Beautiful ride but too tired.

[fastturtle]

Yesterday was warm for the season, a mild +6°C, with a moderate but
definite west wind. So I took my brand new randonneur bike and headed
west, against the wind, for a day out on the road. It was a nice, slightly
melancholic kind of day, with high clouds and an occasional dim ray of
sun, with water flowing noisily in the creeks and confused birds
mistakenly celebrating spring.

After some 90 km of slow but steady spinning against varying winds and
climbs, I turned back east and naturally accelerated a bit. After a while,
suddenly there comes another cyclist from behind, and passes me fast, a
bit too fast for my ego. I try to catch up, painfully, discover that
yes I still do have some good strength in my legs, that I can spin the
same cadence with a higher gear, and after a few km I am in his wheel, and
we talk a bit. The guy seems very fit, but when I describe my ride he
tells me "whaouw, I never ride that long except on races". His ride today
is some 35 km total. We split after some more km. I am still 30 km from
home.

Halfway through this final stretch, I catch sight of two more guys ahead
of me. But there is no way I can follow them. At the end of the day, I
have 172 km in the legs, 6:45 hours on this (too) new Brooks saddle. And I
feel too tired. The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months. I have
done another century last week-end (slower but which left me less tired,
by the way), and another in late november. And I have my short ride to
work every day. And I don't think I am overdoing it. And I have done
faster _and_ longer rides. Why then am I so slow and so tired ? Is it
because of winter ? This is depressing.

 

[nash]

If it was a normal windless day I would think you would not be so over
fatigued. Then again that was great training with extra resistance so next
time you will break your best time.
No downside.

SN

 

[Ron Wallenfang]

Translating to mph, it looks like you average about 15, which strikes
me as pretty good for a winter century. What is your summer speed? If
it's no more than, say 18 mph on a century ride, you've done OK for a
winter ride. Your question isn't answerable without some basis for
comparison with your normal speed, which is apparently pretty good,
distinctly better than mine.

I averaged about 12.5 mph on my New Year's day century last Monday,
and typically average 14 - 15 on my long summer trips; my best day on
last summer's trip was 18 with an all day tailwind. I forced an 18 mph
pace for the first 125 miles of the 24 hour challenge in 2005, and paid
a big price in leg cramps that knocked me off the bike for 2 hours; I
backed off to 15 after that and was able to ride all night.

Anyway, speeds are never as good in the winter as in the summer. IMHO,
the single most important reason is that cold air is denser and takes
more energy to penetrate. There are also miscellaneous other issues.
Clothing is heavier and clumsier. You're using up some energy just to
stay warm. Very cold weather - probably not a factor on your trip - is
hard on the lungs and you dare not work as hard. If you have to use a
mask, you're getting some stale air. For most people conditioning isn't
quite as good. Another apparent non-factor in your case is that more
night riding is involved, which is slower.

 

[Kenny]

fastturtle wrote:
The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
> don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months.

Lack of appitite and having a hard time sleeping are signs of over
training. I over did it last year and paid for it. It took me about 3
months to recover.

 

[[email protected]]

Hi Fastturtle,

Listen to your body for a change. Mind and body must function
harmoniously. When you are tired, rest. When you are hungry, eat. And
so on, and so on. Ego interferes with communication between body and
mind. Give your body the rest it is asking you for, please.
I liked your post.

gene

 

[Mike Jacoubowsky]

> Halfway through this final stretch, I catch sight of two more guys ahead
> of me. But there is no way I can follow them. At the end of the day, I
> have 172 km in the legs, 6:45 hours on this (too) new Brooks saddle. And I
> feel too tired. The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
> don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months. I have
> done another century last week-end (slower but which left me less tired,
> by the way), and another in late november. And I have my short ride to
> work every day. And I don't think I am overdoing it. And I have done
> faster _and_ longer rides. Why then am I so slow and so tired ? Is it
> because of winter ? This is depressing.

