Monday: a new routine

Today was the first day of my new routine (for the next few [up to 4] weeks). Gone are the days of 4:41 AM wake up alarms; now it's a much kinder 5:30 AM. No more riding my trainer, but I'm out on the road-free and unhindered. But, if the weather turns unsafe, then I'll have to revert back on a daily basis as-needed.

Exercise: even though it was a blustery day, it was still nice to ride outside. The winds were 20+ mph from the NNW-NW and my route is mostly South on the way out and North on the way back. So the out leg had mid 20's - low 30's (mph) and the return leg had 6 - 20's: the return leg was tough. The avg for the two and a half hour ride was 16 mph: 40.4 miles. At times the test saddle was comfortable and at others I just couldn't get comfortable. So, I'm going to ride it one more time tomorrow and then return it.

The forecast is for lighter winds and if that is true, then I'll not cut my route short as I did today and am hoping to get in closer to 50 miles tomorrow. But it will depend on the weather, how I feel and a few other variables. My Garmin 305 batteries died mid ride so I don't have any HR info.

Nutrition: a good start in the AM with a power bar and the smoothie I made last night. Then around 10 AM I ate a grapefruit. I had a different type of power bar on my ride starting at a little over an hour and then more at 2 hrs. Dinner was good too. The questionable foods were the last of the Sherbet (with the kids) and a cookie and a half (cooked this time). Oh yeah, also a piece and a half of See's. (Soon it will be gone and I wont be tempted...I have to fight this battle in the store and not bring food home.)

Misc: while on my ride today I saw two B-1 bombers flying together. They made about 4 passes through the area that I was in. Not sure what they were doing (sometimes they make simulated bombing runs I've been told), but it was quite impressive to see and hear them at close range. The first time they flew over I pulled over and stopped so I could look at them. [attached is a photo from Wikipedia and a free site. If I had my camera I would have a 'better' photo. :-) ]