Thursday, February 21, 2008

Skyline with a Speeder

Last Saturday I changed my normal routine and went to Skyline with Kyle Jones (Evolution). I've been doing a lot of high intensity miles lately that are relatively short in duration, usually 1-2 hours, and I really wanted to do some long climbs. So, when I read that Kyle was heading to Skyline, I decided to join him. Although, I was pretty apprehensive since he's been doing a lot of long base miles this winter and I really didn't want to ride hard.

We met at the base before the Ranger Station gate and headed out towards Front Royal for a 1o minute warm up before heading up Skyline. The day was chilly but not too cold and not too windy. It was a perfect day for doing long climbs. The first mile or so we kept a pretty easy tempo and talked the entire way. My legs were not really warmed up and they were feeling a bit heavy. We made a pit stop at Dickey Ridge and then continued on our way. My legs started loosening up and on the next climb, I picked the tempo up a tad but didn't want to go too hard. I was able to keep my HR below 155 the entire day. We got to Hogsback in just about 2 hours, and after a short rest for liquids and food, we headed back to the car. Amazing that it only took us an hour to get back down to the car. Kyle was flying down the descents while I was a bit more cautious since there were a ton of peebles on the road and I was feeling kinda sketchy.

The 3 hour ride was excellent. Good steady tempo with not a lot of intensity.

On the way back we stopped at Linden Vineyards. I wanted to buy a case of wine and show Kyle the place so he could take his wife.

After departing the Vineyard, Kyle headed off towards Rt66 and was gone in a flash. I was taking my time since there were a lot of cops around. As I neared Manassas, I saw a car pulled over and realized it was Kyle. He didn't look too happy, so I called his cell phone to cheer him up.


3 hrs of riding Skyline
Wine Tasting at Linden
Seeing Kyle pulled over for speeding.
Priceless

2 comments:

Kyle Jones said...

Taking your time, my ass.

Anonymous said...

According to Kyle on his blog it won't be priceless