TEAM RIDE

115 kms | 4 h 16 m | avg speed 27 km/h | avg hr 148 bpm | 2.846 kcal

Today was the second team ride from the Nike group. It was a nice strong ride in a cloudy and cold weather but that stayed dry. The team was quite big with around 35 people and the ride was fast and fun with a couple of climbs, some of them that I didn’t even know yet. Quite a surprise…

Hoje foi dia da segunda volta com o time da Nike. Foi uma volta muito legal com um time forte em um dia nublado e frio. Mas seco. O time desse ano é bem forte e 35 pessoas apareceram para uma volta rápida e com algumas subidas, algumas inclusive que eu não conhecia…

The group met in the main building of Nike and we started riding at 9 am, right after the morning rain stopped. The roads were wet and we started very careful. From Hilversum we went direction Amerstfoort and the Utrecht Heuvelrug, which is a very known area and on the way we already lost one of the team due to a mechanic issue that we couldn’t fix.

From Amersfoort we went direction Maarn with a higher speed now, something around 32 km/h. It was very nice have again the feeling of riding in the middle of a big group and I have to say the team behaved quite well. Different from some years in the past. In the first climb of the day I tried to stay with the lead group but had to let it go right at the end. Legs are still not there.

From Maarn we split in two groups. The fast guys went ahead of us and I was asked to lead the second group as I know most of the ways. We were around 15 heads when we headed to the rest of the ride. The difficulty for me was leading the group trying to follow the route chosen by another person and without doing a ride prior to learn the right turns. I know all the roads (or most of them) but to get exactly the turns the other person intended was quite difficult. But we managed.

THE MAP OF THE DAY. LITTLE STREET RIGHT AFTER DOORN IS THE NEW CLIMB.

The nice surprise was to find a new climb in the village of Leersum. Straight from the city center, when you see a church on the left side, take the road exactly at the church. It starts as red cobblestones but it goes into tarmac after 30 meters or so. And the climb starts from there. It goes for almost one kilometer and the max gradient is 5%. Very nice and steady climb. From there we turn right and reach the climb on the Overbeg going to Amerongen. An old “friend”.

I started at the front and tried to push as hard as I could. I was half way thru it and was going to easy up a bit when a colleague, Sander, took over and looked like he was going to drop me. I dug a bit deeper and stayed on his wheel for the rest of the climb. It was nice to have someone to pace during the steepest part of the climb and force myself to go deeper.

PARDENVELD STREET IN RHENEN. 7.5% GRADIENT.

From Amerongen we went to Rhenen on a kind of small rolling road and went to the steepest climb of the day, on the Pardenveld street. Someone told me once that this climb, that goes up to almost 8%, has a name. But I never remember. I only know that if you push during the whole climb, it burns like hell. Mathias did the climb with me all the way to the top and it was also nice to push to the limit side by side with someone.

CHASING | From there we met the fast team and after a bit of rest, a coca-cola and a double espresso, we headed back at good speed. We stayed mostly around 32 and 33 km/h. Once back to the Utrecht Heuvelrug I was all the way in the back just relaxing and one of the team mates started struggling on the fast accelerations in the corners. I tried to push her to keep on pedaling fast and encourage to stay with visual contact with the team. But she couldn’t eat while riding and lost her power. I manage to protect her from the wind up to a crossing where she decided to stop and let me go.

And that was actually the hardest part of the day. I needed to chase the speeding group against a headwind. I was pushing 34 km/h and was not getting closer. I could see them all the time but it took a very hard effort to close the gap. After 3 or 4 kilometers I managed to get to the back of the team and could eat and drink a bit. From there we just went back on a steady pace and we all finish strong.

It was a very nice day. Leading the team for part of the ride against the wind was good for constant effort training and chasing was good to ride in the red zone. Great training. Great team.

690 TRIPPING POINTS THIS WEEK. HARD TO BEAT NEXT WEEK.