On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip> > It's amazing how different the physiology differs between running and > cycling. This year I did much more bicycle training but I was still > getting passed by people who I'm sure wouldn't be within an hour of me > in a marathon. I mean, in smaller marathons I'm usually in contention > for an age group award, but in a bicycle century I'm strictly mid-pack > at best. The fact that it was a very hilly ride must have helped me > because I was passing people all the time going up hills, cruising by > when they were obviously gasping for breath and working hard... but on > the next flat they'd blast past me so fast I couldn't even contemplate > drafting. > > I can't decide whether I want to train harder to do this again > *properly* or never, ever do it again at all! > > Here's the elevation profile: > http://www.bloodsweatandgears.org/images/profile100.jpg If you remember, Mark, that's exactly what happened when we went for our brief (about 40 miles?) ride from the cabin in NC. I was horrendously out of shape, having busted my collarbone the previous autumn, and had only been back on my bike for about a month (and had the gut to show for it). We were keeping together on the hills (both up and down, although granted the roads we were on didn't have any ~big~ hills), but it was on a flat that I pulled away from you. I didn't do it on purpose, I was just "taking a pull" at the bottom of a hill, and I didn't want to slow you down, so I was keeping up the same effort that I did going up the previous hill, thinking you were on my tail. After a few minutes, I looked around and you were about 1/2 a kilometre behind. The legs were still there, but the lungs certainly weren't, which is why I was barely keeping up with you (and I was huffing and puffing while you weren't) going up hill yet was able to pull away on the flat. I guess carrying 15 or 20 extra pounds didn't help my hill climbing either, eh? ;-) cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
