Today was a "first" - a Russian training ride with 2 times up Old La Honda (OLH). It was 44 degrees when we woke up at 7 AM. Fortunately, we started at 10 AM so we wouldn't be breathing cold air on the climb. It warmed up quickly and by the end of the ride the temp was in the mid0high 60's. RFA and parked at Canada & Edgewood so we had a prelude to the warm-up. On Mountain Home, the strong riders (including me and RFA) picked up the pace and broke away. Dmitrij commented that we rode the last 2 miles fast. I peeled off my vest and arm warmers and headed up OLH. I was working about 90% and feeling pretty good - I kept looking back but no one was in sight. Dmitrij's van passed slowly and Vladimir was in the back with the hatch back open shooting photographs. That was great, but for the gas fumes, and the van was going too slow. I passed and told Dmitrij that I lost 15 seconds off my time - he said "Good job - don't go too hard." I eased up a bit and got to the summit about a minute off my best time. No one passed me - the Safeway guy finished not too far behind me and immediately went back down. I stopped to drink some water and shot a PowerBar gel - my first ever - I figured I needed a boost of energy for the OLH repeat. It was pretty chilly on the way down, but otherwise not too bad. The hill actually seemed longer on the way down. I saw RFA climbing up on my way down - he was looking good. Not so with some of my other team mates. I got down to the bottom and started up again - this time I was about 80% effort and could almost enjoy it - no pressure. The legs felt pretty good - E. passed me near the top and I let him go. On the way back down the second time, I saw Dmitirij in the van and he said that he would wait for everyone at the bottom. I was concerned when I didn't see RFA (or anyone else) coming up the second time. Thought we might have missed each other somehow and he was going down 84 like we talked about. Turns out Dmitrij told the others (everyone but E., Matt and me) to only go up half way the second time. We regrouped and Dmitirij had us do team time trial drills for 20 miles on Canada. It was a blast. Not sure what happened to the weaker folks - I think that Dmitrij dismissed them after OLH. It was funny - while TT'ing I got several comments about my legs - one of the girls said - "Your calves are huge. I am intimidated." Matt said they were awesome and that E. was intimidated." I'll take all that as compliments. What else can I do . . . . can't change them. Same workout for the next two Sundays. We stopped for coffee at Starbuck's on the way home - 'tho I felt buzzed from the Powerbar gel or maybe simply euphoric. Took a long recovery nap in the afternoon and went to Equinox for situps, stretching & rolling on the foam roller. Glad tomorrow is a recovery day.
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