David Smith’s Around the Bay Ride Report

Hi David,

Thanks for your email and video. Well this years ATB is done and dusted. It was a good day and I did better than I thought I could or would. The training that I was doing for Amy’s and then following on to ATB really helped.

The weather was the challenge but also fun when it became a tail wind. I had a good group that joined the ride with and I did as many turns on the front as I could but after the 170km mark I was hit by some really bad legs cramps climbing out of Mornington and had to sit back in the pack and get dragged along for a period. I was trying to drink as much as possible and we got some salty chips at Mordialloc that seemed to help as after the rest stop the pain subsided and I was able to push again with the group.

Really happy with my average speed of 28km/hr and I was able to bring down my moving time from 9hrs (when I did the 210km in 2016) to 830hrs and added an extra 30km. My average heart rate was a little higher than I hoped at 152 and was trying to manage it as much as I could. Pulling turns from Portarlington to Queenscliff was fun and sitting on over 40km/hr but probably fatigued me a bit too much before the final 100km. I tried to keep my cadence high as you teach and did not do too bad at 87.

Today I am feeling tired and the legs are feeling heavy and a bit tight in the thighs but overall not to bad (a lot better than I thought I would be) . I have a little bruising where I was sitting on the seat but that happens after that much time in the saddle.

Tomorrow I am going to aim to get on the bike again (if I can sit on the seat) and just to turn the legs over on Zwift and keep my heart rate low. I am hoping that just turning the legs over, for 20-30 mins tops, and warming them up will help relax the tightness. My aim is to rest and recover this week and then go out with the guys again on Saturday for our usual 40-60km ride but we will see how I recover. I don’t want to push it and get an injury.

Below is my ride data.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2064555040

Now I need to workout what to do next in the way of training but I do need to back it off a bit and spend a little more time with the family. I want to continue to get stronger and be able to climb the hills around my house in the southern side of the Dandenong’s and keep up with the rest of them rather than toward the middle to back of the pack.

Any suggestions on what I should do next and how best to recover from this event would be much appreciated.

Thanks again
Regards
David