It's been a good week for bicycling!
Last weekend I rode Pedal Pittsburgh's 50 mile route, which was a fun tour of some of my favorite Pittsburgh hills! It was also a reminder that I need to spend more time in North Park, and a little kick in the pants to start looking more at my speed.
Who did I ride with? I have NO idea. Two guys named "Tim" and something else. Maybe the first one was named Tim. I'm not sure. The people I was going to ride with bailed on me at the very last minute, and I got to the start of the ride after everyone riding the longer route (there were people on hybrids planning to do 25 and 35 mile routes left) was gone... except for two guys on the sort of bikes that make me drool, wearing sponsor kits. So, I asked if I could ride with them [till they dropped me being clearly implied]. Holy smokes. FAST! We rode a 20+ pace for the first hour and caught the rest of the riders at a midway checkpoint after blasting through the first checkpoint. It was going up the seemingly never ending winding hills on the north side of Pittsburgh at that pace that did me in. Soon after we caught the rest of the group, they dropped me. Or rather, I let them drop me in an act of self preservation and sanity before I died of spontaneous combustion. It was inevitable. I probably could have gasped my way up another hill, sounding like a broken tea kettle. But... nahhh... I wasn't prepared for that sort of ride. If I was expecting something other than a 50 mile C pace cruise I would have done a lot of things differently.
But, this ride was useful. It proved that although I can't sustain that pace for long, I AM finally again able to ride that sort of pace over a difficult course for at least some time (even if I feel like I might actually die while I'm doing it. Seriously.) And, I can truly climb hills well enough to hang with a more serious crowd, for a little while at least. This put a bug in my head. While I had been focusing much more on endurance and distance, now I'm starting to think about speed and wanting to push myself more in that area. I also want to start riding steeper hills.
Next week I'm going to be riding with a new group, at a faster pace. I'll be sure to update on how that goes! Still looking for people to ride with other days of the week, who are in the 16-19 pace range.
In other major news, Yale may be in my future next year (not this year, one year from now), and they have a much friendlier cycling team than Pitt. So, my new goal will be getting back into shape and up to speed to join the Yale team when/if I get there.
Recently, I've also solved one of my big problems with cycling attire. Shorts.
Having an ostomy makes wearing spandex shorts interesting, and difficult.
Besides basic things like needing to time eating and pay a lot more attention to what I eat pre-ride, I also need to have shorts that have a waistband and waist placement that agrees with my ostomy placement. Most cycling shorts are intentionally high to avoid lower back exposure while cycling, but high in the front is not a good thing if it means a waist band that keeps on trying to ride up and bump into the appliance. So, I've been hunting for shorts with a lower waistline that are still serious enough to have a decent chamois. I've found them!
I swear Performance did not put me up to saying this. I'm actually so anti product placement that last time I posted a picture of my bloody knee I blurred out the logos!
But, Performace makes the best short I've found with a lower waistband. It's the Performance brand Elite short, which I'm told is made for them by IP.
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