Effort

When I ride with some groups I have to ride hard. I have to keep the wheel and stay with the group because if I get dropped then I need to work hard to get back onto their wheels. In contrast when I ride with other groups, as a result of having to ride hard sometimes, I end up faster.

Too Fast

Today at least one person objected to me being faster, and thought that I should be riding with another group. I would argue that to always ride hard means that you never rest. You’re pushed to be at your peak. This means that you can’t rest while riding.

This weekend I know of two challenging rides that I could do. The first is a 140km ride with 2000m of climbing, eventually getting to the top of the Salève. The second is a 153km walk with 2500m of climbing to the Col Du Grand St Bernard.

Col Du Grand St Bernard

With the ride to the Col Du Grand St Bernard I suspect that I would be okay with riding from Nyon to Martigny. It’s when the climbing starts that I have doubts. It’s a one thousand meter leap. My biggest climb in a day of cycling was 1600m in total. With 2500m of climbing this is 900m than I have done before. I am not comfortable with making such a big leap, especially after one of the longest distances I have ever cycled.

Today on two segments, specifically I rode fast. I rode fast because I know them well so it is easy for me to assess effort without feeling drained, or at least not too drained, and then I slowed down to the speed of the group.

The rest of the time I was making an effort to keep up. I know this because today the ride was short but my legs feel pumped, as if I have been on a hard ride.

Two days ago I was cycling with a group and someone commented that the relaxed rides are no longer relaxed and that got me to thinking about organising a real relaxed ride, where the aim is to cycle at 20 on the flat. If I had had this option then I could have tried group rides much sooner. In fact the group rides that I tried last year would have been more comfortable. When a group is fast, and we are not, then the ride is exhausting, even if it has a coffee break.

For two days I rode twenty five kilometres, which, by my standards, are quite small rides. Today I rode with a group and for a while I was fine but then, when I climbed from Nyon towards Duillier I began to feel that I was fatigued. I slowed down and I couldn’t keep up with the group, or more accurately, the group had better acceleration and once you’re dropped you have to make more effort.

This weekend has been physically demanding. On Saturday I rode with people who do nothing but ride, so they’re far fitter, on a bike than I am, so by the end of the ride I was struggling to keep up.

The Options

I fully expected the weekend to be difficult, Originally I considered the Tour D’Aï walk but that would have been a long climb, followed by a long descent. It would have also been exposed to the sun during a sunny hot day. The first hot day of the year. It would have required hours on trains. It’s because the bike ride was close and convenient that I chose to do that instead. No commute, or at least no commute by public transport.

Although the ride from L’Isle to Romainmôtier feels easy because I’m cycling slower than my maximum it is still tiring, as is illustrated by two points. The first is that the trip burns 800 kilocalories according to the Apple Watch, which is significant, but also because by the end of the ride I feel tired.

Pace Setting

When I cycle by myself I ride to my maximum, and eventually by the end of the ride I hit the wall, and then I make an effort to make it home. When riding with people on electric bikes, the theoretical limit is 25 kilometres per hour but the practical speed, at the moment is 14 kilometres per hour, including the stop for coffee and more.

Yesterday I walked into the wind for two to three kilometres. The wind was so strong that the Apple watch gave me “high noise level” warnings more than once. The wind was around 30-40km/h. It was so strong that I stopped listening to an Audiobook because I couldn’t hear it. I then heard the summary for the last kilometre and was told that I was walking at 11 minutes per kilometre, compared to my 10 minutes 40 per kilometre.

Today I ran four kilometres, after walking fifteen kilometres yesterday and my legs felt tired. They felt heavy and I thought that I wouldn’t make it to the target distance. I did, but it was a game of will.

Usually I go for a run, and then I walk. Today I did the opposite. I went for a walk, and then I went running. Part of the reason I felt tired is that I ran across a grassy field uphill. Grassy fields are fine if you’re used to them. It’s hard work. You have to work to keep your feet stable, to avoid sliding, and to make more effort.