ride report (aka i’m so fast)

got up on time today. still didn’t get out the door until 5:30am. i don’t know that it will make more of a difference if i get out between 5 - 5:15 like i want to but…i had to stop one time and that was at la cienega and venice, one of my usual pits. 

after not riding yesterday i came out of the gate feeling good. legs made of brute force steel. i didn’t look at the computer the entire way because the first stretch coming down 3rd st i was sure i was doing 50 mph. so i figured i’d at least be in the high 40’s for my average and just quit worrying. 

i got to santa monica and creamed the first hill. there was a slight headwind but i was still a rocket ship. 

i didn’t think about anything except keeping up the burning sensation in my legs. in my head, if my legs were burning that meant i was really moving. so i just pedaled at a nice steady pain level.

the lights were in my favor and i don’t think i hit my brakes until i got all the way to lincoln and then it was just a tap and the light flashed green and i smashed through.

ocean to main was over and done with so fast it felt like nothing more than a very brief deja vu. by this point i was past the half way point without stopping pedaling one single time. 12 miles or more and i was still feeling good. oh i’m so fast!

up veince the wind seemed to be coming from the south (aka my right) but it didn’t affect how unbelievably fast i was going. the #33 bus that’s always out and running had a female driver today that did a “no look/no signal pull out” at a green light that had me swerving and locking up my brakes. i quickly readjusted, got back on top of my horendous speed, spit on her window, ducked the sideview mirror and left her in my ever increasing dust.

i hit the “peak” at helms and proceeded to throw it into big boy gear and bludgeon the long shallow decent to la cienega. oh my i’m fast. probably pushing 75 mph strategically crouched in the drops to be as little resistance to the wind as possible.

at la cienega i caught my breath and pounded some water. there was a gap in the traffic before the light actually changed and since i was feeling so powerful i decided to go ahead and take it instead of using it as a rest period.

made it to cochran, swung left hard and galloped up the hill. every light was green which has never happened before thus making it easier to maintain my record shattering speed. even the light at wilshire was green! i put her back into big boy and put the hammer down for the last two block run. i pedaled so hard and fast my feet went numb! dear sweet i was going fast! right?

distance = 22.9 (uhm?)

total miles = 1291 miles

max speed = 30.9 mph (that has to be wrong.)

total time = 1:09:33 (huh? no way, more like 30 minutes.)

average speed = 19.7 mph (okay, who messed with my computer?)

so in the end i felt good, and did slightly better than my last ride but i guess i’m not as crushingly fast as i thought i was. oh well. the only thing that confuses me is the extra .2 miles in today’s distance. it wouldn’t really affect my average much or time but i’m guessing i’d be right at 1:09 or at the top end of 1:08 and probably 19.8 average.

the good news is that everyone bailed on tomorrow’s ride so i’m doing yet another solo ride to long beach. only this time i’m going to try to find the san gabriel river trail and do a nice solid 100 miles…even though i told sara i wouldn’t…i’m a liar.

chirp,

hillary