Big Day in the Heat

I did a big ride in the heat on Saturday with 7 others. This turned out to be my 2nd longest ride of the year. I rolled out from my house at 7:20 am and it felt perfect - cool with no wind. I met up with Mark D, Casey, and Rob in Blythewood. We linked up with LL, RW, Brian C and Justin in Ridgeway, then headed north for a big counter clockwise loop around Fairfield County.

Since it was going to reach 90 degrees, I forced myself to drink 2 big bottles before the one stop. Then I drank as much as I could at the stop, then drank 2 more bottles on the way back. Also I didn't push real hard when I was on the front. I would take a 2 to 3 minute turn at 90 to 100% FTP, but then I'd have several minutes to rest. Everyone else was riding strong, so the pace was pretty high - about 22 mph while we were all together.

With all that hydrating, and conserving energy, I felt really strong, so I did put in some of my hardest efforts after the 3 hour mark. LL decided to attack the climb back into Ridgeway and I put in a 602 watt 30 second effort to follow him.

Heading back home solo on Blythewood Rd near the end I rode into a stiff headwind and it was now above 85 degrees. All in all it was a great ride though.