Saturday, August 20, 2011

I Didn't Actually Piss Myself

Like once a year I buck up and go ride with a group of hard core roadies. I just looked back in my blog archive (I love blog archive!) and found a post I wrote about the one roadie ride I did last summer. Funny b/c I said it was the hardest ride I had done all year... So today I went with the same group and again, I proclaim (hands down!) it was the hardest ride I've done all year. Yikes. Those guys don't mess around.

In good news, I had several very light/easy days in a row this week which brought me back to life. I wore my HR monitor today though just to make sure that I was indeed out of the woods and back to normal. Given that my HR went up to 115 while putting on my cycling shoes, I figured I'd have no problem with being unable to elevate it today. I'll blame the 115 on the fact that I was nervous as hell 2 big cups of 100% Hilo coffee I drank on the drive over to the ride... (By the way, isn't it odd to drive to a bike ride? Anyway...)

I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice to say that I got what I wanted out of the ride. Some super hard climbing efforts, lots of grit your teeth time, a max HR I've only seen maybe once this year, and some practice uttering words that I can only say when Moana is out of earshot. I learned that Pineapple Hill is actually quite a bit longer and steeper when it comes ~80 miles into a ridiculously fast ride vs when it comes at ~40 miles after relaxing in your aero bars with a nice tailwind. And at mile 92 when I was chasing the guys over some steep rollers and desperately trying not to get dropped, I thought I might actually lose control of my bladder. That has actually never happened to me before. It was crazy because I was standing up and sprinting as hard as I could up this hill and thinking "Am I going to piss myself??" I didn't, if you must know, but that was such an odd feeling. I mean, I've pissed myself on my bike before, but always on purpose and only while racing. Today was not that.

Doesn't that sound like fun? Honestly, it was kind of fun. I'm super glad I went. But I'll also be super glad to get back on my TT bike next weekend and just chill out forever at HR 150... How easy is that going to seem after today?? I swear, so many times I wanted to say to those roadies today Pssst! Hey you know what? This would be so.much.easier if you guys would just chill out and ride steady 20mph instead of slowing down to 10 and then speeding up to 30... And then they probably would have responded Um, shut up Tri-Geek... why would you get off a perfectly good bike and RUN?

7 comments:

Kathy said...

You must really feel bad for those of us who have to get in the car to get a ride in that isn't (1) supper-slow around a neighborhood or (2) 5 mph from being on the shoulder of an Interstate! I know I'm jealous of your riding out the dooor ability!

Kiet said...

That last line made this post. The other reason why you don't do this ride a lot during the season: high crash factor, I really don't think you want to miss Kona because of some crash on a roadie ride.

Molly said...

Haha! Sounds like a blast! I had similar thoughts trying to chase my husband yesterday...I particularly liked the part where he accelerated to pass a tractor going uphill and we had to try and chase him. Ugh.

Regina said...

I have the opposite problem when riding, lots of junk miles until I can get out of the city. Too much trouble though to get the car out of the parking garage. Not that I'm cycling now.

I've had the pee feeling when I've finished a run and I just can't hold it. I don't think it's from working hard, for me. I blame my son.

Kim said...

funny post michelle! and im laughing at kathy's comment - i either have to drive 30 minutes to the 'burbs to ride or ride on my trainer. living in a city sucks!

Libby said...

oh my god I had the same weekend. I'm laughing my tail off. I rode with the roadies sat and majorly hurt myself and I was thinking all the same thoughts (though gratefully didn't have the urge to piss myself!) and sunday felt like a cake walk to cruise at a steady pace! nice work girl!

Damie said...

I actually had that conversation with the roadies last weekend. I know they just ride differently...but why redline as hard as you can up a hill, only to have to coast and recover the next few minutes- especially when I can just ride steady, avg the same, and never hit that redline? I guess that is what makes me a triathlete. Good for you for rolling with the guys. Although it is sometimes not really what we should be doing, just knowing that we can is a little fun too :))))