After riding this morning with 13 other cyclists at a sensible pace (16 to 17 mph) for the first 27 miles, stopping once at mile-marker 17 to replenish whatever everyone carried in their individual water bottles, one member of our peloton bonked big time right as we entered onto St. Rd. 84 at Glades Rd. She smacked into that despicable wall seemingly without any telltale signs.
In endurance sports such as cycling and running, Hitting the Wall, or The Bonk, describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by sudden fatigue and loss of energy.
As the other riders continued on, again at a sensible pace, I remained with the dog-tired rider to insure that she made it back to home base safe and sound. It was the only right thing to do. Leaving a young lady to fight that head wind (15 to 20 mph) all by her lonesome, on a busy highway where cars speed by at speeds in excess of 50 mph, would have been cruel and downright rude. My mother raised me better than that.
The other riders were aware that I was lagging behind with her, so it was okay in my book that they continued on at the pelotons normal speed.
Anyway, we chugged along on the right side of the highway for the last six miles at speeds of 10 mph or less, finally reaching the starting/ending point with wide smiles on our faces. The poor lady was beyond exhausted. I was ready for another 33 miles!
The young lady concluded that the reason for hitting the wall was that she failed to take in fluids and/or carbohydrates during our one rest stop. She learned a valuable lesson!
My lady friend appreciated the kindly escort, and so did her extremely grateful husband. He rode today as well, but with the faster advanced group.
Even with the escort segment, I thoroughly enjoyed today’s bike ride. We had a total of fourteen enthusiastic cyclists pedal their fancy road bikes along the clean, manicured streets of Weston and Bonaventure. If I may say so myself, we were an awesome looking bunch!
For the most part, the fast-moving grey clouds covered the sky during most of the 33-mile ride, which was a blessing in itself. There’s nothing that makes a ride more comfortable than having a huge umbrella of clouds shield you from the sun.
Well, maybe one other thing is better. No wind!
One minute after re-racking my bike on the back of my Ford Explorer at the conclusion of today's ride, it began raining. I call that perfect timing!
RIDE STATS:
Distance: 33.00 miles
Moving Time: 02:32:36
Average/Max Speed: 13.0 mph/19.4 mph
Average/Max HR: 112/141
Calories Burned: 1340
Elevation Gain: 122 feet
My 43rd cycling-day-in-a-row
No comments:
Post a Comment