When I woke up this morning I felt lousy, but once I had coffee I felt a lot better and more optimistic about a long ride on my cross bike. I took it very easy which I sort of had to in most places anyway considering all the water on the roads in many places or mounds of sand or even some slush still. I wanted to pace myself to finish.
Eighteen miles out, I was so pleased to see my friend Lynn riding towards me. I had a feeling I'd see her as we have similar biking habits. She had time to do 11 miles with me. I was by myself again until 41 miles out, when I saw two men coming along in the opposite direction. As we got close, one of them waved and called my name and I realized it was one of my regular ride buddies out with his friend who I'd met once before. They waited up as I turned around and I decided to ride with them for as long as I could keep up. Keep in mind I was on my cx bike with knobby tires and they were on road bikes! My pace picked up as I rode with them. At my 58 mile point, I started to tire and let myself fall off. I knew I could turn for home at that point with plenty of miles to count toward my goal for the day, so I didn't have the incentive to keep going anymore.
February Metric Century
64.98 miles
4:23 hours
14.8 mph average
+3,126 feet elevation
stops no longer than waiting for a light or for turning to meet up with friends
fuel (this is embarrassing) a Gatorade (I *know* I was bad about eating *again*)
Today's ride was actually my 2nd outdoor ride this month. Yesterday, Jeff and I did 20 miles. I now have some proof that the trainer riding is working. I'm not sure I've gotten any faster, but I've at least maintained and I think I have improved my cadence, muscles and aerobic capacity even if it's not showing up in my speeds yet. Keep in mind, the roads are in bad shape out there, so I don't think anyone is out there pushing for full speed this time of year.
The only thing that I felt I might have lost from all the indoor riding is the mental stamina for dealing with the puddles and potholes and wind, etc. Yesterday seemed hard and I really had my fill of all that stuff within 10 miles though I kept going. Today didn't seem as hard that way, but it was a lot warmer and I had more company and conversation to distract me!
12 comments:
Cool speed graph...from Garmin 305 I hope.
Wish the roads around here were as clear as the one in the pic.
Very organised getting your ride in so early! Leaves the rest of us on catch-up!
Well done getting you Feb 100 in so early! I'm going to try not to leave my second century until the very end of the month this time....
Glenn,
Both graphs are from the Garmin Edge 305. The elevation one is produced by the software that came with the unit, 'Training Center'. The speed graph is what motionbased.com does from the data.
Along the beaches, out in the full sun the roads were better, but there were very wet places too. You had to be careful not to get too close behind another bike, but we all forgot that at times and got sprayed!
S
I use sportstracks I think its better than the free garmin software, its also free! Worth a look as long as you use a PC!
Thanks for the tip Trio, I'll look into that!
you crack me up with all this stuff you keep track off
Yeah, I tend to get spoiled with the lack of wind on my trainer. Then, when I'm finally back to outdoor riding, I'm suddenly sent into shock when I have to battle my own fatigue AND the wind.
A Garmin Edge 305 huh...
So, where the uploaded GPS track?
Martinator, I upload the tracks to motionbased, but ones that pinpoint my home on the map are kept private. I guess I could blog *part* of the map image. In this case it would just show that I did Ocean Drive in Newport back and forth a couple of times and looped around the other roads out that way too.
S
Well Done Sarah.
Sorry about the slightly late post but i've only just noticed the update on Trios blog.
another belated congratulations! i'm sure the trainer is working too-bet you would have been faster if conditions allowed
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