My (Is it Really?*) June Metric Century and Catching Up

(*The day started out with heavy gray clouds and light rain and 50F degree temps. A cold north wind blew the clouds apart so it finally got mostly sunny and temps rose to 64F. Not exactly typical June weather!)

Well, summer comes and my habits change dramatically as you've noticed from my blog hiatus! But I'm still here and haven't been as absent from cycling as my blog would indicate. However, I did take a whole week off for complete rest and recovery!

I have been thinking about taking a week off for awhile, but wanted to feel in control of it and not be doing it just because of laziness or because of a lack of motivation. Last week seemed like a good time as it rained most of the time and I was so at the end of my rope with traffic that I'd done the entire week before on the computrainer. I had some other things I wanted to catch up on. Also, I hadn't taken a week off the bike since the week ending July 19, 2008.

Here's my mileage by week chart to bring you up to date. The current week is incomplete, of course.

I was a little freaked out that I'd lose fitness fast, but after a few days I was so busy and sore from cutting back hedges and other yard work that I didn't feel the need for more exercise!

The week off turned out to be wonderful for my biking! My legs felt fresh and strong today. It was a little weird not to really be aware of them...no aches or pains or complaining muscles. I'd look down and it was sort of surreal to see my legs cranking away and they lasted great for the entire metric.

Given the cold wind everywhere and the damp cold by the beaches, I was in a long sleeve jersey and still cold enough for goose bumps at times. It got really weird later in my ride as the sun came out because the sun would be warming my back, but I was chilly at the same time from the wind. Felt kind of like being feverish!

I did 3 laps of my regular route and some extra back and forth bits to get the necessary miles. The pics were taken on my first and third trips to Sachuest Point today. From seeing my profiles, you are probably nearly as familiar with my bike terrain as I am!

Here's the speed profile. Yeah, I got a little tired toward the end, but the slow down actually had more to do with some school buses and UPS trucks slowing up traffic and me.

I've decided I like these Nutrigrain bars on rides better than various energy bars I've tried that are just too chewy for me. Note the long sleeves!

June Metric Stats
62.96 miles
3:58 hours
15.8 mph average...was at 16.2 'til the last miles and those buses, etc...had hoped to hang onto 16 'til the end =)
2,760' elevation gain
2 cereal bars and 2 bottles of Gatorade for fuel

Holiday Weekend

Happy Memorial Day weekend to those celebrating! It's officially planting time here in New England and I've been going around to the garden shops for supplies and working on the yard. Here's the freshly mulched herb bed by the patio/grill area. You can see a bit of oregano, thyme, sage and basil. I also have some other things like parsley, lavender, horehound and marjoram.

The veggie garden area has had another tilling and I have seedlings ready to plant out this week. It won't be a big garden this year, but it will be nice to have some organic goodies this summer. The dogs do enjoy the veggies too and would be very disappointed not to have over-sized zucchini to eat!

The Island is getting so busy and while I love the nice weather for so many things, in terms of biking, I'm really missing the peace and quiet of fall and wintertime. I rode 4 days/101.56 miles this week.

Anniversary

Yesterday was a milestone day, but not because of bike stats! Jeff and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, 11 years. Here's a snap of us from way back then! We were married at Sand Beach in Acadia National Park.

Yes, we did a short bike ride on our anniversary. For the week, I rode 4 days/103.49 miles. Ironically, I'm finding it harder to ride now that the weather is nicer! There are so many things to do outside that I get distracted away from the bikes. But balance in life is good and I'll be ok with it as long as I'm maintaining the bike fitness and being active in other ways too.

Cuteness

This baby has been making me smile every time I ride by his pasture. He's so fluffy, I want to give him a big hug! I should have put something in the pic for scale, he's tiny.

He was having a look at my bike today so I stopped to get his picture. I did a 23 mile solo ride on X6. The weather was gorgeous! I could have taken the road bike out, but X6 was all set to go from my last ride in the rain and some days it feels like the right bike for the inevitable bashing through potholes and patched roads around here.

Rainy Week

I only did 3 rides this week, the metric on the road bike and two short rides on the cx bike for a total of 106.46 miles.

This morning Jeff joined me on a rainy, foggy ride and I thought it was quite pretty, at least during the parts where I could see through my glasses!

Meandering May Metric

When I saw the sun shining this morning, I was determined to get a long ride in to make up for the lack of miles this week due to rain and feeling somewhat ill!

At the outset, I figured I'd go for the century distance, but it would be pokey given that I'd be riding on the Island and the fair weather traffic is picking up. It was more pokey than I'd anticipated for this time of year! I probably should have just done loops around Middletown, but I ventured into Newport and that's where I couldn't maintain any sort of momentum due to slow downs/stops at every intersection, slow downs and detours for road repairs/mowing and just having to ride along at the speed of the traffic flow.

All that didn't really effect my spirits though. After so much rain and being cooped up it felt good to spend all the time I could outside. I even stopped briefly at Brenton Point to gaze down at the waves breaking over the small beach below.

A view across the Bay.

And my bike, looking out to sea.

I had no appetite today and ate nothing until after my ride (and not much then). I was parched though and drank plenty of water and one bottle of Nuun. Fortunately as it was a relaxed, solo effort I didn't have to worry about bonking and being a drag for a partner.

May Metric Stats
63.09 miles
4:16 hours
14.8 mph average
2,721 elevation gain

Only 7 more to do!!

Wrap Ups

Just a quick post to update the recent stats! For the past week, I did 5 rides around my short route for 111.88 miles total. For April, I rode 20 days and a total of 533.24 miles.

This is the weather outlook for the next week...I'm hoping I can get out to ride between the rain showers?!