a successful training day

I was looking forward to doing a good training ride today. The weather was supposed to be warmish, sunny and relatively calm, for a change.

When I got up, it was indeed warmish, almost 60 and sunny, but the wind was up in the 15-20 mph range. I had a serious think about whether or not I felt motivated enough to do a longish ride in the wind and decided on a compromise. I would go to the gym and do some miles on the stationary and recumbant bikes for a heavy cardio day instead.

Three hours and 45 miles later I headed for home. The winds seemed to have calmed down to a mild 5 mph or so. Lulled by post exercise endorphins, and optomism , I mounted up on my bike and headed out. By the time I got 5 miles or so out, I noticed that the wind had strengthened and shifted so that it was in my face. I decided to tough it out and complete the ride.

I finished the ride in an hour and a half with an average of 16 mph, mostly thanks to the nasty headwind turning into a nice tail wind on the way home .

It may not seem like much, but the total was 4 hours of pretty continuous bike activity at an average of 15 mph. It's a leg up on my 4 month goal of being able to do 6 hours continuous TITS (time in the saddle) at 15 mph several days in a row.

Since I am planning to do a long ride for charity in May, if I can reach my 4 month goal without being totally devestated, it will mean that I should be able to handle the tougher century days of the 1850 mile ride without ending up totally wiped out for the rest of the ride.

Tonight I am weary but not wiped, and my virtual laurel wreath of self congratulation sites easily on my brow.