Tuesday Group Ride - new Max HR

This was my 8 th ride with this Tuesday night group. You would think it would get easier: I would think it would get easier; but tonight's ride was hard just like the previous ones ... :-)

Tonight I meet Craig briefly and then got to ride some with Rick: he's a nice guy and a strong rider. After the hills it's a quick ride back to the last bridge where it's an unwritten rule that it's a race across the bridge to the finish line on the other side. (All in good sport, but a sprint to the finish is a certainty.) I've had the pleasure of riding with Rick before, and remember last time him pulling around me as I fizzled out at the end before the bridge. But all this added to the fun of seeing how long I could hold him off for.

[Graph: red is HR, blue is Speed. 187 line is 35 mph, 176 line is 30 mph, etc]

There were three of us together at this point and we've been taking turns pulling the last ~4 miles. As we approached the bridge I was at the end and Rick was in the middle. I don't know the guys name who was with us and in the front, but I'm sure he had no idea of what was about the take place. As we started on the 'bridge' we were going ~27 mph - not a bad speed, but not full effort either. I waited about 15 seconds and Rick didn't make a move so I did: I pulled out and accelerated as hard as I could knowing that Rick was going to pull out on my wheel as soon as I passed him. It was a little early, but I knew if I waited for him to take off I'd never catch him; this way I'd at least get to enjoy being chased down. According to my Garmin, 7 seconds later I was heading across the bridge at 35+ mph. I was in my big gears, head down, rocking side to side and pumping as hard as I remember ever doing. About 25 seconds later I was starting to fade. It was then that I heard my Heart Rate alarm going off - I looked down and saw 191! Cool!! Then Rick pulled passed and crossed the bridge before me with his arms out - you could hear the crowd cheering..!! :-)

The highlights for me were enjoying the comrodery and sportsmanship with Rick. And having a HR of 191. I've not seen a max over 185 for years now; and never on the bike. So, tomorrow I'll send another note to my cardiologist - I'm sure he'll be happy for me.

The bad news it if that's my max - then I need to adjust my training heart rates and train at an adjusted higher rate ... that's go'na hurt.

I took a nice photo of the sunset as I was heading back across the dam, but it's on my phone. I'll try to add it tomorrow. Keep reading ECCLESIASTES.