A Day with the Pros

Yesterday met up with a friend of Shawn's husband, Randy R. I've been trying to hook up with him for a ride since arriving and yesterday I wasn't disappointed. We met up at Spruce Confections on Broadway in NoBo(North Boulder). Apparently this is where are all the pros sip cappos before heading out for a day's work. I drank my black coffee. Randy and I were going to go out for 4-5hrs endurance pace. Randy is a cat 1 and damn strong. Then we had Frank Pipp(healthnet), Johnny Hilton(Toyota), Garrett Pendanton(Bissell), and Nick of Jelly Belly. And then there was me. We rolled out shortly after cafe time. i already had 45min in my legs so I was appropriately warmed up and well nutriented after my successful bonk from the day before. The bonk was caused by eating too far away from training. So yesterday I had my peanut-butter/toast/banana sandwich which is awesome, 4 eggs, and a homemade oat/banana/pecan scone. Packed two scones and a banana in the pocket. It took me 30-45min to get into the swing of things and kill the nerves. For me the ride was awesome. I don't remember working so hard for so long in a training ride. Pace never seemed to drop. After 1.5 hrs it was just me, Randy, Frank, and Garrett. We were riding 2x2 with equal and proper pulls(5-10min). I never skipped a pull and always kept the pace even. the last hour was tough with the head/cross wind on the return. Garrett stuck me on the inside into the wind. They gave him shit for not taking the windy side. I told him I needed more kjs for the day. Midway through the ride we stopped for refuels. Sat down and enjoyed my first coke in a long time. Those 20oz never tasted so good and I had a snickers almond bar. They all ate the same. Chocolate and coke are probably the best bike food ever.

On the return we rolled right up near my house on niwot rd which was convenient. At the end, it was 163km for me at 4:48 ride time which included the 50min of me riding easily to the cafe. Basically it was the fastest I had ever ridden that distance. Legs feel pretty good today despite 3 hard days in a row. Looking forward to doing some more training with these guys before they head off for Tour of Georgia.

Chow,
Matthew