Yesterday was a bit cooler than it had been for the previous
week or so: mid-30's (F) in the morning, expected to go up
into the mid-40's by afternoon. The Narragansett Bay
Wheelmen had a ride scheduled in one of the more scenic
areas of the state, and I went to ride the longer route. It
was 34 miles over pretty flat ground, with only a couple of
short relatively steep hills to worry about. I was in kind
of a hurry on the way out of the house, so I didn't bother
to mix up the Gatorade which I usually put in my water
bottle, opting instead to go with plain water. I also
grabbed a handfull of peanut butter crackers, which are my
normal road food.
I showed up with my Fuji Touring still in its full winter
coat, probably outweighing every bike there except for the
tandems, and there were a lot. I didn't count, but there
must have been at least 50 riders, including 3 or 4 tandems
and at least one recumbent.
I was in the mood for a good workout, so I headed out with
the lead group, which consisted mostly of 20-somethings in
full kit from an area bike shop. I expected that I wouldn't
be able to stick with them for the entire ride, and sure
enough, at about the 5 or 6 mile point, they took off and
dropped me like a hot rock. There were a few others around
my age in the same situation, so about 6 of us kind of stuck
together for a while. Then it tapered down to me and another
guy 10 years older on a Trek 5200, and we made it to the turn-
around at a decent pace. At the turnaround, because of what
the wind was doing, I decided to put on my fleece jacket (I
had been going with just my l/s jersey with a T- shirt under
it up to this point). Once we turned around, I discovered
that I didn't have the energy to stick with the same group
again. That should have been a warning, but I was paying too
much attention to trying to keep up, and not enough to what
my body was trying to tell me.
I rode along solo for a while, breathing fairly hard. After
a while of that, I noticed I was seriously depleted of
energy, and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything, nor had
I drunk any water beyond a few sips. So I pulled over at a
stop sign out of the wind and tried to eat a couple of the
peanut butter crackers. My mouth was so dry that I couldn't
swallow the crackers without actually washing them down with
water. That was when I realized I was probably dehydrated,
as well as bonking on low blood sugar. I made myself finish
the package, and drank several ounces of water, and then
pushed on at an easy pace. Within about 15 or 20 minutes, I
started to get some energy back, and I was able to pick up
the pace a bit.
I got passed a couple more times, one time sticking with
him for a couple of miles before losing it up a hill, but
made it in ok at the end, having clocked 33 miles in about
2:10. My computer showed a moving average of about 15.2
mph, significantly slower than my normal solo rides. A
couple of things occurred which hadn't happened before: at
one point I got a cramp in my left calf, though it went
away quickly and never recurred. And my sit bones got very
painful about the 25 mile point, and stayed that way for a
while, though after a while that cleared up as well, after
I spent some extra time out of the saddle. It felt a little
like a cramp, but not exactly like one, and they are still
sore today. I am tentatively putting both of those effects
down to fatigue and dehydration, though I may be looking
into a new saddle as well.
I have a couple of excuses: 1) I was still recovering from a
slibht cold which had given me a scratchy throat and cough
for a few days. 2) Probably most important, I had donated
blood five days previously, giving 2 units of packed red
cells. If any of you are a doctor, could that cause a
significant reduction in my endurance level? 3) Allowing my
self to become dehydrated and low on carbs. Next time, I
won't leave on one of these rides without my
Gatorade/Powerade/whatever.
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