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| Intensity Ride at VQ |
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| My new Forefunner 920XT |
Let's start with a confession. Yes, I love gadgets, I love them so much that I find it really hard to just go for a run or a ride without them. Yes, I love my Garmin(s) and recently I upgraded my toys to the latest models (the 920XT and Edge 1000), thank you
CleverTraining for this :-) So I guess this is how it all begins ...
For the past 2 years I have been training with a coach and to make my training more effective I even got a power meter installed on my bike. My indoor trainer rides are on a computrainer so I get the power reading there as well. Having a coach and riding with power basically mean that every cycling workout is driven by staying/reaching certain power zones (very basic explanation, I know, but more detailed one is beyond my point in this post). My training is focused on improving my lactate threshold, my VO2 max, my endurance, and so forth. It seems to me that it's all about the numbers!!! Especially in the winter and during the computrainer classes at VQ. I must have the bar turn and stay green, I must - that's the goal. Those of you who train with a computrainer know what I mean, but for you who don't - green bar means that I am reaching and staying in the required intensity for the interval/workout. For those of you who love data and analyzing it, yes, I know again I am oversimplifying things, but hey I want people to keep reading this and not fall asleep.
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| The Pain Cave |
In last couple of months, after this long winter and hours after hours on the trainer and a conversation with a friend who said to me, "I don't deserve a new bike, until I improve my FTP", I realized that I too have became obsessed with my numbers. Yes, my numbers - my FTP, being able to complete the interval - 3 min at 130% of FTP (yeah, that is painful, and I don't think I was able to hit it even once). For months now, after almost every intensity ride, I would go home upset, thinking "I suck", "I'm a loser", "yet again I did not hit my intervals". In fact, it actually often times happenes during the workout, and I find myself fighting in my head. My mood for the next few hours after each ride would be ruined. I'd be in bad mood, taking it out on my poor other half. Things get even worse when I have to do those dreadful 20 min FTP tests, I just find myself getting into my head and blowing the test off. My power at the end of the 20 min would be the power of a 4 year old learning how to ride a bike. So again, I would get frustrated, think to myself "why am I even trying, I should just sell all my bikes and stick to running". "How come I am the only one in this full class that cannot do it". "Maybe cycling is not for me?"
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| The Happy NYC Days, on top of Bear Mountain |
Yeah, it's been a long winter of just going through the motions, doing the workout, trying to complete it as listed, not succeeding, doubting myself, and yes - starting to hate my bike and riding, something that I used to love doing back in the days that I lived in NYC and just rode with my friends for fun.
Where did my passion for cycling go? and then it hit me, I got consumed with the pursuit for watts instead of the pursuit for happiness. Somehow, in the midst of all this power obsession, I have lost sight of the real goal. I am riding because it's fun and I love it, and if it's not fun anymore, why do it?
Let's face it, yes training will make us faster, better (although at this point I am not feeling it), but for us average people, who like to hit the pavement or trail as a hobby (yes, us weekend warriors), we will never be pros, it will never become our job, so every so often it is OK to take a break from all this watts obsession and just go out there to have fun. It is fine to forget the training zones, the watts, the HR, the training plans, the race schedule, my personal goals - and just go out and ride. Do something that does not necessarily make sense with the training schedule and the rest of the list above, but would make me smile, after all this is why I ride.
So, I did.
When I told my friend Guy that I am coming for a visit last month and bringing my bike, he invited me for a ride "up north" I didn't even check the route because I knew that any type of riding "up north" would require a lot of climbing and miles, and didn't really make sense at this point in the season for me. But, screw make sense (sorry for my bad language here).
I said yes, and committed myself to an 80 mile ride with over 9,700 ft of climbing, This is what I want to do and the reason I started riding in the first place, so I'm in. I just mentioned to Guy that I may be slow as this is the first ride outdoors for me since beginning of November.
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| Elevation profile for the ride |
Guy and I met on Wednesday night, in a small village called Ramot Naftali by the north boarder of Israel. We stayed in a B&B called Lavender in the Mountains, owned by a cyclist and designed to accommodate cyclists. The area is ideal for both road and mountain biking and the views are breathtaking. (See article written by Guy on the
B&B sorry, it's in Hebrew).
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| Ride Route |
On Thursday, we started the ride with a great downhill to Koch junction which is in the h'Hula valley, between Ramot Naftali and the Golan Heights, the latter being our main destination for this ride. Shortly thereafter, we started to climb to Ben-Tal Mountain that is in the Golan Heights.
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| View from the top of Ben-Tal Mountain |
Short stop for a coffee overlooking some of the magnificent views of the area and a short history lesson, we were on our way to yet another climb.
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| Some history and geography lesson |
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| Coffee brake at Cofe Anan |
The next climb is THE climb in Israel, climbing to Mount Hermon, the highest point in Israel, and the only "ski resort" in Israel.
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| View From the Climb to Mount Hermon |
It's a long winding climb with some steep sections, but breathtaking view.
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| Up up up we go |
After posing for the mandatory picture at the top. We started descending back to the valley.
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| Hermon Ski Resort |
With a few more stops for some more photos. The ride ended with yet another climb, back to Ramot Naftali.
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| Both photos by Guy Halamish |
By then it started raining, I was so tired and was considering hitchhiking when I got to Manara, but at that point, Guy assured me that the climbing is over and we are only 5 miles away.
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| The last climb almost broke me (photo by Guy Halamish) |
That was an epic ride for me, being the first outdoors ride of the season, yes and it didn't really make sense with my training, my shape, but it made me happy and helped me rediscover my passion for cycling and epic rides. After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Thank you Guy Halamish for the great ride and being patient with me being so slow. I had a blast. We finished the ride with some great food at a nearby restaurant as appropriate for an epic day on the saddle.
Back to where this is all started, I'm back in Chicago, and back to those grueling intensity rides, chasing watts and FTPs, but I feel refreshed. Yes, I still get very upset when I do not hit the numbers, when I give up to my burning quads, but now I think about it with renewed perspective. So what if I don't, it's just another ride and I am here to have fun.
So this coming weekend I am going to do it again, change things up and go mountainbiking with an all women group that I've never met before, not for the training aspect of it but for my soul so I can keep up with my training. It will be my first mountainbiking ride since La Ruta and I am so looking forward to it.
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| The reason I ride - the smile is back |
Thanks for reading!!!
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| Nimrod Fortress on the descend from Mount Hermon |
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