Fast Ride, Busy Route

Nothing eventful to report, except it was nice an warm tonight, full-on sun which made the trail very busy. Hit the roads just after rush hour, traffic was all scawry-face. Lots of cyclists out.

Para-athlete

Okay, I was hoping to tell you right away about "Gene the Riding Machine", but more on him later because something else fantastical happened today. Decent ride first off, first group ride with club members. Pretty casual pace 16-19mph. I left the group at about mile 30, for I had to be home for my daughter's birthday party festivities. Best part was about 2.5 miles from home (mile 34) the left crank arm just decided to eject itself from the bike. WTF!? So I went back to get it. Investigate. Of course, no tools - doesn't matter though the spindle is completely stripped. Only option I saw was to ride one-legged (hence, the para-athlete reference) all the way home. Wow, it's really tough (and awkward) to try and keep a 12-14mph pace with literally one leg. Several runners said "hi" to me, then had a very confused look as they watched me ride past with one dead leg. I was laughing the entire way. HA HA "how does this happen!?" So anyways, Gene...probably in his early 60's, old time racer I find out. In 2006 he set out to ride "a bunch", not realizing where that would get him by the end of the year: 22,000 miles over the span of 348 days. Sirs, that is over 63 miles a day!! Man...someday I aspire to be "Gene".

Sand Lake Sprint

Terrible day at work plus problems with the Garmin plus crunched for time for a birthday dinner out plus chain not reaching second chainring equals MAD Italian. This was a sprint time trial, I like to call it. Transitions across roadcrossings are still very gravelly, so had to slow down at each crossing. Whipped off 10 miles in just over 32 minutes. Avg speed was 19. Later this summer, I want my "regular" average to be 20. I'll use these short sprints as fitness markers toward that goal. Heartrate between 165 and 170 for almost the entire time. Painful, but very good. Oh, and I fixed the calorie burn calculator in the Garmin. Just had to re-pair the sensor to the base. 100%.

Rush Ride

I was rushed this morning to find time to ride. Last night the route I planned was over 30 miles, I knew this morning due to the weather forecast I was not going to have time to ride and still make it to church in time. So I ad-libbed the route. Was decent out. No wind. Which made it seem like more than just 32 degrees. I could have swore it was more like 40. Today was also one of those days I did not even feel like riding, so it was a long haul. Best part about the ride was about 17 miles in I got onto a newly paved section of Northland Drive. Man...it was like riding on air. Not a vibration or noise to be felt or heard. I could ride for days on road like that. Glad I got out to get some miles in, maybe next time I'll push myself harder and will be in the right frame of mind. Still cannot get the calorie burn numbers to show right on the Garmin. Off to the forums, to troubleshoot I guess.

Race Against the Rain

My first ride from work to home. It was a race against the impending rain storm. How could I NOT get on the road bike when the temp was 64!? Ride was decent, quite a bit of headwind, of course. I felt like I spent all my reserves by mile 12, seemed like I was going so slow at that point. Real tired. Kept pushing. I guess I was just too excited to get off to a giant start. Looked up the last time I rode this route...Aug 21 of last year. Time 1:20:13. Beat it by about :45 and to top it off, I was not happy with the traffic and selection of stop lights I had to deal with today. Stop signs suck. I also should have not rode the section of trail that was not plowed over the winter (last 3 miles). It was thawed out pretty much, some spots still slicked up with slush, but snowmobiles have thrown gravel (BIG gravel) all over the place - had to ride cautiously so I didn't wipe out, catch a stick in the spokes or get a flat. I sent rocks flying off into the nearby woods, I could hear them, tire puncture threatening. Happily it did not happen. I flew through all of the last 5 or so stop signs in town to make sure I beat my time. Willing to scare any motorist that was driving the crossroads. Luckily I never saw a soul at the crossings. With all the disappointing starting/stopping and cautious riding I had to do, it's awesome to think in March, friggin' March, I'm riding at August level from last year. Killed it.

Animal Style

My goal today (Sunday afternoon) was to go for a "leisurely" 10-12 mile ride while the sun was (almost) out and roads were dry. Decided to try the heart rate monitor this time also. Upon hitting the roads with the mountain bike, things were road-bike quick right to start. After only about 5 miles in, I began to start looking for dirt roads (which were frozen/soft with ice melt sludge on top). It was fun. Mud slurp-age everywhere. I'm not sure if it was the time of day, or what I ate for breakfast/lunch, but I was a machine that couldn't be stopped. I think on a few occasions, I actually sped up to climb hills instead of slow down. I was focused and in the zone. Before I knew it, I had whipped down a nice 17 miles and felt great! Only reason I stopped back home is because of my lack of imagination on where to go to next. Already hoping for a dry/rain-free Thursday evening so I can venture home from work. My first commuter ride - nice now that the time has changed and I can get home before darkness sets in. PS - I love how my route below looks like a tired wang. PSS - check the calorie burn count...a cool 83 calories. Garmin must have thought I was burning Dilithium Crystals as fuel.

Run update.

I successfully made it to 3.5 miles today without taking a break. The hip felt better than usual. Cardio is tip top. Ran it in 36 minutes - just over 10 minute miles. I want to run the 10K in May in less than 60 minutes. So by then I should be up to the right pace and mileage to meet my goal. Ran next to George Costanza today...he smelled like a bowl of a$$holes. Had to turn on the fan to the dreadmill to get some fresh air in my face. Wanted to trow up.