ride to recover ... recover to ride
VBG! Oh, man, do I hear you. I'm afraid I'm still far, far closer to the beginning of your story than the end, lol. I don't think I'll really ever have the time budget to be putting in your kind of weekly hours in the saddle -- suspect I'll have to settle for shorter, faster, and the special torture of non-specific "intervals". All of this is for nothing more than good old fashioned fun/enjoyment, and general fitness. I have neither the genes, nor the appetite for racing. Heck, the "A" training rides themselves have a "race" built in, and should I ever return to anything approaching a more serious level of fitness, it's available without ever stepping to the "official" licensing and racing venues. Then again, even in my best condition, at peak fitness, I'd never be truly competitive with the top guys around here, a number of whom, are basically part-time domestic "pros" - riding under contract for $$. Some nourishing hopes of going back full-time, others who once did and now simply do it because it's what they've done for as long as they can remember and it's a part of the fibre of their beings. All of them in a different genetic class than mortals like me, LOL.
Fortunately, several of them have been friends for years, and are happy enough to see me back around they're willing tow me around on their wheels and even drop back and nurse me along when I come unglued, towing me back into contact. I have to say, I appreciate the little things so much more now.
So a little story in that vain ... With racing season done, the top racers all do a training ride together on Sundays instead now. I was riding in to the starting point, to join the back of that and see how long I could stick and stay, but was a couple minutes late. No problem, I thought to myself, I was tracing the route backward, and saw the group rolling out, figured I'd just make a U-turn as they passed, then latch on the back. Normally, a non-issue, as there's usually a slow roll-out with "social hour" going on for the first few miles.
As Murphy's law would have it, this turned out to be the exception. Somebody must have had one too many Red Bulls for breakfast and launched off the front as the ride literally was rolling out, so naturally, the group responded as racers respond when the rabbit jumps out, and already as they approached me and I was preparing to U-turn and join on they were in full chase mode, and I realized "holy mackeral, these guys are coming at me at warp speed!" Whooosh! The sound of the group going by the other way blasting at 30. Naturally, Murphy's Law being in effect, I had a couple cars coming up behind me I had to let pass before I could U-turn. As the group sped away in the other direction and me thinking "come ON already you freakin' cars, get BY me already!, my heart in a panic probably went from 80 to 180 in about 2 seconds, LOL. "I'm screwed, no chance I'll ever be able to U-turn and chase them down, I've barely had 5 minutes of light spinning warmup, and what the heck, even fully warmed up I got no chance of chasing those guys if they're already racing."
But I noticed as they whizzed by, my pal and former training partner riding along chatting at the back looking over at me. He sees me. I see him. And it occurs to me, just make the U and then blast as hard as you can. So I did. And sure enough as soon as they went by, he drops off the back and there he is, up the road, standing out of the saddle, shoulders turned, looking back watching me, waiting for me, my own personal domestique and escort back to the group if I can grit my teeth and catch him then hang onto his wheel while he tows me up. And so we did. Mouth wide open, like a fish out of water gasping for air and wondering if I could manage to make it before blowing up completely, I couldn't help but mentally grin at it all. I'm holding onto his wheel by the skin of my teeth as he winds it up to peg it at 32, and he's turning back to glance over his shoulder at me ever 10 or 15 seconds to be sure I'm hanging on, and talking me through "don't panic, you'll be fine" ... "just hang in, I'll get you back" ... "almost there, you've got it now". And as we caught on and I pulled up next to him at the back of the group, gasping and trying to recover, I couldn't help but shake my head with a very big, stupid grin. "Exactly how many average Joes like me will ever know what it feels like to be towed along by a guy who once was a domestique to the winner of the Vuelta, who once rode off on a race-winning two-man breakaway in a spring classic with Sean Kelly?" I could have pulled off the side of the road and called it a day right there and it would have been a great day.
At any rate, about the closest I'll ever come to racing is a personal goal to I've set for doing some ITTs next spring and summer.
As for the toys ... if I had a bigger bike toys budget both those things you have your eyes on would be at the top of the list. The second generation GPS units from Garmin are getting very nice "real world" reviews, and would be especially fun on terrain with more substantial climbing like what you can do there. I suspect another year or two when the get the third generation out, they'll manage to get the HR function more reliable and shrink things down a bit at which point it'll be even more enticing -- being able to download and chart power output and HR over a map of training rides, with relief, that should tell some interesting stories about lactate tolerance and thresholds.
Recovery is a fascinating thing, indeed. Although, perhaps what's most fascinating is the variability. Some days the body can do things it just can't on others, and oddly they often defy what the "scientific" training parameters say should be happening. For now, it's complete pot luck. I don't have the slightest idea whether it's going to be a "good day" or "bad day" until after the first 20 minutes are in. Hopefully as time goes by, there will be more good days, and fewer bad ones. Maybe I need to get your recipe for that carefully balanced gatoraid and energy bar diet!
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