WARM

125 kms | 4 h 11 m | avg speed 29.8 km/h | avg hr 149 bpm | 2.391 kcal

Good ride today in the Lekdijk towards Wijk bij Duurstede, Amerongen and Rhenen. The weather was good, sunny and warm with almost no wind. I’ve done a good combination of ride with with cross wind and some climbs. Also very little riders in a area that usually is crowded.

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Today was the day of the Tour de France Utrecht Sportive, which had expectation of 13 thousand participants and they were passing almost in front of my door. My plan was to avoid them completely and I left home early before they would start streaming in my direction. I chose a path that went completely in the other direction. Around 8:00 am I still met a hand full of riders but apart from that I managed to avoid them.

It is getting very close to the L’Etape du Tour and I need to increase the training intensity. I went thru the Lekdijk towards Amerongen and did the first 70 kms non-stop with a speed of 32 to 34 kms/h with a good crosswind. The heart rate was around 158 bpm and going above 165 bpm. A good ride.

At the end of the dike, in Amerongen, I went back to Leersum to go up the climb that ends up at the back side of the Overbeg. It is a good way to get two climbs behind each other, both around 6% gradients. I started the first climb slowly because I wanted to take a picture. At that point I was passed by two guys and decided to stick to them as I suspected they would do the same path. At the Overberg climb I tried to stay with them as they looked quite strong. I managed to stay thru 80% of the climb and we passed a couple of riders. Nice feeling.

From the top I continued to push and went straight to Rhenen. I wanted to keep pushing until the 70 kms to mimic my plans for the Etape. In Rhenen I went up the climb of the Pardenveld street (someone once told me that this road has a climb name but I never remember) all the way standing on the pedals. Relaxed and in control. Nice climbs.

From there I did a quick stop and went back to the Lekdijk. On the way back I got a stronger crosswind. I could keep up the speed just above 30 km/h but I had lots of muscle pain in the legs. Especially in the quads. Maybe the result of going to a party yesterday and standing most of the afternoon. Strange. Tomorrow recovery and Tuesday and Thursday interval training.