Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Hollistion - Wayland Loop w/ Side Trip to S. Natick
42.25 mi 02:26 17.4mph pace
Another perfect day!! 85 degrees, sunny and virtually no breeze!! Even with that, I didn't feel very motivated to do anything more than go for an enjoyable ride. So that's what I did.

I felt pretty good today. The only left over effect from yesterday's ride was that my hamstrings were a little tired. That is unusual for me. It is usually my quads that are tired or even sore when I have been riding hard or riding a lot. Yesterday I was working on a better pedal stroke. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think I am still pushing down rather a balance between pushing and pulling. The exercise I have been doing is to imagine I am pulling my foot towards the rear derailleur. This usually causes a cramp in my hammys after only a short while. As a result, it is difficult to practice this for very long. I was able to work on this much longer yesterday than I have in the past.

Today was mostly about enjoying the time in the saddle. The ride through downtown Framingham was better than average. I still caught some red traffic lights but it seemed to me that drivers were much more courteous than usual. With heavy traffic, tricky intersections and pedestrians darting across the road, this made the trip through that section much more enjoyable.

I had a very nice ride through Ashland, Holliston, Sherborn and into Natick. I got a phone call in South Natick so I stopped to take the call. I still had another mile to go before I headed back to my standard loop. After the call, I made a right turn on a road I have never been on. As it turned out, most of the mile was a gradual uphill leading to Lookout Farm. I pulled into their driveway. Despite the climb, I failed to find a decent view from there. Maybe you have to go onto the farm in order to see where they got the name for the farm.

The return ride home was somewhat uneventful. "Uneventful" is something I strive for when traveling by air. It's not always a bad thing with cycling either. :-) The section through downtown Natick and Wayland has a lot of traffic lights. I managed to catch most of them! Ugh!! I also had to come to a stop because some idiot ... I mean impatient driver ... was across the lane waiting for traffic to clear so that he could make a left turn. I gave him my best glare, but he didn't really seem to care. But at least he was also on the phone. SCREAM!!!!

I started pressing a little more during the last 6 miles. I was getting tired and a little low on fuel. I had planned on leaving for my ride earlier than I did, so it had been quite awhile since I had eaten. It wasn't as bad as an all out bonk, but I was clearly feeling a little low on fuel.

This ride was just what I needed. An easy, no pressure ride. Just enjoy the time in the saddle. Check!