Way, Way Off

Based on the calculations for lactate threshold heart rate and max heart rate, I was able to redo my zones. They were way off. It makes a little more sense that I didn't recover until I didn't ride outside for a month. When I was doing "recovery" rides in "zone 1," I was really in high zone 2 and in zone 3. It wasn't really any kind of recovery. My perceived effort was screwed up because I got into a rhythm of hammering. The rides felt easy because they were easier, not because I was recovering.

Yesterday was my first real night ride of the year. My dad and I started off in the day, as soon as I got back from school. We rode many of the trails from the Stoopid 50 (from the first fun downhill almost to the first aid station, then picked it up again towards the end). We're kinda spoiled since we can ride from our house, so we hadn't really ridden on that side of the forest many times this year. The trails aren't as rocky but are just as fun. The one part that we did get to ride at night was the last 5 or 6 miles. It's the part of the Stoopid after the rocky ridge, where you cross the road and continue along the ridge, through some nicely built piles of rocks and some clearings. It was really fun at night. When I was riding that trail, I noticed that a few trees had a reflective dot on them. Not even ones that were close to the trail. It looked perfectly round and was probably a big nail, but I don't know why they were there.