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Live tracking: see how I am doing it!

1,330 kms | 36 K vertical meters Tomorrow, August 10, start my sport challenge of the year. You can read all the details about it here .  Fo...

COLD, SUN & RAIN

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60 kms | 2 h 15 m | avg speed 26.9 km/h | avg hr 151 bpm | 1.836 kcal

Two weekends ago, to be more specific, on the Jan 18th, I went to a extra long bike ride for this time of the year. Peter and I did 145 kms on a 2 degrees rainy day and we froze ourselves to the limit. So much I had to helped by wife and daughter to undress when finally manage to drag myself home. The hands were not functional and apparently the brain neither. This weekend I went out again…
  Duas semanas atrás, no dia 18 de janeiro mais precisamente, eu dei uma volta extra longa para esta época do ano. Peter e eu fizemos 145 kms em um dia de 2 graus com chuva. E nos congelamos ao limite. Tanto que tive que ter ajuda da mulher e filha para tirar a roupa quando finalmente arrastei a carcaça congelada para casa. As mãos não estavam funcionando mais e aparentemente nem o cérebro. Saí hoje outra vez…

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But this time different. Traumatized by our own lack of intelligence, I decided to go back to the original plan of 2 hours bike rides on Sundays. It is cold, dark and chances of rain or snow are always high. That is the training regime for winter: short bike rides of 2 to 2 and half hours and gym workouts in the week. It is all about preparing the basis.

Today I went in the direction of Lexmond and Ameide, on top of the south side of the dike over the Lek river. It is a flat road but being on top of the dike, you get mostly cross winds. Great for training. I got mostly sunny or overcast weather and it wasn’t feeling too cold. Also keeping the heart rate on zone 2 (around 154 bpm) helped.

On the 30 kms mark to turn around and come back, everything changed. It was almost synchronized. I turned around looking at the sun and saw the dark clouds and immediately the rain started. Ice cold rain. And that is where my plan to stay on zone 2 failed.

I just wanted to get home as quick as possible and get out of the rain. Memories of the ride on the 18th crossing my mind while I pushed the heart to around 170. Got home all good but cold and wet. And of course, as soon inside the house, the sun broke out and everything was shiny again… go and trust weather forecast websites…

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