Of Headwinds and Heartrates

The temperature is finally starting to drop again, making training more comfortable. I am in the middle of a fairly high mileage week, averaging about 70 miles a day. Less intervals now, and more long distance riding.

I enjoyed my Monday Night Ride with Olde Saratoga Bike and Board. We decided to head up to Saratoga Battlefield, and then head to Saratoga Lake before turning around and heading home. It was excellent speed work.

Today was all about the headwinds. I made sure to hammer a good fifty miles into a direct headwind that was blowing at speeds >20mph. The goal was to ignore any speed or distance data, and focus on cadence and heart rate data.

Coming out of today's ride, I have made some important choices for the Saratoga 24 hour race:

1. I'm ditching the cyclo computer on my road bike
2. I will rely on my heart rate monitor to provide my only hard number feedback.

I hope that by ditching the computer, I will be less concerned about my speed at any certain time, and more concerned where my heart rate is. If I am able to maintain a cadence of eighty-five rpm, and keep my heart rate at one hundred and sixty bpm, then I should be achieving the max speed I can handle at any one moment.

The only problem, though, is it will be tough to follow cue sheets without distance readings from my computer...Oh well. Every cloud has its silver lining.