Two Tour of Watopia 2021 rides in a row where I’ve arrived late and missed the pack. I guess I could have waited till the 5pm ride and gone off with the bunch, but I suspected this one would take a while, and in some ways I kinda wanted to get it over and done with.
I wasn’t as late to the party today.
I think I managed to get away about five or seven minutes behind the bunch. I found it harder to catch up with the pack today, perhaps because some much of this route – Out and Back Again – is flat.
Right away I hit on technical and set up issues.
As ever the Wahoo Tickr failed. Still no response from Wahoo on this. It’s close to going in the bin. Utter junk. I ended up throwing it on the floor in disgust.
But also I forgot to put on a sweatband, or grab a towel. So this one was wet. Very wet.
Around 3pm today I got a knock on the door from the postman.
My new bib shorts had arrived. So part of the reason I was late on today was because I was mucking around getting them on. I’m going to do a separate post about them as I feel they warrant it.
But anyway, today’s ride was done in some high end shorts, and in some ways I feel they helped. To a point. Though perhaps not enough to justify the cost.
With Tuesday being a ~1000 calorie intensive ride, and then yesterday being a knackered recovery, perhaps today was silly for being Stage 3.
It definitely wasn’t my best every performance on a bike. It wasn’t bad, but I struggled in parts today. I really felt it in my legs and honestly, more so mentally at times. It was a slog to get through it.
Weirdly, I am convinced we should have been going up the Volcano twice during this one. Was this a misreading on my part, or does the above indicate that we go up to the top in both directions (however the heck that works, given it’s one way?)
Anyway, I was confused by this. Instead we got a second ToW2021 treat of a trip up the Reverse Hilly KOM. At least this time round my trainer didn’t mess up.
However, my Garmin did.
For whatever reason it completely misreported all my stats today. Heart rate, of course, but also average power, 3s power, cadence… everything was way down.
Maybe my house is built on an ancient Indian burial ground, for the purposes of cycling electronics, anyway.
Overall this was a decent Thursday night blast on tired legs.
I’m looking forward to a rest day tomorrow, and honestly, probably light rides over the weekend. I’m really feeling it this week, and I know some of that is due to the long weekend and being lazy.
I’m happy with the time – a new PR, who knew? – and I’m happy with the calories burned in the 1h 10m of the ride. Feels like I really pushed myself, even when I didn’t want too.
I’ve not yet tortured myself with what’s coming in Stage 4, though I believe this is the first day of Stage 3, so I have some time yet.
Going into Zwift today I did expect to still be doing Stage 2, and was going to pick up the shorter ride as a bit of an easier effort, if there is such a thing. Still, it’s nice to have this one in the books.
Sadly the weather outside is still looking a bit grim. We’re promised highs of 9c here tomorrow at or around 3pm when I’m aiming to be finished with work for the week. My desires to head outdoors are currently at a low point.
I think I’ll probably treat myself to a second beer for the week instead. What a rebel.
