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Lunch Ride

ROUVY - Ninh Binh - Sunset ride | Vietnam

Planning on longer effort on this hill in a few weeks so today was a rehearsal. My goals for the ride were:
1. Steady effort. I'd say I did very well on this with my segment times ranging from 9:40 to 11:22.
2. Experiment with nutrition. I did a poor job of this. Didn't eat much (a single gu) on the first 12 laps and was really out of gas on the 12th lap. Did better after that but already had a deficit. Didn't affect my times overmuch but did affect the perceived effort quite a bit.
3. Experiment with fluids. Did a pretty good job of this. I only drink water while riding so really this was more about quantity and I had to urinate 4 times over the course of the 5 hours. I think I could have drank more though and will try to on the next outing.
4. Check out the equipment. Didn't expect any issues and there weren't any. Bike and gearing were fine.
5. Complete at least 5000 feet of climbing. Felt pretty good so reset the goal to 7500 which I accomplished. 

I think for a "real" Everesting attempt, this hill wouldn't be the best choice. Something longer and steeper would work better (Denzer hill?) but for my current level of conditioning, returning from injury, this was just right trading off less elevation and, as a consequence, more time in the saddle against a harder effort was a good tradeoff to make.

Extrapolating to an Everesting though, at this pace it'd take approximately 24 hours. My goal would be somewhere nearer 19. I'm not currently at the level of fitness to do that.

Some notes from the ride:
- met my friend Bob Booth and "mostly" socially distanced. We probably rode closer together than was wise on and off after about lap 6. To be honest, I don't think a riding WITH somebody is necessarily a plus (at least for me) as it causes me to lose focus a bit. It does make the laps pass faster though. 
- my goal was to maintain a consistent 180 watts on the climbing segment. I was close but not quite there. The lack of focus mentioned above was a factor plus I only had normalized power (for the whole ride) displayed on the Wahoo, need to have 5 sec avg power so I can see when I'm slacking off.
- were I in better shape, my goal would be an average nearer 200 watts but don't think I'm there right now, especially coming off the injury.
- need to lose weight. I'm 18 lbs heavier than when I finished PBP. I lost 12 of it early this year, got injured and put most of it back on.
- it was raining a bit prior to the start. I'd decided in advance I wasn't going to ride if was raining but it quit before I started and turned into a very nice, almost ideal day. The temperature was perfect.
- they started spreading manure on a field next to the climb on the 17th lap. Yuck. This really made it a lot more difficult.
- got stung a small amount by a bee on about the 14th lap. I'm somewhat allergic (no danger of anaphylactic shock but the sting swells like crazy). Wasn't too bad so only a mild sting
Start: Partly Cloudy, 44°F, Feels like 38°F, Humidity 66%, Wind 12mph from SE Wind Gusts to 18mph
End: Partly Cloudy, 65°F, Feels like 65°F, Humidity 47%, Wind 11mph from SE Wind Gusts to 17mph

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ROUVY - Steady MIET | Serious FTP Builder

Windy AF

Back on the trail

Lunch Ride

ROUVY - Ninh Binh - Sunset ride | Vietnam

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