Training Ride Lessons Learned

Last Friday I had the day off and the weather was great so Jenny, my oldest son and I went for a ride. Since we have a big ride coming up and we are in dire need of some training miles we offered to let out oldest son take the day off of school. He thought about the option for at least half a second before he agreed. As with most training rides I learned some things that I can use one future rides. Here are the things and I learned.

If you map out a 62 mile route make sure you follow your plan.
Before our ride I mapped out the route and downloaded it to my Garmin. A couple of miles into the ride I took a wrong turn and we ended up following the route backwards. About 20 miles into the ride I realized the error of my ways so we had to make a course correction which ended up adding some miles onto the route. By the end of the ride my 62 mile route turned into a 70 mile route. Not a really big deal but something to learn for next time.

If you feel something moving in you helmet take your helmet off immediately. 
At our first rest stop I was filling up my water bottles in a sink at a convenience store and I felt something moving inside my helmet. I dug around in my helmet with my finger and I couldn’t find anything so I wrote it off as maybe some sweat rolling down my forehead. I finished up filling my bottles and walked out of the store. When we got out of the store I still felt something moving around in my helmet again. When I took it off this is what I found.



Personally, I don’t like freeloading bees. I think they should fly on their own power so I gave him a good flick and off he went. OK not really, he made me mad so I squashed the little bugger. Don’t tell my youngest daughter though because this could traumatize her.


If Jenny has a camera in her jersey and starts riding slower than every one else it doesn’t mean that she’s getting tired.
On more than a couple of occasions I looked over my shoulder as we were flying down the road and Jenny was lagging really far behind my son and I. It wasn’t until we got home and I looked at the scads of pictures she had taken that I realized she was riding at the back snapping tons of pictures of everything in sight. I like taking pictures when I ride but I think she took this to a new level. I’m thinking the term training ride means something completely different to Jenny and I. Another good lesson learned.


Not all dogs bite
At the last convenience store we stopped at there were 5 or 6 other cyclists hanging out in the parking lot. As I went into the store and asked the clerk if I could fill up my water bottles the guy behind the counter told me that I could fill up my bottles in the hose outside of the store but to beware of the Chow Dog laying by the hose. He told me this without even looking up from his newspaper. I think his exact words were “he doesn’t look like he’s a biter but I would be careful if I were you”. Dogs and I don’t exactly get along so I decided to forgo filling up my bottles. When I told Jenny about this cautionary tale of woe she being the brave one in the family walked right up the hose and filled up all of our bottles. The dog looked up at Jenny but other than that didn’t even move a muscle. I guess that dog knew that he was no match for the likes of Jenny. I don’t blame him.

Ice cream is my new recovery meal of choice
At the end of our 70 mile adventure we stood in line at Snowgoose Produce to get one of their ginormous waffle cone ice cream scoops. Seriously, ice cream has never tasted so good before. I got the fudgy wudgy which was a little uncomfortable to say when I placed my order but it was like a trip to heaven after 70 miles in the saddle. I’m thinking ice cream is now my favorite recovery meal.

I wonder what I’ll discover on our next training ride. You just never know.

Stats:
Total Mileage = 70
Wrong turns made = 1
Miles added to original route = 8
Animals spotted = bald eagles, cows, buffalos, dogs, coyotes, sheep, and one vicious Chow Dog who was scared of Jenny.
School days skipped = 1