Riding in my sleep
Last night I did a few more intervals among a group of fast riders. I wish I could have gone back to St. Louis for the Wednesday night TT series I participated in last week, but I just did not have the travel time available yesterday. Instead I found a group of like-minded riders from the local ride calender.
The calendar showed a scheduled ride with a stated pace of 20+ MPH with hills. A chance to suffer among a group is often an attractive option when compared to solo suffering (particularly on the second day of the training block).
The group was spirited and split several times into soloist efforts with groups working together to either chase or stay away from the soloist. It worked out pretty neatly. Unfortunately, we had to stop at one point to repair a chain, but a few minutes later and a with Barry's chain a link shorter, we were rolling again.
I can only conclude that I have induced adequate stress to my body in the past few days because I slept pretty hard last night. My wife informed me that I was talking in my sleep. She concluded that I must have been barking race tactics in my sleep as if organizing a group.
Eat, sleep and dream of riding. Good stuff.
Coming soon: Recovery.
Slower night
You missed a slower night for TT'ing. Of course the competition was still the best, but weather conditions were not as benign as they were last week.
Even though the wind was only 3-4 mph it was directly out of the west, so the long stretch coming home made for a tough finish. Temperature and humidity were in a decent range if you're acclimated. Those who were not probably lost more power trying to stay cool and went slower as a result. Barometric pressure was also a bit up, though not abnormally so.
Put it all together and you'd expect slower times.
Results
As I said, I was not there, but if anyone else is interested the TT results can be found here.
Interesting observation: Everyone in the Mercks class that ran both last night and the previous week ran FASTER last night...one rider set a PR.
I think I would like to have been there to ride/race last night. Having more data (particularly for various wind conditions) is a good thing...except when it is not;)