Well today's ride was more confirmation that it's more about the "engine" than the bike. I was supposed to still be up in the Yellowstone/Tetons area doing wildlife photography but the smoke from the west coast fires was super thick up there. Got back to my cabin Wednesday evening and realized how bad I was wheezing. So even though I was going to be charged for another's night stay I made the 5 hour drive home that night. Felt off my game yesterday so I didn't ride. This morning i went out on my one XL Super fully planning on laying down another 19mph run. But the lungs had other ideas. I could tell from the start that things were not right. Breathing was off and the HR was too elevated. Still, this Giordana is my one steel ride under 18 lbs, with nice semi aero CF tubular wheels and Campagnolo 11 speed SR/Record build. I figured I should be able to tough it out for 30 miles at speed. Yeah, nope! Lungs went to total crap by mile 7, hacking up phlegm every minute or so. But at this point I was still on pace although not by much. Still kept trying, doing everything I could to maintain speed. Just was not to be. Couldn't carry a easier, higher cadence without the lungs blowing up and when I tried to muscle a larger gear I just had no real power. Stopped a second around mile 15 to grab a snack out of my bag to see if it would help me finish strong and noticed my legs were shaking, weird. Then around mile 19 while still trying to push it my freaking arms were like done. They didn't even want to hold my body up. That usually doesn't even happen to me even on centurys, just sometimes when in the drops on the one 20 mile long mountain descent I do. Oh and I had even cut the ride short going for the bare minimum 24 miles. Anyway, the "engine" was sick today and it wouldn't have mattered what bike I was one. I finished the 24.07 miles at 1:19:20 for a measly 18.2 avg pace. I did do 509 ft of climbing also but that's really nothing. The other day I did that 30 mile ride at 19.7 avg mph and my HR averaged 145 and I never felt I even worked that hard. Today I am totally whipped, the HR Avg was 153, and looking at the speed chart I couldn't hold a consistent speed and really tailed off the last 5 miles or so.
I need a nap, LOL!
I totally failed this bike today!
This short video shows a bit how bad the air was. This was early morning at a distance of maybe 3/4 of a mile and should have been crystal clear. It's a wolf feeding on a kill in the Hayden Valley.
The trip was basically a fail, no scenics because you could hardly make out the mountains, nothing really good for wildlife as my screwed up knees kept me from hiking into the backcountry, and I messed up the lungs again. Only saving grace was hearing this guy bugling at dawn the one morning, Took off into the woods and found him in a small meadow. Got off around 50 shots before I noticed there wasn't a memory card in the camera, doh! Still got a few more before he moved off into the forest.
