LONGER RIDE SO FAR

140 kms | 4 h 58 m | avg speed: 28.2 km/h | avg hr: 145 bpm

One knows he had a great ride when one gets home and the only thing  in the mind is eat and drink. That going upstairs is a challenge  and the first water on the shower stings in the eyes because of the salt accumulated on the head. And that was today. Longest and best ride of the year so far!

Uma pessoa sabe que fez um treino realmente bom quando a única coisa que consegue pensar quando chega em casa é em comer e beber. Também quando enfrentar as escadas é um sacrifício e o sal acumulado com suor faz os olhos arderem. E isso foi o que aconteceu hoje. A mais longa e melhor volta do ano até agora.

Ride details: green is cadence. Blue is speed and red is heart rate.

My original plan was to ride alone and go for a flat constant ride to build up endurance with a 135 kilometers. In the last hour yesterday got email from Peter asking if anyone was in for a ride. Knowing how in good shape he is and how he likes pushing hard, I thought what a good opportunity to push my limits.

So, I met him at this home in Maarssen and we start riding to meet Bart in Vreeland. The idea was to go for a +/- 90 km. The thing about riding with Peter is that he always start saying, let’s save the legs because it is going to be a long day. And then he push harder! And today was not exception.

We went thru the Amsterdam Rijkanaal all the way down to Wijk bij Duursteede with a strong lead from Peter. We kept a 32 to 34 kms/h most of the the time and just slowed down when got a strong head wind and a long section of cobbles that shake lose all my tooth fillings. Real hard work. I tried not to be behind his wheel and only get protected when we need to go to the side of the rode to allow traffic and riders on the opposite direction. The idea is to work as much as the stronger person on the group and not hide from work.

Once we went on top of the Lekdijk we took a bit of turns on the front against a good cross wind. Peter started the charge and brought the speed to 34 kms/h constant. Bart jump in front and kept the speed for a good space of time and when I got in front I kept the speed but than I saw two guys riding at good speed ahead of us. I decided to push hard to get to them before the end of that stretch of road. I push my hard rate to 175 bpm and manage to catch them right at the end. I like having a “target” to get to.

From there we went back thru Zeist were Bart went his direction home and North or Utrecht. With Peter always pushing hard. My legs were really heavy to keep on going and it was hard to keep up with him. But what a great training it was. Great ride, great weather with 21 degrees and a good performance. Really happy.

TRAINING LOAD