Bike Love and Drafting: That's What Friends are For

Today Deanne and I both had a 4-hour bike ride, and thankfully the weather cooperated and we could do the whole thing OUTSIDE! This was the kind of ride that made me remember why I love biking so much. The weather was cool, but not freezing, the sun was out for most of it, and we are lucky enough to live in an area where we can ride in the woods and by the ocean all in one morning.

My wildlife sightings for the morning included: 2 wild turkeys, 2 deer, 4 bunnies, and an assortment of geese, birds, squirrels and chipmunks.

The first hour was tough as I felt very tired (we started at 5:45) and it took me forever to warm up and get into a groove. I didn't see much of Deanne for this hour. She's such a strong biker and doesn't need to warm up like I do. But she's nice enough to loop back and get me every once in a while.

We reconnected in Ipswich at a gigantic hill that many cyclists use to practice for hilly courses such as Lake Placid. Elevation-wise, it's nowhere near some of the hills in Lake Placid, but it's steep. The first time we did this I only managed it once. But today, we made that hill our bitch. We went up and down that thing three times right in the middle of our 4-hour ride.

By that point, I was plenty warmed up and managed to stay with Deanne for the rest of the ride out to Crane Beach and back through Essex.

Drafting on a bike means you ride close up to a person's wheel and ride in that person's "slipstream". You get the advantage of that person blocking the wind, and you also have the luxury of not having to work as hard as the person in front of you. It also works well in swimming, and to some extent in running. If you are lucky enough to find someone to draft off of while swimming in a tri, you just have to be careful not to hit that person's feet, or you will be kicked. I've been on the giving and receiving end of these kicks, and I can attest to how annoying it is to have someone continually grabbing your ankles while you're trying to swim.

While drafting on the bike is a big no-no in triathlons that comes with steep penalties, it's not illegal on our training rides and I admit that once I managed to stay with Deanne, I drafted for most of the way home. I don't think she minds, though. I am currently reading Chrissie Wellington's memoir, and in it she talks about how when bikers draft off of her during an Ironman, she sends them a warning to back off by peeing her pants. Deanne never does that to me. She's a good friend.

So once my ride was over I had to quickly get on my running shoes and head out for a 45-minute run. I managed under a 10 minute mile which I was quite happy about. My hamstrings felt tight, but other than that I felt pretty strong.

My nutrition for today consisted of: a pre-ride bagel w/ peanut butter, 1/2 cup coffee with skim milk, water. On the ride at 1 hr. I had a gel every 1/2 hour (7 gels!). Also, I had 3 sports bottles of Gu Brew. I felt like I could have used more by the end of the run, but I didn't want to take anything with me for that short of a time.