Tuesday: Hilly Fast Group ride

Today's exercise was the riding with the group that I rode with last Tuesday - the fast hilly one...

[PHOTOS: I carried my camera, but these Tuesday rides are no-stop rides, so taking photos is dangerous. Today I started 8 rows back (that's number 16) of a group that was 10 rows deep and 2 people wide - not a small group.]

The numbers are going to be a little thin for a while as my Garmin and Polar HRM's are on the blink right now. The Garmin has failed and I'm trying to get Garmin to offer more customer support and product support, but I haven't heard back yet and it's been over 24 hours. Not sure what to expect, but as time passes I'm guessing they've already given me their response. But - I'm still a little hopeful. The Polar device I'm thinking is in need of a battery as the HR info is 50+ beats high at times (I don't get into the 240's!).

The total distance for today's ride was 48.5 miles - thanks to my 'very well supported Cat Eye Double Wireless'. The time was 2:36 which includes about 7 miles for a warm up and 7 miles for a cool down. The other 34 miles was moving along with an avg speed of around 20 including the two trips up TX Plume and then out, back and out again on Valley View and ending with down TX Plume and back to the lake. It was a good hard ride. I've not ridden Valley View before - but think I will include it in my rides now that I know it is there. It's a good training road with steady climbs, some good short steep climbs and some down hills too - a good place to do LT (lactate threshold) training. It was a good hard workout and if I had my HRM working I'm sure I would have seen some zone 5 HR training going on...! :-)

I was getting spent on the way back so it was nice to hook up with one of the other riders, Rick, and ride back together: with him pulling me in much of the way. He was a nice guy and pushed my riding - which seems to be what I need these days. The TT over the dam was at just over 30 before I had to back off and Rick out of the saddle sprinted past...

Nutrition wise things are going normally. I have pretty good habits that I follow and a few bad ones that I try to limit: today it was dark Giradeli chocolate. And a quick little date with my wife to Starbucks where she got a drink and I got a kids hot chocolate. Ahhh ... quite one on one time. And ended with a trip by Home Depot 2 minutes before they closed for a dryer cord and vent.

Life continues to be full - I didn't even mention the time with my Grandma and her living situation and the many other things going on. But, I still can see and hear God in all the busyness and stress - so that makes it all bearable. As I type this out late, tired and looking forward to a good nights sleep. My dog is snoring by the door ... me too, soon ... :-)