My guess is that it's simply the colder weather taking a bit of a toll on
things. My lungs aren't nearly as efficient below about 45F, turning me into
something of a wheezing steam engine. Your body's probably expending energy
dealing with the cold air coming into your lungs, and temperature regulation
in general is a lot tougher when you're dealing with either being too cold
or too warm (sauna effect inside anything remotely waterproof). Add to that
not being quite as flexible, which means the road is going to take more of a
toll on your body as you ride over even small bumps.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA


"fastturtle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> Yesterday was warm for the season, a mild +6°C, with a moderate but
> definite west wind. So I took my brand new randonneur bike and headed
> west, against the wind, for a day out on the road. It was a nice, slightly
> melancholic kind of day, with high clouds and an occasional dim ray of
> sun, with water flowing noisily in the creeks and confused birds
> mistakenly celebrating spring.
>
> After some 90 km of slow but steady spinning against varying winds and
> climbs, I turned back east and naturally accelerated a bit. After a while,
> suddenly there comes another cyclist from behind, and passes me fast, a
> bit too fast for my ego. I try to catch up, painfully, discover that
> yes I still do have some good strength in my legs, that I can spin the
> same cadence with a higher gear, and after a few km I am in his wheel, and
> we talk a bit. The guy seems very fit, but when I describe my ride he
> tells me "whaouw, I never ride that long except on races". His ride today
> is some 35 km total. We split after some more km. I am still 30 km from
> home.
>
> Halfway through this final stretch, I catch sight of two more guys ahead
> of me. But there is no way I can follow them. At the end of the day, I
> have 172 km in the legs, 6:45 hours on this (too) new Brooks saddle. And I
> feel too tired. The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
> don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months. I have
> done another century last week-end (slower but which left me less tired,
> by the way), and another in late november. And I have my short ride to
> work every day. And I don't think I am overdoing it. And I have done
> faster _and_ longer rides. Why then am I so slow and so tired ? Is it
> because of winter ? This is depressing.

 

[nash]

Hi ya fastturtle,
How are your rides now?

 

[Stephen Harding]

"fastturtle" <[email protected]> wrote in message


> Halfway through this final stretch, I catch sight of two more guys ahead
> of me. But there is no way I can follow them. At the end of the day, I
> have 172 km in the legs, 6:45 hours on this (too) new Brooks saddle. And I
> feel too tired. The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
> don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months. I have
> done another century last week-end (slower but which left me less tired,
> by the way), and another in late november. And I have my short ride to
> work every day. And I don't think I am overdoing it. And I have done
> faster _and_ longer rides. Why then am I so slow and so tired ? Is it
> because of winter ? This is depressing.

I had a similar thing happen to me this summer, which has continued
to the present time.

I rode northwestern Nebraska in some very hot weather and really tired
myself out (moreso as the ride was over dirt roads on my 37mm tires).

I continued on and met up with friends in central Iowa and we did the
last three days of RAGBRAI (paved roads). I actually got sick on one
of the days and was fortunate that the last three days of the ride were
low mileage.

I don't seem to ever have fully recovered though. My speeds cruising
to and from work are down a couple mph from "before Nebraska" and
perhaps a bit more than that now.

Certainly I've recovered from whatever bug I got in Iowa but I'm
coming to believe perhaps I'm just showing my age (55) as I'm
definitely more tired climbing hills and trying to maintain my old
cruise speeds.

I think perhaps I'm destined to be a slow, bicycling geezer from now on.


SMH

 

[fastturtle]

Well, now being work week, my rides are limited to a short commute, so no
comment. The weather forecast for next week-end is once again pretty good
(thank you El Niño), so I intend to ride a bit, but no time to do a full
century.

Thanks for caring

Turtle

Le Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:26:16 +0000, nash a écrit :

> Hi ya fastturtle,
> How are your rides now?

 

[gds]

