AGAINST THE WIND

Last long training in Holland before going to France next Sunday. Today was a windy & cloudy day in 20 degrees lonely ride. The wind was around 40 kms/h speed and the route I choose (analog gps on the picture) was spot on: easy at the beginning to warm up, hard on the middle and easy on the last 10 kms for cool down. Perfect training.

Último longo treino na Holanda antes de viajar para França no próximo Domingo. Hoje foi um dia de muito vento e nublado em um treino em 20 graus. O vento estava por volta dos 40 kms/h e a rota que eu escolhi (no meu gps analógico) foi perfeita: fácil no começo, difícil no meio e fácil novamente nos últimos 10 kms. Um treino perfeito.

The wind was coming down from south west (as usually it does) and it was quite strong. I left home at 10 am alone because everybody was afraid of the heavy rain forecasted for today. And it didn’t happen. The rain didn’t come and headed north in the direction of  Amsterdam. Right after the little city of Harmelen, a little turn right and I got the wind full on the back, with speeds between 39 to 42 kms/h keeping the heart rate of 155 bpm. Very much fun.

Most of the way I was in little roads with no one around (maybe because of the late finish of the Dutch football game last night). Nobody out there and the farm roads are beautiful with lots of gentle turns and small rivers and canals. In the city of Wilnis I turned left and the fun started.

The cross wind really slowed things down. The speed went down to 30/32 kms/h and a higher effort. Something around 165 bpm. From Wilnis until Alsmeer, the cross wind was the game and I wanted to treat as a tempo training. Keep the effort constant and the speed stable. Alsmeer, with 35 kms into the ride, was the point to turn left again in my round and start the way back.

But it also meant facing the wind head on. I decided to go effort just below the lactate threshold, just around 174 bpm and keep on pushing against the wind for the next 25 kms until Alphen ad Rijn. It was a great effort. At some point I passed a group of 3 riders in slow motion. They were going just a little bit slower, maybe 1 km/h. And taking over them with headwind was kind of funny. Very slowly but I didn’t want to hide behind anybody and the best was to keep on going on my own line.

From there, I got to Bodegraven and Worden with some cross winds and then the last 10 kms was with tail wind again. Just to relax and finish this shortshy ride. Good effort. For the rest of the week it will be a couple of commuting rides to work and then travel to France on Sunday.