While has not been in Edmonton since 1966, the Wheelsucker believes that global warming has reduced the number of -30 F days Edmonton has in a winter.
Never-the-less, one would think the Wheelsucker would shrug off not-so-cold “winter” days; but one would be wrong!
The Wheelsucker was visiting family shortly before Christmas. Having abandoned Edmonton in 1966, what remains of his family is in Guelph, Ontario. During his eleven days in Guelph the daily high was below freezing only once (uncharacteristically warm for Guelph in the second half of December) and the Wheelsucker rode most days. A high of 35 to 40 degrees F should have been fine. But Guelph tends to be windy, the air feels colder – perhaps due to moisture picked up when the wind crosses Lake Huron – and wet snow was falling on several days.
On Friday the 21st of December, the Wheelsucker was supposed to be doing 3x12 minutes at LT. There was some very light snow as he rolled out, but it became heavier as he warmed up. The temperature was 34 F and the snow was quite wet. Slush and water built up on the road. The Wheelsucker got his first interval in, desperately pedaling into a headwind and straining very hard to average one watt over his LT value. He was cold. His cycling tights were wet in the lower legs, and water had run down his left leg and collected in his left shoe, soaking his sock.
The Wheelsucker took a longer-than-two-minute recovery interval to manually zero the Powertap computer – perhaps it was not zeroed properly and he was actually working harder than the numbers he was recording?
The Wheelsucker started the second interval heading back the way he had come. He was going faster with the tailwind, but was struggling to hold power. He coasted briefly when a van slowed in front of him for a right turn. He was unable to bring average power back up after the turn, and then ran out of runway coasting into an intersection, losing more average power. In desperation he turned uphill at the intersection and tried to hammer the last minute of the interval but ended with an 11:50 interval averaging fourteen watts below is nominal LT power. Out of energy, out of breath, despondent, cold and wet, the Wheelsucker called it a day and soft pedaled back to his sister’s home. The leading “edges” of his handlebars, head tube and downtube, and seatpost were covered in slush.
What with driving back home on the 23rd, taking Christmas Day off, and then a day of monsoon-like rain (the 26th), it was Thursday December 27th before the Wheelsucker was back on his bike.
Back in Annapolis (which does not have a real winter when compared to most places in Canada), the Wheelsucker was hoping for a more comfortable ride. But it was 41 F and very windy when the Wheelsucker finally made it out.
After a ~27 minute warmup that took him to the dip on Patuxent River Road, the Wheelsucker hit interval and went for it. The first part of the interval was up the short steep section just passed the dip, and then up a less steep portion of Patuxent River Road to the right turn onto Sands and down Sands. The Wheelsucker was rather over his target power on the wall and initial climbing section, so his average power started out high and slowly came down during the rest of the interval. But with grim determination the Wheelsucker held on to an average power eight watts over his nominal threshold, without exhausting himself too much to do the next intervals.
The two minute recovery interval was too short, but as he was turning around to start the second interval going back, he pulled in next to a team mate (who shall remain nameless). The teammate was tired from doing his sprint workout, so he took the Wheelsucker’s wheel. Knowing a very strong young stud was following him, the Wheelsucker felt that he HAD to put in a solid effort. Pedaling grimly, he hung on for ten minutes and averaged eleven watts over his nominal LT power, despite having to coast into the Sands-Patuxent Road intersection and wait for a car to clear the intersection.
Another two minute recovery interval went by too fast and then it was time for the last interval, which started on the climb out of the dip. The light at 214 was – uncharacteristically – green, and the Wheelsucker powered through, with his teammate easily holding his wheel. This interval was quite hard. His legs and lungs hurt, his mouth was wide open and the helmet strap was digging in behind his jaw. But the Wheelsucker knew the road very well and tried to distract himself from the pain in his legs and lungs by thinking how close the finish line was. He hit the interval button at 10:03 and later determined that he had done 12 watts over LT for 10:01 (but his average power for 10:03 was one watt less).
The Wheelsucker is thankful to his young strong (wheelsucking) team mate; if the Wheelsucker had been alone he might not have had the incentive to keep pushing all the way on the last two intervals.
And the Wheelsucker is looking forward to spring and warmer temperatures!
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