Folsom Cycling - Training Ride 2

Distance: 34.3 miles
Time Riding: 3.13.04

Time Overall: 4.32.05

Avg: 12.2

Max: 37.5 mph

To see the map of the ride:
Folsom Cycling - Road biking trip - Spot | SpotAdventures

This was my first "Official" AIDS/Life Cycle Training ride with a group, mainly Team Sacramento, and where we had to follow the rules... helmet, stopping at stop signs, using turn signals, etc.

Started at Folsom Bike in Folsom where everything seems to be named "Folsom _______" lol We started out riding along Lake Folsom where there is a huge dam called, guess? Folsom Dam! This was the hillier section of the ride. I prefer to start out with the hills first so this worked for me. I can also tell that I'm doing better regarding wind because there was a head wind going uphill and not one cuss word came out of my mouth. Maybe that was why I needed to live in Minnesota for a little while... get used to flat and wind.

You can see from the map where else we went. Mainly rolling hills after the initial incline. But those were pretty challenging for me at this stage of my training.

In the ride description, it read, "Say Hello to the chickens." I figured that meant we were going rural. Turns out there's a village called Fair Oaks that has chickens just wandering around on the streets. Urban free range? I read a flyer on the window where we ate that indicated the chickens are becoming a problem and that no one is taking care of them. The main problem is their lack of access to water.

In Fair Oaks, we stopped at Sunflower Drive-In Restaurant, which is where we saw most of the chickens. But it's a vegetarian place so at least they aren't serving up the chickens. I had a Peanut Butter Banana and Honey sandwich that I shared with Samantha, one of the ride leaders.

After that there was no major climbing but many more rolling hills. I dropped my chain not long after we left the restaurant so Connie and I got pretty far behind. She did a good job dragging me back up to the group. Good patience on her part!

With about 5 miles left, I started with the pre-cramping. That is a difficult feeling to deal with. One wrong move and there's the cramp. But if I don't push on the pedals hard enough, I won't get anywhere. I used a Gu and kept drinking my Camelbak Elixir, which generally works in those situations. But I just kept pedaling, which miraculously gets me closer to the finish! And that I did.

What I did well: I rode my ride. I was at the back the entire time and way off the back much of the time. But I know my current fitness level and how much I could push myself and I listened to that without letting my ego get involved.

What I'm happy about: Though my legs need quite a bit more work, my cardiovascular fitness is much more advanced than I thought. My heart rate went above "the zone" a few times in the climbs but I didn't hear it in my ears and I didn't feel it trying to beat out of my chest. And when we had a rest stop, I never felt fatigued aside from my legs. Because I was farther back, a couple of the leaders kept asking me how I was doing in that tone that says they can tell I'm in pain. But I always felt really good. So I'm happy about that!

Looking forward to: I'm looking forward to my legs being stronger and continuing to build my fitness so I can rock those climbs!

To work on: I still need to lose some weight to make climbing that much easier. Definitely not going overboard with that but I need to be realistic about getting down to "fightin' weight."

Go Team Sacramento!