Today was the "Beauty and the Beast" ride. Some friends were doing the ride and I would have liked to, but just wasn't able to. But, I was able to get out today for a 3 and 1/2 hour ride, 60.5 miles before the wind and fatigue said it was time to stop.
The ride had a bit of a late start (10 AM), but I was home by 2 PM (30 minutes of seat adjustments, eating, refilling water bottles, resting). There was a little bit of wind, but not to bad for the first couple hours. But the last bit of the ride was into the wind and up some hills. One of my favorite parts of today's ride was going over the lake, on the bridge. I had a little tail wind and the bridge starts after a short downhill. So I entered the bridge at around 26 mph with a cadence of 104 and exited the bridge at 31 turning 112. I enjoy riding at higher speeds (25+), and that portion over the bridge is one that I like to push myself on. My Garmin showed a calorie expenditure of 4447 calories for the ride. I think it's a little high, but 4000 would be believable. My HR had a max of 177 and 143 for the average. (Much higher than when I ride on the trainer.)
It was nice to be out riding again. I was a little queasy when I got home--I think this is due to the ride being challenging. I'm not where I was hoping I'd be with only 7 weeks until the 6 day ride, but it's where I'm at. I need to train with purpose and not just put in valueless time on the trainer--that time needs to count. I also need to get a replacement saddle soon, so I can work out the positioning. Tomorrow is a rest day. I'm looking forward to it.
(Photo is of my temporary saddle--off of my MTB, $20 value at Walmart; not bad on the MTB, looking forward to something better on my road bike.)
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