Week 15 Day 6

Cycle: 98.3km
Time: 2:54:38
Averaged 50km/h for the first 50km, which is flying. At one point a guy asked me, "Is it your bike that sounds like a Boeing?"
Once you hit speed, the Spinergy starts to hum. Think my wheels gave me a bit of an advantage today.

A small elite group of about 20 broke off the front right in the beginning, and a biggish bunch pursued them, which eventually broke into smaller and smaller pieces until there was virtually no pursuing bunch, just fragments. I only started working from about 40km onwards, and my heart rate shows an excellent upward progression, all the way to the end.

I believe I was the first rider after the elite bunch. Right at the end 3 of us split off what was left of the pursuing pack, and I split off those 2 in the last few hundred metres. So I finished strong. I'm happy about it because when I reached for my water bottle it was gone, and a guy told me it fell off ages ago. Fortunately one bottle proved sufficient. I also felt comfortable riding with a high-ish heart rate. My average HR is really high, 152, which for almost 3 hours is not bad. I think my aerobic conditioning and endurance has come a long way.

I want to get my Zipps and make sure I hang with the best guys, the elite riders, in the Tour de Bloem on the 26th. That's 110km. In the meantime I must just maintain my cycling, maybe do a few climbs, and trim down with some runs, trying to get to 1 and a half to 2 hour runs. Being thinner will also make me even stronger on the bike. I have already trimmed down quite a bit this week, although when I tested my fat it was just under 16% (which I am not sure is accurate, but that's what the test said!)

For quite a few kilometres we rotated really nicely because we were faced with a nasty, battering headwind, and that was a great feeling of teamwork. About 16 of us all working together. I was also impressed to see two black cyclists apparently quite strong. One survived quite a way with the bunch. I moaned at one point that we were going too slow, that we should pick up the pace because my heart rate was starting to sink into the 140's, and I felt we were not working hard enough. One ou ballie suggested I go off on my own. He seemed to be having the most difficulties towards the end, he just was struggling to turn his legs over against the wind.

I did eventually do that so peh peh peh pehhhhh peh.

Average temperature was 25 (min 21/max 29)
Heart Rate: 152 average (168 max)
2963 kCal
33.8km/h Average Speed. (65.9km/h maximum on the flats!)
Ascent: 340m (very flat)

Had a power nap after a shower.

Swim: 1.75km
Time: 35 minutes
Weight: 79kg (the rest day caused me to gain 1kg. Unbelievable!)

Drive to Cape Town: 1018km
Time of Departure: 16:30