Lately work stress had me a bit mentally checked out
Ah, let's just zone out, ride the bike a bit, go to a café with a nice view, drink coffee, and kill some time zoning out.
But then~ I haven't been able to ride much because of an accident a while back, so let's build up some TSS
But then~ if I tell my family, they'll give me a look, so let's sneak out
So.. I told my family I had a lot of work and needed to leave early~ and headed out at 7am..
Did a bit of searching and started the "Chick" course, said to be the easiest of the randonneur routes
I've done non-stop 120km at z2, 80 tempo, and even ss before, so I figured I'd just zone out and spin it and be done, and started riding..
Once the Eungam bike path ends, it's public roads from there on..
It's a bike path, but the road surface is so bad I had no choice but to go onto public roads
Normally on my Solar I hate public roads so much I never ride them, but I had no choice this time, and since I didn't want to hold up traffic flow, I hammered it and reached CP3 Uijeongbu Burger King. Roughly 20km, IF 0.93
Near where the bike path started again, there was an NSR and a rest area, so I sucked down a gel and got back on the path.. and I could feel my legs starting to go dead..
Around Paldang NSR I got the feeling of "ah.. crap, I'm done for." Power barely holding at z2..
After that I limped through roughly the last 100km at z1~2. Had to ride some public road through Gwacheon too, so I just took the Han River bike path the rest of the way home. 187km
Of course the rest stops were way over budget.. my thighs and calves were completely shot so I couldn't push it any harder
This was supposedly the easiest randonneur route with the lowest public-road ratio.. but seriously, you call this a bike-friendly public road?
After doing the Solar last year on the East Coast Beotseomyeongdayu route, I told myself I'd never touch public roads again, but I really can't ride public roads.
Riding public roads on the Solar is just way too stressful, I don't think I can do it.. I'll have to settle for the Anyangcheon/Han River bike paths and Sammaksa Hao-gogae for climbs.
Randonneuring is no longer part of my life.
Genuine respect to everyone who does randonneuring.
