DC and I left from my house at 9:30 for what was supposed to be a 75 mile route...tour de Pikeville via Zebulon. We started out up Rt 58N headed to 97. It was a nice way to warm up since we had a tail wind going out. Turn Left on 97 and we had a cross wind for the next 20 miles. This was supposed to be a "zone 2" heart rate ride for me with some race paced "zone 3" efforts thrown in. After 45 min of "warm up" I start my first 30 min zone 3 effort. Cross winds not too bad, but the stead climb makes it easy to stay at the higher HR. After I finished my first effort we were nearly to the turn at Rt 39. DC was 100 yards ahead of me having just dropped me going up the last hill. Thankfully, he slowed down and let me recover. Took another left on 39S and got ready for 30 miles of head wind.
Headed down 39, up and down some good sized hills. Once again, DC has to wait for me after cresting the summit solo. I am specifically trying not to attack the hills, but I would have had to go deep just to keep on DC's wheel while he was going up. Too soon, my 15 min rest time is over and I am back in my 30 min zone 3 pull. We take another left on rt 231 and then a quick right on Rt 222. Now it is pretty straight into the wind, but the flat road and the slight decending nature make it a pretty quick pace. About 8 miles from Kenly, I finish my second effort and DC takes the lead. I have to ask him to back off a touch as my hear rate has not dropped too much from my pull, and I'm supposed to be in a 15 min recovery! He agrees and pulls me all the way to Kenly. We stop at the Fuel Doc at about mile 48. I load up on fluids and we both have some food. Kenly was having a street festivle so we had a slow time getting out of town. After about a 10 min warm up, I start my 3rd zone three effort for the day. As I start, I tell DC that if he doesn't want to sit behind me for 30 minutes he was welcome to ride ahead (especially since I know I wasn't going as fast at he wanted to at times and I'm getting tired). After turning right on 581S, DC decides to take me up on my and he blows by me...and then proceeds to ride steadily away. The only reason I caught back up with him is he stopped to check his peddles after we turned left on Princton-Pikeville. My legs were hurting quite a bit by the end of this and it was luck for me that DC slowed down enough to pull me most of the way up Rt 117. Even with the tail wind all the way back to Wilson, I was really pressed to keep up his pace. Came off of 117 to 301 to Forest Hills and finally to Downing. We shut it down as we turned onto Glendale. Map My Ride told me it would be 75 miles, but they lie since my computer said 82 before it was all said and done. Thanks to DC, we averaged 20.8 for the distance. Really nice day, but I was ready to get off the bike by the end... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/cyclistsofwilson-cows/-/uyrhsLpTbicJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en.
