saturday sufferfest

[Josh.E]

Cold but clear this morning, some beautiful moonscapes and sunrise scenes. Once again, I wish I was carrying my camera. At one point near island view we were 7 across the road in an echelon, and I came around to the back after my pull. The moon was just coming over the hill to the west and the shot of the tripleshot jerseys with the moon in the early morning sky as the backdrop was definitely website homepage worthy.

The pace was steady and hard but never over the top redline, which was fine by me, as my nagging body flu badness is still robbing me of my top end, and my ability to handle sudden tempo changes. Steady state stuff is feeling better today than it has all week though.

Another crash today on the roundabout in Brentwood Bay on some muddy road grime. 3 went down, but noone hurt. I'm done with winter. Time for warm weather.

Peter led out the sprint with a monstor effort down the last two hills that had me and my 46-12 cyclocross drivetrain spinning at probably 130rpm. Unfortunately there was traffic, so I couldn't launch a sprint off his wheel, which was what a leadout like that deserved.

Peter and I headed over to the Oak bay ride, which turned out to be a 30 person group of killers. I was done. The legs were done, and I was looking forward to a slow spin out to Matticks. The pace picked up going up the hill through Mt Doug and it was everything I could do at that point to not get hurled off the back. Duane came up beside me and said he was holding 450watts steady just to stay on the 2nd group, and the first group had a gap on that one.

Got to Matticks and decided to call it a day. Body was done, Nothing about the group out there gave me much hope I would hang on around the penninsula. Peter went back with me to grab a coffee, and got to witness me food bonk harder than I can remember it happening in a long time. I could actually feel the blood draining from my hands as the body went into shut down mode through mt doug on the way in. Got so desperate I stopped at 7/11 and grabbed a litre of coke. Riding down shelbourne in heavy traffic, I was light-headed and remember thinking "I shouldn't be on this road right now".

Stopped for Coffee at Koffi on Haultain, then headed for home. 120-130km total. Peter would know the exact number. Good day.

[jj12]

Nice work josh....my sickness has got the best of me this week.

[JohnT]

After Brentwood Bay it felt like Josh was dragging wounded comrades off the battlefield. 90km, coffee, and still home by 9:30 am - Nice.
John

[Rolf]

Thanks for letting me tag along and avoid pulls fellas -- for the half hour I lasted! Not really the best ride to attempt after illness and a winter of 1-2 rides per week. But I had a nice moonset/sunrise on Tolmie on the way home.

[steve]

The echelon was awesome - kind of like a frozen tour of Qatar!