Seven Bears

Wednesday, April 28th -- Okay, it's time to take this seriously. Back spasms slowed me down today on the bike. It's incredible that back pain can change your posture, make everything hurt, and even slow your legs down and affect your balance and comfort descending. Twice I had to get off and stretch and wiggle to feel better. I'm swapping my stem tomorrow (shorter) and also going to make a chiro appt.

Anyways. Good ride despite the pain. Still a bit dehydrated I think. I was terribly thirsty the entire ride (never happens to me). Finished two bottles in the first 90 minutes and then two more. Doc said just to drink water this week (no electrolyte) so I have to wonder if my absorption is okay, but since I'm not peeing a lot, I assume it is. My HR didn't respond as well the second lap, so this might be related (I typically drink calories in my bottles as well as electrolytes and just had GU today on the ride).

Pre-rode the Berkeley Hills Road Race course with Marisa and Lauren today. Damn! It's a good course. I need to pick up my cadence and gain enough strength to push a bigger gear. I tend to "settle in" when I climb and don't push myself enough. Not doing any type of hill intervals so I guess that's understandable. But, I do need to push more. My legs aren't even tired/sore and I did a bunch of climbing last night and a ton today. Thoughts?

Anyways, rode well despite the back. This will be a tough race but I actually think the course suits me better than Wente. And, there's 6 miles of flat before the first climbs begin, so at least I can hang for the first 20 minutes or so!

Ride stats -- 3:19:19 -- 44.8 miles -- 13.9mph avg -- 42.7mph max (my fastest in 2004) -- AVG HR = 135 -- MAX HR = 159