Century Training - Week 5; Day 7

Week: 5
Day: 7
Ride: Pace
Route: Hilly
Scheduled Mileage: 14
Actual Mileage: 17.38
Average Speed: 14.0 mph*
Max Speed: 28.1 mph
*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 144
Max BPM: 177
Calories: 544

Random Notes to Self:

• Spinning drills can suck!
• Scraped my beloved (= code for expensive) Specialized Toupe Team Saddle 2010 when I stopped at a redlight in Times Square while returning from this morning's cycling lesson, and - in my exhaustion from a strenuous workout on less than two hours of sleep - forgot to unclip my pedals and fell over.
• Update: Thanks to Mark, I now know that when you fail to unclip from your pedals fast enough and fall over, you have "turtled".

I actually got off work at job #2 early - at 4:30am. And I was able to get a full one hour and 45 minute nap since my cycling coach moved our session in Prospect Park back to 8am. The extra sleep might have made my morning a little rougher - though I'm not sure how or why it often works out that way exactly.

My cycling coach had me paceline in between two of his more seasoned riders while I was spinning and floating my pedals at 39/21, 39/19 and 39/17 (depending on the hill index) and they made steady, even pedal strokes at 53/19. It was hard work to keep up with them. After 12 miles, I was beat. During the last five miles of our session, we followed my coach as he called out the gears on various inclines and declines to help us gain more understanding of gear shifting.

Despite the crowds in Times Square, while returning from Brooklyn (I rode the F train to Rockefeller Center and pedaled across Midtown to my apartment in Hell's Kitchen), I was not even remotely embarrassed when I fell over at an intersection. It reminded me of notes I had made in "The Lessons of Living Here" (the 'here' being New York City), where I had mentioned that if you fall in any public areas regardless of alcohol consumption - or lackthereof - you will not feel embarrassed because you will likely never see any of the witnesses again. I guess I should now also include - regardless of a good night's rest or lackthereof.

As I moaned and groaned over the noticable scrap on my new Specialized Toupe Team Saddle, my roommate remarked: "You sound like one of those new car owners, who freaks out when they scratch their car for the first time."

There will be many more scratches and each one will be less significant than the prior. Maybe they'll even have cool stories to accompany them. Like the one on my rear derailler is from when I toppled over while I was seated on my bicycle and propping myself on one leg while chatting with other cyclists in Prospect Park. Ok. That's not exactly cool. It appears that my falls thus far have been associated with low levels of sleep and speeds of 0 mph. But I suppose that's a good thing. Sort of.

I slept 15 straight hours once I got home this afternoon (I know this because this post is backdated to yesterday at 1pm).