GRENSLAND SPORTIVE

151 kms | 5 h 35 m | avg speed 27 km/h | avg hr 146 bpm | 1.827 kcal

Today ride was a Nike team ride again in Limburg, south of Holland. Team in good numbers for the WTC Grensland sportive for the 150 kms strong ride on the steep hills of the region. The weather was perfect: dry,  not too cold or warm and just a hint of a strong wind at the end. A great ride that I rode with two different sub-groups and managed to keep pushing all the way down to the finish.

I started the day feeling a bit short of breath on the climbs. Any time we went thru a steep climb I was sucking air like a old duster: noisy and ineffective. To make things more challenging, I tried to stick to a small group that accelerate out of the overall team and the speed was around 35 to 39 kms/h. I missed them due to a car approaching from an intersection but manage to join another small group of 5 guys.

At that point I started feeling  warmed-up and the breath was back to normal. We kept pushing on the climbs and on the flat and got to keep speed around 20 on the climbs and 35 on the flats. The good thing about getting a team with a performance around yours is that it gives you rhythm. When you start feeling like sagging on a climb, the team will keep going and you have to dig a little deeper to stay with them. It ensures you don’t get to soft and keep the effort constant.

In that way the first 75 kms felt like it passed quite quickly. It was done in 2 hours and 47 minutes and I was very happy with it. At that point there was the first feed station of the day. We met the guys that dropped us at the beginning and after some eating and drinking the team was ready to go. I decided to stay and wait for the group that was behind as I wanted to ride the left 75 kms on a little less demanding speed.

After 20 minutes, the team arrived and it was a good that they didn’t take too long to refuel. After such time waiting you become very stiff and the longer the worst. Just 10 minutes after we left for the rest of the day. Another reason to stayed with the second group was that I wanted to ride with a team that I could stay on the front most of the time and not struggling at the back. Not a matter of vanity but I wanted to be pushing against the wind and the climbs without any help or wheel to suck. And that is what I’ve done for the rest of the way and push not too hard but just enough to keep a good speed.

A great day on the saddle and a sportive that played as I wanted. Perfect training for Ventoux ride in a little less than 2 weeks.