Wind.

As Jill notes below, today was to be a 30 mile ride with a goal of 20 mph avg.  It is generally accepted that in the scheme of training accuracy:  rate of speed < heart rate < power (watts).  This simply means that using mph is less reliable in terms of accurately measuring the load of a workout.  For example, if I start at Point A 4000 feet above sealevel and end at Point B 2000 feet above sealevel, chances are I will not have worked as hard as I would doing the same course in reverse. In all likelihood my average mph would be higher A-->B than B-->A but I would probably have done more work B-->A.  All of this is simply to say (as you'll see below) that I didn't reach my mph goal and am feeling kinda lame.  So, now that I have dispensed with excuses...

Whit and D-Max (Duane) joined me today for a 30 mile loop.  I actually rode from the old Paceline shop to Lewisville for a warm-up then hooked up with the guys at the Lewisville square.  Our plan was to ride the Wyo Rd. loop then tack on a few extra miles via Fish Brandon to Old Stage.  This loop includes Powerline Hill and of course, Turbo Hill, so it wasn't quite the 'flat to rolling' course Jill called for. 

The wind was really whipping from the west between 10-20mph.  We chose to start into the wind, so that we might have some respite on the return.  This actually happened,  but we all agreed we burned too many matches fighting the wind on Wyo.  By the time we got to Old Stage, the tailwind allowed us to motor above 27-28mph most of the time, with 60% of the effort it took to hold 16-17 mph on Wyo. 

Here are the stats:

Time:   1:37.44
Dist:     31.44mi
Avg:    19.2mph

That said, today's ride hurt quite a bit.  I would say the average RPE is around 16.  The last bit was surely 17.   Two bits of excitement however: 

1).  During one of Whit's monster pulls, he noticed two riders 1/10 mi ahead.  Well, this is like a limping deer to the mountain lion so Whit stomps it.  I, seeing this happen, realize that pain is now unavoidable as Whit ramps it up to 29-30mph on Courtney-Huntsville near Wyo.  Ouch.  We catch the two guys, who predictably jump on and then into our paceline.  After dangling off the back up Turbo Hill, I regrouped, got back on, and then we dropped the two insurgents.  Whew.  I thought it was going to be me for a second there. 

2).  Once back to my truck, I would guess my blood sugar was pretty low as I didn't eat particularly well today.  While mumbling to myself and shoving peanut M&Ms into my mouth, none other than Mark Hekman sneaks up behind me to say hello.  I think he was on a 230 mile training ride or something (I don't really recall the conversation), but he was kind as usual.  Ridiculously, I offered him a ride, but was pleased when he said he needed to add on a City Loop to get the right mileage out of his ride.  Props!

These little guys really saved me at the end of what was supposed to be a not-so-tough start to the training plan.  So much for that.