Thanksgiving and Painful Rides

Jen and I took a small road trip to see her family for Thanksgiving and then another short trip out to see some of my family on Friday up in Nevada City (I showed her part of the course that kills me every year). It was a great Thanksgiving and I was happy to see my Grandma while she was out to visit my Aunt and Uncle. We got back to the city on Friday night...Jen had to work on Saturday and I had some rides in store for Sat/Sun.

Saturday's ride crushed me. My teammate, Jan, picked me up in the morning and we drove down to the Peninsula for a change of pace. Jan had the route set up...all I knew is that we wanted to roll for 4.5 - 5 hours of ride time. I got worried when he asked if I was ready to climb and then he threw out 10,000 feet in around 60 miles.


The direction we went made it even harder...he saved the toughest climb for last. 50 miles into this ride (already climbing more than a sprinter ever wants to climb) we hit the Tunitas climb. This climb goes from decent to HARD to decent. There are plenty of reasons why I hated this climb.

1. The middle (HARD) part was steep.
2. The middle part also had a horrible road surface.
3. The top (back to decent) section started off on a newly paved surface that was sticky and soft (which added a nice amount of resistance right when I needed it!)
4. The rest of the top section had a big headwind
5. I was beginning to cramp.

From there, it was a nice long downhill back to the car. I vegged the rest of the day.

Sunday was an easier day...we did about 50 miles, fairly flat and at an easy pace.

Monday was a rest day that I've never appreciated as much before. My legs were so tender and sore it was sick.