151 kms | 5 h 19 m | avg speed 28.4 km/h | avg hr 147 bpm | 3.067 kcal
| Today was the third team ride from the Nike team and we had a group smaller than usual due to people recovering from the Amstel Gold Race sportive from Saturday. But what we lack in numbers and got in speed and fun riding. Great weather with sunny skies and a very scenic route make a great Sunday. | Hoje foi dia do terceiro treino da Nike deste ano e nós tivemos um grupo pequeno desta vez devido a corrida para amadores Amstel Gold Race do sábado. Mas o que não tivemos em números tivemos em velocidade e diversão. Um clima quase perfeito, sol brilhando e uma rota bastante fotogênica para um Domingo fantástico. |
Different from other years when the third team ride was always starting from a different place, this time we rode from Nike, in Hilversum. The usual 9:00 am start and the team start riding together in a good pace to warm up. The sun was shining strong but the air was quite cold. The max in the day would be 12 degrees.
Around 30 kms from the start we decided to split the team in two groups again. One with the very strong guys and the second group with the less fast team. The split turned out to be around 50/50% and we rode to a constant 30 kms/h. This is a good speed to be in a bunch without pushing too much.
I was leading the group and that is where we start having some difficulties with navigation. The Garmin is a very nice equipment to track your ride. It has heart rate, speed, inclination, speed, etc. But navigating isn’t its strong point. Even with the map and the turn by turn on, we got missed a couple of turns and had to turn around.
That was quite annoying as we needed to break and gain speed all over again. At one point, Sander, Richard and Bart were detached from the group due to a natural break. We did a wrong turn to the right and I could just see them doing the turn to the left correctly. I still tried to shout to call their attention but it was too late. They were 400 meters ahead of us and sprinting trying to “catch” us. Little they knew we were actually behind them. It cost quite some energy to pick them up.
This happened quite regularly. The map is confusing and the turn indications confusing, specially if you approach the turns at speed. That being said, Richard and Bart (second mention guys!) did work better and they turn correctly most of the time. Or they are better at reading maps.
Apart from that, it was a great ride. I was in the front almost the whole type and that took quite some effort. We rode almost non-stop until the 85 kms marc when we met the rest of the team at a restaurant. On the way we saw some very nice areas and some roads with rolling hills that I’ve never ridden. Great.
The way back was constant effort against a slight head wind with some sprints on the way. Great fun and a great team to ride with. We finish strong after 150 kms back to the office, pushing around 35 kms/h. Legs were hurting and I had to stick to the middle of the pack at this point but it was a good training. Specially considering I have a cold and a throat infection…
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