50 miles

Today's ride was 50 miles (the Lake Washington Loop).

Ave speed 12.1 mph. Max speed was 31 mph. 4029 calories burned. Ave HR 154bpm = 80% of Max. Max Hr was 173 bpm=90%.

Since I've not ridden much in 4 weeks, I decided to drop my pace back a bit and ride with Fredrika (at what ever pace she wanted to ride at...knowing if she set a high pace, I'd drop back). I'm also still having some shoulder pain - so I took 2 Aleve and 2 extra strength Tylenol which worked great for the first 40 miles - so I rode pain free most of the ride.

The pace from the beginning was great for me, I was at 79-81%MHR on the flats and 85% of MHR on the climbs. The past few rides with the group I've been at 85%MHR on flats and 90% MHR on the hills. I felt strong and rode well.

I did a pretty good job of keeping my heart rate where I wanted it - except for a couple of instances. The middle group would stop to rest (it seemed like it was before each hill- I'm sure it wasn't) and would let us pass them and then they would pass us on the hills. So every hill I was being passed by the same group...well at one point one of the riders, as he was passing me very slowly mentioned that he was passing me again - well I decided if he was going to pass me he'd have to stand up to do it - so I picked up my pace and he decided not to work to pass me.

Once Fredrika left us to head across Mercer Island, I decided to put some distance between me and the middle group (so I didn't have them passing me over and over again), and I figured it would put some distance between me and the sweep - the sweep kept talking to me and part of the time I couldn't figure out what she was saying and part of the time I couldn't figure out what she wanted; thus, I found my attention behind me instead of in front of me. So I decided to risk increasing my speed (knowing I might very well regret it when the last 5-10 miles arrived); I decided the risk was worth it - so I picked up to 85% of MHR once we left the turnoff for Mercer Island and I pushed hard - My plan was to push hard to Coulon and then drop back to my previous pace. Well the sweep caught me a little before Coulon - which I didn't expect because I thought she was the sweep - so she road with me till Coulon. I knew she would need to wait for other riders at Coulon so I let her know I was going to skip Coulon and I'd see her back at the car. I then dropped my pace back to the 80% feeling pretty sure I was still well ahead of the middle group...and I was feeling the push to Coulon - my body was not happy at this point. The sweep flew past me as I was climbing on Rainer Ave, I figured I was free to ride the rest of the ride by my self. Nope, she was waiting for me at the turn off. So I started up the road heading to the last climb of the day. At this point the sweep began chatting and I was still not hearing most of what she was saying when she asked clearly if I wanted her to ride in front of me (which makes sense since I told her when we were on the burke-gillman that I'm partly deaf and can't hear the person behind me very well) - At this part of the ride, I was just barely holding on and had to stop to be able to answer her - my frustration hit the ceiling at needing to stop to talk to her - I said I don't care where you ride, it makes no difference to me. She asked if she was bothering me and I said absolutely yes so she road on and then of course I spent the last 7 miles berating myself for losing my cool with her - I know she was trying to be uber helpful, and I realize now that I needed to say more (than just that I can't hear the person behind me) - Part of my folly was thinking that she was the sweep and if I put distance between me and the people riding my pace I'd put distance between me and her. So I humbly learn...

My second concern today was that I came close to being hit by cars 3 times - I consider myself a careful rider and yet I almost bit the dust 3 times. 1) in Kirkland, a pickup was stopped (waiting to turn left) and decided at the last minute to do a U turn and literally accelerated into my bike lane - I was lucky because there was a cross walk there and I was able to swerve onto the sidewalk and not get hit. 2) after getting off the trail in Renton a Vehicle was making a left turn in front of me (no problem) well they didn't make the full turn so decide to back up very quickly (into my path). I slammed on my brakes and missed the car. 3) on the hill climb before the descent into Seward. There were cars parked on the right. I was on the right side of the lane where I'd normally ride (in hindsight, I should have taken up more of the lane) a car decided to pass me and I had a sense that it was too tight. There were oncoming cars and I knew the vehicle couldn't take the the oncoming lane so as I heard (the motor was loud and there was no hesitation in the sound as it approached) the oncoming car approach I move as close to the parked cars as I could and barely escaped being hit. In 10 years of riding road, I've only had a couple of close calls - to have 3 in one day was a bit un-nerving.

As much as I love riding - this was not a fun ride. My goal for the next ride is to have fun.