Brewery to Cagle Road - 80

RidewithGPS Data
Garmin Connect Data
Summary
Moving Time: 4:34:19
Distance: 80.56 miles
Avg Moving Speed 17.6 mph
Elevation Gain: 3,575 ft

Group:  Jamie, Chuck, Gary, Mike and me
 
Goal: L3 +/- with long block of effort

The Ride: Well that was an encouraging ride and I think not just for me but for some of the other group members as well. It was not so much about shooting for personal best numbers, but for me having a few weeks of coming out of a training and riding slump this ride felt good. It is the perception of how the ride went that matters the most for me today. I needed an encouraging ride. And of course we had a rather flat course with a nice tail wind coming back. But overall I think everyone today had good strong turns at the front. And going out we had sustained head winds, but that did not seem to cause any frustration to the pace going north toward Fort Mountain. Based on some comments following the ride it seemed that everyone had a good time and felt good about their performance.

With only five of us we had long turns at the front and Gary was looking like a pro up there doing even longer pulls with a very solid pace both going up against headwinds and coming back. It was nice to have Jamie and Chuck join us and for Chuck to stretch out a few more miles today. Both seemed to be riding at a solid pace with us. They turned back on Cagle Road and had a 71 mile total for the day. Great job and I am very happy you joined me today on this training ride.

At one point while trying to hang on Gary's wheel at 27 mph for a fairly long stretch and he seemed to be getting faster, I looked down and I was out of gears on my  50/11 combination and just about my highest cadence. Fortunately I was able to hang on in the draft. Same for Mike on his turns at the front and at one point I was almost dropped as he had a nice pace up there.We stopped at the gas station to refill the bottles and someone said easy pace in the last 20 miles, but the pace seemed to be mostly in the 20's with the 3 of us down in the drops and trying to hang on Gary's pace. It was like Mike said about the tailwind, "sure we had a tailwind, but you still have to pedal the bike" and we seemed to keep the crank sets constantly rotating at good speed.

To be honest I did not think I would have anyone interested in riding with me today. The course is an out and back and nearly flat for our area. The scenery is okay and it gets better as you approach the mountain. I had a plan to ride at a certain pace with constant pedaling for a Tempo style of training ride. It did not sound interesting as I put out the email, but I am very grateful that I had four of my friends join me today.

I think it turned out to be a great day and an encouraging day on the bike for all of us.

Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~26 oz. of water with Hammer Perpetuem, ~52 oz water (1) Hammer gel (1) Hammer Perpetuem Solid (1) Cliff Bar (6) Endurolytes (1) small bottle of Powerade (1) 40 gram Whey protein post ride recovery drink .

The Weather: Sunny, Start @ 71 degrees, End @ 90 degrees (rain and lighting for a few miles) sustained wind coming from the north and from hurricane Irene at 10 mph and 19 mph gusts.
 
Bike: LOOK 585, Garmin 705, Powertap SL+

Overall Power Data:
 Entire workout (117 watts):
    Duration:      4:38:13 (5:12:02)
    Work:          1949 kJ
    TSS:           257.5 (intensity factor 0.746)
    Norm Power:    153
    VI:            1.31
    Distance:      80.51 mi
    Elevation Gain:        2451 ft
    Elevation Loss:       2434 ft
    Grade:         0.0 %  (23 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    556    117     watts
    Cadence:         30    231    83     rpm
    Speed:           0    34    17.4     mph
    Pace             1:46    0:00    3:27     min/mi
    Altitude:        670    928    777     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    785    125     lb-in