to Janesville and so I decided that chasing was out of the question and headed home. Thankfully Chris was heading back towards Cedar Falls too because I was definitely in need of a tow. After he peeled off on Dunkerton Rd., my speeds dropped from 18-20mph down to 9-12mph. Ouch. The ride home seemed to take forever and I couldn't wait for it to end. Started overheating and getting light-headed when I arrived at home so that was the final straw that I was still feeling the effects of my ride on Saturday or at least my mind did...not cool. Hopefully I get it back together for Thursday's ride, we shall see.
Read the complete post at http://carlosdajackal.blogspot.com/2008/06/wall.html