Too bad it's June. I had planned an eighty mile ride for one of my days off last week, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, but the weather turned stormy and I only managed a few 25-35 mile rides all week.
Next week I only have one more day of class, a review session, then a two-hour final exam. (I think, but the professor seems to be improvising the syllabus in these last few weeks.) I'll need to find some study time, but I'm hoping to fit in a long ride some time during the week, weather permitting.
I have noticed I don't recover as quickly from longer rides as I did back in 2007, when I trained and rode the Seattle-to-Portland. Rides of 30-35 miles are comfortable and refreshing for me; 45-55 miles is pushing a bit; sixty miles or more and I feel tired, spacey and dragged out the next day. Now that I've worked up to the 60+ range I have to make sure to eat well to be fueled up for a long ride - but when the weather turns bad, I don't burn off the calories the way I'd expected. I don't really ride hard enough to have sore muscles, except for stiffness in my back, I just feel very fatigued afterwards. By contrast, the summer I rode with Team in Training for the STP, the training program actually made me feel more energetic. Of course, I'm seven years older now, but I'm not sure whether it's age, or that I'm riding alone, without the support and enthusiasm of teammates, that makes me feel sometimes as if I'm just grinding along out of stubbornness.
In fact, this spell of rainy weather has reminded me of how I trudged through the winter day-to-day when I wasn't working. I will really need to pull myself together and find better use for my time. After spring quarter ends, I'm finished with school; then I'll ride the Red-Bell 100 on June 28. Then I have no other plans.
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