my rides
Ride 12 - Earth, WIND, and Fire
I had good intentions for a longer ride today but my good intentions quickly changed to just making it through a normal weekday ride. Starting out it was overcast and looked like it might rain. The wind seemed to be blowing a little but nothing too bad. With a high of 94 predicted for today it was also starting to warm up. I met my brother-in-law over at his neighborhood and we started out.
The first leg was ok with us moving pretty good. Traffic was a little heavy but not too bad. We actually saw a couple of bikers headed the other way. As we made our first turn we were hit square in the face by a stiff wind. The wind started to pickup and we were struggling to maintain any kind of speed. The clouds to the west were starting to look a little more threatening. At this point we decided cut the ride short and head back after just doing the normal weekday ride route. So, that’s what we did.
Am I disappointed? Sure. I wanted a longer ride today. I had planned on riding over to the University of North Florida, making the loop around the college, and then heading back home. Should have been in the neighborhood of 20-25 miles. To make matters worse we were passed by a guy on a bike easily 25 years my elder. He was riding a real road bike and we weren’t pushing it at all so I don’t feel too bad about it. Maybe it made the other guy feel good to pass us young whipper snappers. If so, it was worth it.
Here are today’s numbers: 11.54 miles, 53:59, 16.3 mph max, and 12.8 mph avg
Tags: Discussion
9 comments for “Ride 12 - Earth, WIND, and Fire”
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I wouldn’t get too disappointed as you still got out there. Unfortunately it is not that easy to always go faster & longer - there are times when it actually pays to take it easy.
@ThePig: You’re absolutely right. Thanks for the comment.
Bryan,
Do you have a heart rate monitor? The reason I ask is that you can have a day riding 10miles at 11mph which is more taxing than a day riding the same route of 10 miles at 13mph. Wind, rest, diet, heat, cold, stress and other factors determine your true effort. The best way to understand this is if you have a power-meter. However, they are several hundred dollars. A heart rate monitor is the next best option. I find it to be extremely valuable in determining my approximate effort. When I’m working harder, but getting slower, it reminds me that I need to take it easy for a few days.
Dave
[…] decided to write this after reading a post called ‘Earth, WIND & Fire’ over over on Biking to Live. This a new blog, written by Bryan, and is about his journey of […]
@Daveydave: No, I don’t have a heart rate monitor. I’ve often wondered if I should get one because I really have no way of knowing exactly how I’m doing except by “how I feel.” The “how I feel” method isn’t very scientific or exact. When I rode the Jax-Baldwin trail a couple of weeks ago with Jaxgtr he had one that was integrated with his cycle computer. Do you have a recommendation for a heart rate monitor/computer?
Bryan, I’ve had a couple and since I am a data junkie, I went with the Garmin 305. Gives me a lot of info that I can download into my PC and over analyze as I am so apt to do. I can also highly recommend the Polar CS200, I owned this before the Garmin. A great unit, but no real download capabilities, but it captures some good info if you want to hand load.
I would recommend a HR sometime down the road as it will help you stay in the fat burning zone of 50-70% max HR.
@Jaxgtr: Brian, I haven’t seen you in a while. Was wondering if I scared you off! I’ll look into the ones you recommend. I’m not sure I’m ready to spring for one yet or not. I think I have lots of weight to lose before I need to worry about it. If I’m wrong, please let me know. Good to see you.
Oh and by the way, congrats on the ride Saturday. I really wanted to go, but after 5 miles in that crap, I turned around and called it a day. Sunday, I rolled over, looked out the shutters and went back to sleep. Just not a good weekend to ride.
Yea, I have been reading sparingly. Large programming project due and needed to finish, so my blog reading and BikeForums time cut back, not to mention riding time. 5 miles for the week.
The HR Monitors are good to have now that summer is moving in. When the heat really moves in, it helps monitor how hard your working. I try and make sure I keep mine below 170 as my max is 178. I can feel it when I go beyond 180 sometimes, but other times I don’t so it’s always good to have something to check it. There are a few less expensive units, $30~, that you can have a watch type read outs that are nice, but Polar seems to be the standard by which HR units are made, so I would stick with them for those.
@Jaxgtr: Understand being busy. I missed my ride on Monday too because of the wind. Hitting the saddle tomorrow morning though. I’ll look into a polar HR monitor. Thanks.