Journey to hell...
Saturday, I was back to the JeffCo ride. The heat and humidity made its glorious return in '06 as well. My leisurely half hour ride out to Meramec had me dripping with sweat by 8am. We headed out through Fenton for a change. On the way down to the Covered Bridge I was pretty happy with my riding. I wasn't tearing it up but I cruised up the hills pretty well and never felt terribly stressed by the tempo. We stopped at Sandy Creek for a while to refuel before heading back.
Instead of tackling Old Lemay again, we took Glade Chapel over to Hillsboro-House Springs. Whatever good stuff I had on the way down seemed gone from the outset of the return trip. I wasn't aided by a near heart attack, courtesy of a playful ambulance driver who decided to give a siren burst just as we passed in front of them. I dragged along the hills on H'boro-House-Springs but fought to keep up with Pat and Jose. At the top of the last real climb, I popped. Those two rode off and I just tried to keep a tempo since Mark G and Joe were still behind.
The heat caught up with me and did it quickly. At Hwy MM, I needed to roll into House Springs for more liquid. It didn't help as I was probably playing catch up at that point. The ride up Old Gravois was a slow death. More and more the strength went from my legs and it was just a matter of getting to the top. I recovered a little at the stoplight and did a bit better up to High Ridge. The rest of the way, though, it became just a matter of getting home. Joe and I didn't even bother going back to Kirkwood. We cut through Fenton instead trying to save a few miles. I walked in the house a hunched and broken man, sat down in the shower and let the cool water wash over me for a while.
I didn't feel too bad in the evening but knew that I was dehydrated.
What do you do after dehydrating yourself the day before? Ride again in the same heat, of course. Craig, Glen and I were the only ones to show up. Craig led us up onto the bluffs for a long, meandering route to Maeystown. This route was completely new to me but I had heard some nice things about it before. There was some nice, bucolic scenery full of smallish hills and rollers. Glen had a number stops along the way for a sticky chain link. Nothing he could do about it but stopping like that and sweating like a pig really sucked. A little more than 35 of the 45 miles to Maeystown and I started to crack. Worse and worse I got and limped into town. It felt like forever to get there.
After a long stop, we headed out. Once we made the right turn back onto Bluff Rd, Craig started turning the screws. We had a bit of a tailwind but we were up around 42km/h. I was hanging but if I had kept that up for much longer I would have blown like Mt St Helens. We had talked about taking Bluff Rd to Valmeyer but when we almost got to the 3rd railroad tracks, as Bluff veers to the right, they went straight. I said "See ya" and stayed on Bluff. It felt good to settle into my own rhythm and just think about getting back to Columbia. There also was some shade along Bluff. Something I know they didn't have on D Rd. I stopped again for water in Valmeyer and pushed on. Slow and steady I made it back at about 28km/h avg for the last several miles.
It's 9 hrs later and I'm still not 100%. I have drank a fair amount of liquid since the ride and have barely had to urinate. The old body is sucking up everything it can to try and get back to normal. There's always a couple times a year that I ride myself into a bad place because of heat and humidity. I've been worse than this weekend but doing it twice in back-to-back days was really stupid. Tomorrow is all about getting my body back to normal.
Saturday, I was back to the JeffCo ride. The heat and humidity made its glorious return in '06 as well. My leisurely half hour ride out to Meramec had me dripping with sweat by 8am. We headed out through Fenton for a change. On the way down to the Covered Bridge I was pretty happy with my riding. I wasn't tearing it up but I cruised up the hills pretty well and never felt terribly stressed by the tempo. We stopped at Sandy Creek for a while to refuel before heading back.
Instead of tackling Old Lemay again, we took Glade Chapel over to Hillsboro-House Springs. Whatever good stuff I had on the way down seemed gone from the outset of the return trip. I wasn't aided by a near heart attack, courtesy of a playful ambulance driver who decided to give a siren burst just as we passed in front of them. I dragged along the hills on H'boro-House-Springs but fought to keep up with Pat and Jose. At the top of the last real climb, I popped. Those two rode off and I just tried to keep a tempo since Mark G and Joe were still behind.
The heat caught up with me and did it quickly. At Hwy MM, I needed to roll into House Springs for more liquid. It didn't help as I was probably playing catch up at that point. The ride up Old Gravois was a slow death. More and more the strength went from my legs and it was just a matter of getting to the top. I recovered a little at the stoplight and did a bit better up to High Ridge. The rest of the way, though, it became just a matter of getting home. Joe and I didn't even bother going back to Kirkwood. We cut through Fenton instead trying to save a few miles. I walked in the house a hunched and broken man, sat down in the shower and let the cool water wash over me for a while.
I didn't feel too bad in the evening but knew that I was dehydrated.
What do you do after dehydrating yourself the day before? Ride again in the same heat, of course. Craig, Glen and I were the only ones to show up. Craig led us up onto the bluffs for a long, meandering route to Maeystown. This route was completely new to me but I had heard some nice things about it before. There was some nice, bucolic scenery full of smallish hills and rollers. Glen had a number stops along the way for a sticky chain link. Nothing he could do about it but stopping like that and sweating like a pig really sucked. A little more than 35 of the 45 miles to Maeystown and I started to crack. Worse and worse I got and limped into town. It felt like forever to get there.
After a long stop, we headed out. Once we made the right turn back onto Bluff Rd, Craig started turning the screws. We had a bit of a tailwind but we were up around 42km/h. I was hanging but if I had kept that up for much longer I would have blown like Mt St Helens. We had talked about taking Bluff Rd to Valmeyer but when we almost got to the 3rd railroad tracks, as Bluff veers to the right, they went straight. I said "See ya" and stayed on Bluff. It felt good to settle into my own rhythm and just think about getting back to Columbia. There also was some shade along Bluff. Something I know they didn't have on D Rd. I stopped again for water in Valmeyer and pushed on. Slow and steady I made it back at about 28km/h avg for the last several miles.
It's 9 hrs later and I'm still not 100%. I have drank a fair amount of liquid since the ride and have barely had to urinate. The old body is sucking up everything it can to try and get back to normal. There's always a couple times a year that I ride myself into a bad place because of heat and humidity. I've been worse than this weekend but doing it twice in back-to-back days was really stupid. Tomorrow is all about getting my body back to normal.
1 Comments:
Sorry I missed you guys. I rolled out of the lot before 8:15. They said I just missed you. Anyway, I worked out that you guys had taken the hills. I waited a bit for you in Maestown. I couldn't decide if ya'll had taken some bizarre route or if someone had blown up. I was thinking that you all should have kicked my ass to Maestown. Maybe it was longer with the route you all took. Still, 3 vs. 1, and I had my face in that damn headwind. I was surprised to see your cars in the lot when I got back. I was even more surprised that they were still there after I changed, went to McDonald's, and ate lunch in the parking lot! I almost went looking for you. Then I got to thinking, hell, maybe you went to Prairie du Rocher. I did much better with hydration today. I didn't start to tank until I turned back into the headwind by the golf course. I think that Endurox really helped me out. Stil, I started the day a few pounds lighter than on Saturday, and I'm still playing catch-up.
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