Reversing the hour

It was kind of cool to see one of my entries from the GreenvilleOnline.com Cycling blog printed in the dead tree version of the paper yesterday. It appears they also printed it Friday, but someone goofed on the layout and part of the entry didn't get printed. Still, there it was in black and white. Neat.

I got back on the bike after taking two days off for Thanksgiving. I made up my mind Friday evening that I wasn't going to do the Hour of Power Saturday morning. I knew it was going to be cold and planned to get some riding in the afternoon when things warmed up. Stopping by Sunshine to take care of some Christmas business I learned that some of the guys from the shop were planning to ride when they got off work at 4 PM.

I decided to join them. It was Mike, Gary, Bob, and me who started off the ride. As we headed down Pine Knoll we discussed what route we would take. Gary wanted to go over the mountain and Mike wanted to do the Hour of Power route. Mike convinced Gary to ride along with us on the turn that would take us on the Hour of Power route by saying we could still do the mountain, but go another way.

By the time we got to Waddell via East Lee Gary had caught on to Mike's deception and bailed on us. So, the three remaining riders decided to cut him off on the other side of Rutherford Road and go over the mountain with him. Unfortunately, we missed him.

Instead of doing the mountain without Gary we decided to reverse the Hour of Power route. It turned out to be pretty fun. We did alter the route slightly (check out the route here). Mainly we cut out the Sandy Flats section.

About ten minutes into the ride I almost felt like turning around and going back. I just didn't feel so good. My legs were stiff and I was getting winded very easily. However, thirty minutes into the ride it started to come and my legs were feeling good. I still found myself getting winded, but I think part of that had to do with the cooler temperatures.

After a couple days off weight training, I really feel as though it is helping me. We definitely didn't do any serious sprinting, but a couple of times I attacked just to see how my legs would respond. Not sure I can describe it, but I could feel more firmness in my stroke. I had a lot more confidence in my bigger rings while attacking on an incline. After a couple of months of this, I should really see a difference.

Well, we made it back in the dark. We watched the huge harvest moon come up over a bank of clouds as we neared the shop. Mike and I had rear lights, so we put Bob between us and boogied back as fast as we could. The sad thing is I was just starting to feel loose and warmed up.

Hey, it is always best to stop wanting more!