This weekend I joined my fellow Ironman training partners, Brad and Danielle Robinson, for a ride in the Alleghany Mountains. Danielle and I rode the medio (65 miles) while Brad rode the gran (105 miles). The experience was great and other than the one giant climb (Category 3) and one ginormous climb (Category 1), it wasn't too bad. I kind of surprise myself by thinking out loud that I actually look forward to doing it again next year. I really did not know what to expect from Saturday's ride. I knew we were in the mountains but the only tough hills I had done was the short Tavern triathlon course hill, Tarrington hills, and Winterfield. I did ride to the Wintergreen entrance last year but I had no clue what a category 3 or 1 meant! For those that don't ride, I have copied a general guideline for categories:
Hors Category (HC) - the hardest, climbs of 5000ft+(1500m+)
1st Category - climbs of 3500-5000ft (1100-1500m)
2nd Category - climbs of 2000-3500 ft (600-1100m)
3rd Category - climbs of 1000-2000 feet (300-600m).
4th Category - the lowest category, climbs of 300-1000 feet (100-300m).
The rolling hills at the end of the 65 miles were the most challenging on tired legs but I was happy with our 5:59:07 time! The next day we had a 10 mile run on our schedule. Aches, pains, sprains, scabbed knees, and blisters on the feet did not stop us from hitting the pavement in Covington Sunday morning. 4 miles into it we decided enough was enough and turned back. We were just short of 6.5 miles but better than no miles! Sitting in the car for the 3 hour ride home to Richmond let the lactic acid build up so only one thing left to do......run the cul de sac 5k tonight to flush it out??!! Holy smokes this is a long road....
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