So, it’s the hottest day of the year, so far, and I decide it would be great to ride outside. The thermometer says 95 degrees and the heat index is 102. It feels like a sauna outside, perfect weather!
After my disappointing attempt last night to test my progress I decided to just ride easier the rest of the week and make sure I’m rested and ready for next week, when I plan to do a lot of climbing on my rides. Tonight I rode with a friend and decided I’d do the entire ride in the big ring. I have a compact crank, 50×34, so I kept it on the 50 tooth ring the entire 20 miles. I didn’t ride real hard but I needed to “grind it out” on some of the steeper hills. My cadence dropped to 50-60 on many of the hills. This is really low for me as my regular cadence is around 90rpm. I like to do this type of ride every once in a while as it helps me build strength in my hip flexors and it seems to improve my climbing. I don’t do long rides like this because of the extra stress on the knees, but an hour or so at a time is fine.
I felt much better today than yesterday. My legs were comfortably tired after the ride and they recovered quickly. If I can ride easy the rest of this week and still get in my 6-8 hours of riding I should be ready to tackle the mountains of Western North Carolina next week.
If you are looking for a workout that could help you build leg strength and increase your climbing efficiency, try your own version of “Big Ring Wednesday”. Your friends might start calling you “billy goat”.
