STRONG TEAM

75 kms | 2 h 56 m | 23.2 avg km/h | 1.817 kcal | avg hr 149

A big turn up today on the first team ride of the year. Good weather, beautiful sunny sky and strong winds made a perfect environment for a strong ride. The team is already quite strong. I blow up once trying to bridge but overall a good ride.

Um bom número veio para a primeira volta do ano. Bom tempo com sol brilhando e vento forte fez um dia perfeito para um treino pesado. O time desse ano já é bem forte. Um bom resultado para mim com boa velocidade e sem dor.

The start of the ride was in Hilversum and we had around 50 riders showing up. Great number and even the rookies looked quite strong with nice bikes. We left the office around 9 am and the sun was shinning and temperatures were around 9 degrees. Great weather for this time of the year.

From the start, going thru Laarge Vuursche the team as picking speed quite fast with the tail wind. I decided to stay with the front group. Different from previous years when I was on the back group most of the time. We enjoyed that until we turn left in Nijkerk and start working with the cross and head wind.

Once in there the front group started pushing really hard. My heart rate was around 175 and I kept tucked inside the group. Then we had a flat and everybody had to stop and wait. That wasn’t good as once we start riding again a front group took off and separated from the rest. They were 300 meters ahead and two other guys decided to try to bridge.

I tried to follow them but couldn’t stick and blew completely with a heart rate of 185 bpm. To the point that the whole second group overtook me easily. But that is good training and one needs to look at it as desperate interval.

After that, the group reform to wait for everybody and it was a dash back to the office at 33/35 km/h. At some point I dropped again from the front group and with the help of a colleague, we chase them back with my heart rate at 180 bpm. Good effort and a good call that I really need to start focusing on the interval trainings now.