Stephen Harding wrote:
> "fastturtle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
>
> > Halfway through this final stretch, I catch sight of two more guys ahead
> > of me. But there is no way I can follow them. At the end of the day, I
> > have 172 km in the legs, 6:45 hours on this (too) new Brooks saddle. And I
> > feel too tired. The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
> > don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months. I have
> > done another century last week-end (slower but which left me less tired,
> > by the way), and another in late november. And I have my short ride to
> > work every day. And I don't think I am overdoing it. And I have done
> > faster _and_ longer rides. Why then am I so slow and so tired ? Is it
> > because of winter ? This is depressing.
>
> I had a similar thing happen to me this summer, which has continued
> to the present time.
>
> I rode northwestern Nebraska in some very hot weather and really tired
> myself out (moreso as the ride was over dirt roads on my 37mm tires).
>
> I continued on and met up with friends in central Iowa and we did the
> last three days of RAGBRAI (paved roads). I actually got sick on one
> of the days and was fortunate that the last three days of the ride were
> low mileage.
>
> I don't seem to ever have fully recovered though. My speeds cruising
> to and from work are down a couple mph from "before Nebraska" and
> perhaps a bit more than that now.
>
> Certainly I've recovered from whatever bug I got in Iowa but I'm
> coming to believe perhaps I'm just showing my age (55) as I'm
> definitely more tired climbing hills and trying to maintain my old
> cruise speeds.
>
> I think perhaps I'm destined to be a slow, bicycling geezer from now on.
>
>
> SMH

As an over 60 rider I can tell you there are lots of riders around my
age, and older, who are far from geezers.
That said I think that some older riders too often ignore rest &
recovery. My experience is that I can still do a serious effort but it
takes me a couple of days to recover. Ignore recovery and you are
doomed to constantly feel tired and ride more slowly than you should.

 

[Stephen Harding]

gds wrote:

> As an over 60 rider I can tell you there are lots of riders around my
> age, and older, who are far from geezers.
> That said I think that some older riders too often ignore rest &
> recovery. My experience is that I can still do a serious effort but it
> takes me a couple of days to recover. Ignore recovery and you are
> doomed to constantly feel tired and ride more slowly than you should.

I'm fairly confident that it's not a recovery thing. I'm riding
no differently "post Nebraska" than I did "pre Nebraska".

I know there are no hard rules as to when you start losing power
due to age. It inevitably happens but the age at which it happens
is highly variable.

A friend of mine who worked in the Miami, FL area said there was
some guy there in his 70's who could keep up average speeds of
over 25 mph. Bicyclists from all over would come to ride with
him (20-30 milers IIRC).

I know Miami area is flat but that's a good average speed no matter
what one's age, and doing that into one's 70's is quite an
accomplishment IMHO.

It's winter (sort of) now and my bike speeds are a couple mph lower
than in the summer normally, so I suppose I'll have to wait and
see if my average speed picks up to normal again come spring.

But I'm thinking I may simply have lost some oomph this summer! No
tragedy; just nature pursuing its course.


SMH

 

[nash]

Might be a case of changed diet. Not enough iron is as bad as too much.

 

[qui si parla Campagnolo]

fastturtle wrote:
> Yesterday was warm for the season, a mild +6°C, with a moderate but
> definite west wind. So I took my brand new randonneur bike and headed
> west, against the wind, for a day out on the road. It was a nice, slightly
> melancholic kind of day, with high clouds and an occasional dim ray of
> sun, with water flowing noisily in the creeks and confused birds
> mistakenly celebrating spring.
>
> After some 90 km of slow but steady spinning against varying winds and
> climbs, I turned back east and naturally accelerated a bit. After a while,
> suddenly there comes another cyclist from behind, and passes me fast, a
> bit too fast for my ego. I try to catch up, painfully, discover that
> yes I still do have some good strength in my legs, that I can spin the
> same cadence with a higher gear, and after a few km I am in his wheel, and
> we talk a bit. The guy seems very fit, but when I describe my ride he
> tells me "whaouw, I never ride that long except on races". His ride today
> is some 35 km total. We split after some more km. I am still 30 km from
> home.
>
> Halfway through this final stretch, I catch sight of two more guys ahead
> of me. But there is no way I can follow them. At the end of the day, I
> have 172 km in the legs, 6:45 hours on this (too) new Brooks saddle. And I
> feel too tired. The kind of tiredness with which I don't eat well and
> don't sleep well. And this was _not_ my first ride since months. I have
> done another century last week-end (slower but which left me less tired,
> by the way), and another in late november. And I have my short ride to
> work every day. And I don't think I am overdoing it. And I have done
> faster _and_ longer rides. Why then am I so slow and so tired ? Is it
> because of winter ? This is depressing.


105 miles in 6:45 on a 42 degree day in January...you are the MAN!!!!!
Have a beer on me, get a massage...and do it again!!!