Thursday, May 6, 2010

when the lights go out

"if you pushed it, it wasn't a recovery ride!" - bernard y

i read those words just before heading out this morning. they helped me stay focused on recovery. i spun the entire time. kept my HR under control. stood only three or four times to stretch my quads. remained seated and calm most of the time.

i say "most of the time" concerning calm, because there were a couple of brief moments of panic this morning. the first came after a tanker truck buzzed me less than three miles into my ride. i thought, "jerk!" then i looked back and discovered that i'd forgotten to turn my taillight on. stupid!

the second panic attack came at the halfway point. that's when i found out what happens when the rechargeable battery on my headlight runs out of juice. i ran my high beam this morning, same as any other morning. problem is this was the third morning on the same charge. let's do the math. 1.25 hours + 1.25 hour + 0.5 hours = 3 hours. three hours is the maximum amount of time my light is said to work on high. that's just about right.

about forty minutes into my ride, the light starts going crazy. it flashes slowly at first, then more rapidly. cars are approaching from both directions. they pass me and the flashing stops. i am in the dark. i poke the power button and get the light back on. it's dimmer and it's flashing in a strange pattern. after a few minutes i realize it's an SOS pattern. i try the button again. flashing dim light. once more. super dim steady light. that's where i leave it.

thankfully the moon was fairly bright and the sun was coming up. i could see pretty well. my only real concern was the other guy. only four cars passed me in the eight-mile trip home.

certainly the most interesting recovery ride i've taken in a long time. i'm going for uneventful next time. (16.20 miles @ 13.1mph)

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