I got a jump on the heat this Sunday morning and took my first real post-crash ride. I had several plans to ride over the course of this week, but the abnormal heat wave forced me to postpone. Over the past several days, we've had temperatures near and over 100 degrees, and heat indices that were pushing 120. I decided to let mother nature take its course and allow a little more neck recovery.
So, this morning I discovered how much fitness one loses by idling for three weeks. A 10-mile ride had me bushed. To be sure, I rode after having just a banana and some water, so I bonked out a bit on the ride. But, the good news is that there was no neck pain during or after the ride. This will give me a green light to slowly increase the mileage.
Of course, all this has important implications for the century project. I've all but decided that my Ohio ride next weekend will have to be canceled. There's no way, in this heat, that I'll be able to build mileage enough to get up to ride a century. And, the Indiana ride the following weekend is in doubt as well. We will see how well I can recover my endurance.
The wisdom of old age -- I turn 59 this week -- tells me that I need to give myself plenty of recovery time. There's no use in forcing the issue and having a relapse. Besides, these heat waves take all the fun out of cycling. I have a busy August and September planned, and I want to finish the year strong in November (SC & GA) and December (FL).
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