Sorry for the intermittent posts. The internet access here at the Yucca Inn is occasional at best. So I thought I would combine the last couple of days into one update. On Wednesday we took a break from the pool and rode from the hotel out to Joshua tree to do a 50 min TT. The goal was to hold Zone 4 watts for the 50 mins. This for me turned out to be 285 watt avg for the 50 mins on a road that had a slight grade on the way out. It was an out and back so it was hard to hold a low cadence on the way back and still keep the watts up. It was also at about 4500 ft elevation so my breathing felt high but my heart rate was only in mid zone 2. Later in the day we did a 6 mile steady pace run also from the hotel.
Thursday: After a morning 3500 yrd swim the plan for today was to ride out to Idyllwild. The first 15 miles of this 100 mile ride consist of about 3500 ft of climbing. The avg grade felt like it was 7 to 8%? Not sure exactly, but it wasn't terrible. The hard part was the 40 mph wind gusts that were hitting us head on and sideways. There were 3 different instances where I was slowed down to less then 5 mph and almost went into the ditch. Once at the top those of us that made it waited for everyone else. After about 20 mins of waiting we knew something was up. With no cell service where we were we Mitch rode back down a little. It turned out that everyone else decided not to continue on because the conditions were not safe. This was totally understandable since I am one of the largest people here and I almost got blown over multiple times. So those that weigh 70 lbs less then me could have easily been blown into traffic or off the road. So one of the coaches went back down and got the van and we loaded up and rode from the bottom of the hill back in and around Palm Springs and Palm Desert. Ended up with just over 50 miles total. After the ride some did a quick 30 min transition run. Then a stop at Rubio's for fish tacos!!
Friday: Another morning swim of 4500 yrds then an easy 25 mile ride from the pool. We were going to head out to the north valley area (I think it was north) and ride by all of the wind mills. There are 3000 wind mills out there. So I guess it would be a surprise that it was a bit windy out there. Once out of town on the highway the wind kept getting stronger. We lined up in a single file line and were taking turns leading 2 minutes at a time. We did this for 15 minutes and only made it about 2 miles. We decided to turn back at the point when I was leading. I was generating 300 watts and going 6 mph. When the gusts would hit I would slow to 2-3 mph and almost fall over. Going back however was well worth the effort to get out there. On a flat road I was coasting at 42 mph. We traveled the two miles in a couple minutes. It was rad! After that we just cruised around town. Then we ran for 40 mins at race pace. It was another hot day, about 83 degrees. Yesterday felt like it close to 90. It's going to be hard to transition back to low 50's when I get home. Here are a few pictures from the last couple days:
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