Cool Springs Long Route

Today's ride was a good one. I think the last time I did this long route was May 17, mainly because we've been racing Wednesday nights and I don't want to kill myself the day before. But, we are not racing tomorrow so Parri and I came out to have some fun tonight. The group was understandably small—the actual temperature was 101*, to say nothing of the humidity and "feels like" temperature. But that didn't keep it from being fast and hard.

Parri and I worked hard and had fun! Here is some data from the ride. That big green spike in the middle is Gosey Hill, which I typically cut out by doing the short route. But today I determined to stay on Parri's wheel if I could and just climb. I wasn't quite on her wheel, but I didn't lose as much ground as I'd anticipated, so that was a success. Then again, neither did I get my HR up very high, so maybe I wasn't working quite hard enough. We rode half of the rest of the way with 3 guys who willingly shared the work at a consistent pace. Then, for the last half of that part, we caught another 5 guys at a stop sign and we all rode together. Unfortunately, not everyone could keep a consistent pace and hardly anyone wanted to pull. Frustrating.

The HR data from here is so interesting. I hit and had to stop at every red light during my warm up. Then we rode super hard, then I cooled down. It's actually pretty fun for me to look at. And surprisingly, my HR didn't spike too much during the couple bigger climbs.

Totals 8-02-11: 34.82 miles, 1:51:30, 18.7 avg (37.1 max), 158 HR (192 max)
2093' ascent, 2036' descent
Warm up: 5.74 mi, 20:46, 16.6 avg, 132 HR
Rollout: 2.24 mi, 7:59, 16.8 avg, 131 HR
Ride: 22.36 mi, 1:04:51, 20.7 avg, 174 HR
Cool down: 4.49 mi, 17:52, 15.1 mph, 141 HR

Totals 5-17-11: 34.75 mi, 1:45:00, 19.9 mph, 159 HR
Warm up: 6.12 mi, 21:32, 17 mph, 140 HR
Roll out + Ride: 24.64 mi, 1:08:54, 21.5 mph, 167 HR
Cool down:  3.9 mi, 14:30, 17.5 mph, 160 HR