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December 09, 2004
Fall ride, part VIII
Today, I rode out with Matt and Xavier at lunchtime. We were originally aiming for Pontcharra, which is about 35 km from work, but Xavier had us turn around at Tencin. We were riding quite hard. Unlike me, Xavier seems best when he varies his speed a lot. Going up the valley, we were just slogging it out. Matt's a tough act to follow, especially on long hills. On the flats, I can roughly follow those guys, however, since I run regularly.
At Tencin, we came over to the Chartreuse side of the valley, which is at La Terrasse. There we decided to go uphill on the road to St. Hilaire. 15 minutes into the climb, Matt and Xavier decided to take a small road back down. I couldn't follow them. I just don't feel comfortable riding downhill yet. In the car, it would probably feel slow, but on the bike it feels too fast. I have the same problem downhill skiing.
Coming through St. Ismier, I didn't have much left and fell behind. Matt had sprinted most of the way uphill in Bernin, and in trying to follow him, I realized my leg muscles are not sufficiently developed for hill climbing with guys who are good at it. Need to work on that.
Posted by Mark at December 9, 2004 09:50 PM