Yesterday, I came out of hiding and got on a bike (so to speak..). I let TSD talk me into a trip on the powertap bike at the shop. here's an account of my thought process:
Warm up: Hey, this kind of sucks...it seems too hard - will it get harder? (up walks Tim, looks at my heart rate, adjusts the tension on the bike) Thank God, I didn't want to admit I was about to die 30 seconds into my warm-up...
10 minutes into the warm up: Boring....
20 minutes into the warm up: I wonder what mom will cook for Thansksgiving tomorrow...maybe I'll start cooking tonight instead of tomorrow...Oh Crap..here comes a customer...Did I turn off the computer before I left the house? I wonder if the kids are driving Clint crazy...
"Tim, I'm bored...when do we start?"
Minute 1: Not an issue. I can do this.
Minute 2: Not so bad (cranks up the tension)
Minute 3: Shouldn't have cranked up the tension so much...oh well...
Minute 4: Damn I'm hot...oh look, my heart rate is 170..huh.
Minute 5: oh crap...don't tell me Mike is coming over here, now I'll have to pedal harder...he's going to laugh when he sees my wattage...
Minutes 6: Mike's driving me crazy but I can do this...he'll walk away soon...
Minute 7: Oh geeze...here comes that other guy hanging out at the shop...oh god, and Tim. Do they have to stare? I'm panting like a dog...maybe I hang in there like this...
Minute 8: I'm feeling claustrophobic but I can do this....this saddle sucks and I keep sliding forward...
Minute 9: What? Turn up the tension? Mike's lost his mind.... I'm going to die...I can't breathe...I'm sweating..I never sweat...
halfway through minute 9: Thanks Mike, yes, I can see that my heart rate is 190...it feels like 290...I guess he really is going to stand here until I finish...he is kind of motivating though...in a slave-driver sort of way...
Minute 10: OMG, the room is spinning...where's something to hold on to? Oh no...it's over...I don't think I want the results...
Turns out, I didn't do awful. I'm not thrilled with my performance either. Despite my thought process, I wish Mike would have stood there the whole time because with him by my side, I was motivated to work . I've noticed the same thing with group riding...if left alone, I'll mosey along but in the presence of others, I'm terrified of being left behind or looking like a wimp so I work harder. The experience was good and I'm glad I did it - I know I'll do better next time.
Oh - and my output was 2.95 watts.
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First of all, I knew you would kick but on that machine, even though I still don't understand what wattage means or how your score is tallied. You always kick butt, though, so it's a safe assumption.
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