Hell Week Day 4 - Rain Forces a Rest Day

Today we rode a modified route as a result of rain, wind, cold and sore legs. It was a bit of a forced rest day and we decided not to put wheels down until 12:30p when the rain had ceased and the roads had started to dry a little.

Small flecks of wet granite sticks to tires. Small flecks of wet granite are good at digging into rubber and worming their way through the belts. Small flecks of wet granite also make great scalpels that provide flat tires. Luckily, I didn't get one that I know of... but tubulars tend to go flat more slowly so I may not know until morning.

Jeff took a flat only a few miles into the ride, and Chuck took another maybe 15 miles later. Seeing as how we were only on a 45-ish mile ride the odds were not in our favor. Still, we plodded on and took our time. Cold legs on steep hills made things rough, but in the end it was a good rest day and I felt better as the ride progressed. Toward the end I was climbing at a nice tempo but my shins -or at least the muscles that run up the front of my legs- hurt like hell.

The plan, seeing as we'll have better weather, is to ride today's route tomorrow. The normal day 5 route would take us past Enchanted Rock on 965, which is not a nice road to be on due to traffic into the park and the lack of a real shoulder. Instead, we'll ride "Comfort Zone 2.0" and hit a series of hills that top the 20% grade mark. It should be suitably painful and a good midweek challenge.

Hell Week Day 5 -->