Sunday, December 09, 2018

Grinding To A Halt...

Well that was killer. Being cocky, I started with an easy 5k run on the treadmill before straight into bike mode for the #Zwift Fondo event. I decided on the medium since I'd ridden the short last month I felt I needed to step up but I think I over did it...

All was going well. I was riding in a good group as we worked towards completion of the first climb in the 72km route, with 1350m ascent. I think something then went a little wonky with my smart trainer calibration when I switched back to the big front sprocket. There was a bit of a jolt - probably pushing too hard on the pedal - and after that the resistance seemed to jump up. What should have been a nice downhill recovery ended up being bloody hard work. The resistance felt way higher than it should have.

It wasn't long after the descent, into a section of 10-15km of flattish riding, that I just had to drop back to the small front sprocket - and I've never needed to before - and up through the rear gears. Pretty much rode the second half of route in either the biggest or second biggest of the rear sprockets - that's not normal.

My legs just couldn't maintain things and I got slower and slower, and the reported power got lower and lower. I was really struggling and the final 500m climb took forever. Time standing still - or at least it felt like it. Never have I been more glad to get over the top but even then, the descent wasn't easy and the resistance was still high.

I was on the edge of bonking by the end and starting to shake a little in the last few kilometres but I made it. Still, I feel like I've had a bloody good workout!

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