Riding, Mar. 18 - Ocala to Gainesville

I rode yesterday to my mother-in-law's house in Gainesville. We were going up there to pick up the kids and watch the Gators' second round game in the NCAA tournament. Rather than riding in the car, I decided to get in my endurance ride for the week. You can see the route that I rode here, compliments of Google Earth:



The ride was great fun. I have ridden there before, but it has been a couple of years. I did not get in any really long rides last year. I had to recover from shoulder surgery, and was not riding much.

There was a headwind at some portions of the ride, but it was not bad. I like this route. There are some good rolling hills, but nothing that is too brutal. Here is the profile:



You can see that there are some hills as you come into Gainesville. In years past, I knew that I was always very tired riding through the middle of Gainesville. I always chalked it up to being fatigued from the longer than average ride. But now, seeing the profile, I am sure that the hills at the end had something to do with it.

I rode solo most of the way. As I came past Lake Wauberg, I was caught by a group of 4 other riders in a paceline. They were going faster than I was, but I felt like I could hang with them. I asked if I could latch on, they were happy to let me. It was really nice having some help to ride, after being 30 miles into the ride. My pace went from 15, riding solo to 21-23 riding in the paceline. As I began my second rotation onto the front, I realized that I was running close to Max HR, and was pushing very hard to maintain the pace of the group. As I rotated back and latched back onto the group, the effects of pushing so hard caught up to me. I decided it was better to drop off and recover for the final push through Gainesville. It was good to ride with the group and get the boost, but my legs were starting to toast because of it.

The paceline turned off of 441 shortly after Paynes Prairie, and I continued north on 441 into Gainesville. As I came up toward Tanglewood Village, I saw another cyclist turn onto the road. His bike was a full on touring bike. He had panniers on the front fork and on the back wheel. He also had a big backpack on. He looked like he was heading cross-country. When I caught up to him, he explained that he was a student working on his terminal project in urban and regional planning. He wasn't going on a trip, he was going to the computer lab to work on his project. We talked a little as we road. He was very friendly. It seemed like he thought I was old, because he kept calling me sir. Oh well.

Going through Gainesville, my legs were tired, but, they weren't as tired as the last time I rode this route. Two years ago, I could hardly turn the pedals as I worked through Gainesville. This time, I was tired, but I was able to ride.

Here are the obligatory stats:

Cyclocomputer stats:
3:12:24
Max: 28.0
Avg: 15.2
D: 49.09

GPS Stats:
3:12
Max: 28.1
Avg: 15.2
D: 48.9

HRM Stats:
3:15:55
Avg: 158
Max: 185
In zone: 2:05:11
Above zone: 1:05:57
Below zone: 0:044:37

This morning, my legs were very sore. I felt them with every step I took. As I made it through the day they got better. It helped that I knew that I am making progress toward being ready for BRAG. I had hoped to take a short recovery ride before it got dark, but alas it is already dark out. I will have to try to ride either on the trainer tonight, or tomorrow.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Gainesville, Ocala, hills, BRAG, GPS