Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Buddy Rides

One of the great things about Team in Training is that there's a built in buddy structure. When you and your team are all working towards the same goal, it is really easy to encourage each other to meet up and ride together. Unlike Doug, I have never done any endurance training (and have never wanted to before this), so it is particularly important to have this support structure.

Yesterday I went on my first buddy ride with one of the great people from my Team. We met at Theodore Roosevelt Island at 10am, and went to ride the "Arlington Triangle" 17-mile ride.

View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

It seemed so simple, but apparently my choice of this ride was foolish, as, although it looks simple on the map and the cue sheet, the trail markers were abysmal leading to about 30 minutes of riding around in circles trying to find the W & OD trailhead. Nevertheless, we persevered. The hills along the Custis Trail (which parallels I-66) were brutal after more than an hour riding, but it ended up being some very good interval training at the end. Erika and I agreed that hills are BAD...hopefully the next ride will have fewer!

In the end, it always go back to the fact that however hard it is for me to go over those hills, it is nothing compared to what those I am biking for are dealing with. Please go to my donation page and help those that I'm riding for so that I can continue training for them!

And what should you do after a hard ride? Why go to the pool of course:

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