Today was my first recreational ride since Waves to Wine. It ended up well, but I had a really hard time finding my legs for the first 10-12 miles. I finally found them somewhere on Cañada, when I noticed I was chatting and pedaling on auto-pilot, and felt better than I had. By the time we got to Woodside, I was feeling good and ready for Portola. It was nice to be back on the bike and just enjoying myself, no goal other than keeping up and enjoying the ride.
Stats:
DST: 26.8 mi
MXS: 30 mph
AVS: 13.6 mph
Ride Time: 1:58 (total time 2.5ish hours)
Route: Started in San Mateo near 3rd and El Camino. 3rd > Crystal Springs > Skyline > 92 > Cañada > Mountain Home > Portola > Alpine > Sand Hill.
The northern part of the route I wasn’t so familiar with, and had never done going that direction (only going the other way, for the Tour de Menlo). It was a lot of climbing to start out with, and my legs just felt like they were missing. I joked that they went on vacation and never came back. The rest of the group was pushing the speed a bit harder than I normally do, so that made it even tougher. But the view of the reservoir as you come down Skyline is fantastic that way…it was so serene, and just hazy enough to produce the nice blue effect on the hills. I love that area so much.
The traffic on 92 was terrible because of the HMB Pumpkin Festival, so that wasn’t great, but it’s a short stretch. And the rest of the ride was wonderfully enjoyable. Just a nice fall day, warm but not hot, breezy but not unpleasantly so for most of the way. Having the rest of the group pushing the pace a little was good for me; I ended up tireder than usual after a recreational ride, but it’s good to know I can do a shortish one at a higher-than-normal pace and not crap out before the end.
I think of all the effects of Waves to Wine, other than confidence in goal-setting, the effect of the endurance training is the most significant. Instead of responding to challenging activity by crapping out, it feels like my body goes “Oh, you’re doing stuff…I should make more fuel” and supplies me with the energy I need, and I feel better rather than worse as time goes on. That’s a compelling inducement to do more endurance activity, so hopefully it’ll feed on itself and I’ll stay in good shape.