http://connect.garmin.com/activity/12082075

This morning’s ride started with around 15 riders, including a few who are racing tomorrow and dropped at the turnoff from Mahomet to Fisher.  Climbed some tough hills and fought headwinds that were almost straight out of the North at 10-15 mph.  Did some decent work up front, but tried to keep it to 2:00 or less per pull.  I nearly got dropped as we went over Rt 150 on Lake of the Woods Road but was able to do some work to get back on to the last slot in the left pace line.  I spent most of the trip to Fisher in the left pace line.

Outside of Fisher, right when the sprint began, my extra water bottle went flying out of my jersey.  Second bottle incident in the past two rides for me.  epon suggested that a smoother pedal stroke may help avoid bottle slippage.  I tend to agree, but also the fact that I was in the aero bars may have had something to do with it.

Once in Fisher, we took an extended break at the Casey’s and when we were finally ready to depart there was one bike left sitting against the wall.  Hmm … dilemma … do I leave the bike sitting there unattended and risk not being able to catch up or do I wait for its owner to get back to it.  I can’t imagine how I’d feel if someone made off with my steed so I decided to wait and was unable to catch up with the rest of the group.  That turned out to be just fine as it gave me an opportunity to do some extended solo work with the aero bars.  I’m really starting to like riding with them – not only because of the increased aerodynamics, but because it’s a totally different position to get into.  Laying out flat, or relatively flat, across the bike takes a lot of stress off the wrists and shoulders, which are two areas that always seem to fatigue on me.

I worked on some intervals on the way back, too, and wound up with some mild chest pain about halfway home.  It’s still lingering a bit, but not nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago.  It seems as if the reduction in the Coreg intake is helping some with that.  I also wonder if it might be possible to move away from it altogether.  There’s probably only one way to find out if it’s safe for me to be off of the medication, and that’s to stop taking it.  If I start having palpitations again I can always go back on it.  It took several years for the arrhythmia to take its toll on my heart.  I think a few weeks or less – if it comes back without the Coreg – would be worth the risk to see if it’s time to stop taking the stuff.  I really hope so.  Whenever I can get in to see the new electrophysiologist at Carle I’ll bring it up to see what he has to say.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11695648

Our route went south to Old Church and east to Rising Road and then almost straight north to Fisher.  There was a pretty nasty headwind out of the NNW that was steady at 10-12 and gusted to almost 20.  Fortunately with so many riders, there wasn’t a lot of work for any one person to do on the front of the pack, so it was pretty easy getting to Fisher.  I did have to run off the road a little over half way there, though.  Guy in front of me got loose on some gravel in a corner and slowed leaving me with no other option but to make a straight line for a ditch, at the bottom of which was a sizable mudhole that added a good half pound of dirt to my tires.

We dropped 4-6 people on the way there, so the group that headed back to Champaign was a bit smaller.  We probably averaged 24 on the way back.  I seemed to be doing well until we hit a section where we headed east for a mile plus and were blasted by winds out of the north.  I was second in line then with a pull coming up shortly and I just ran out of steam and dropped.   That was OK as I wanted to do some interval training on the way back into town.

Ended up with 51.5 on the day with an average speed of 19.5 mph.  Felt a lot faster than that.  Overall it was a good ride and I really enjoyed the roads North of I-74.  Very hilly and lined with trees.

Chest pain showed up again about 5 miles from home on the return trip, though not as intense as a couple of weeks ago.  I still think it has something to do with the proximity in time to when I’ve most recently taken Coreg.