Ride 15 – Week 5 Begins | Biking To Live

Last night I had to go to bed early. As I mentioned in my summary yesterday, I just felt depleted all day long. I didn’t feel 100% when I got up this morning, and even hit the snooze once, before rolling myself out of bed.

Once outside everything seemed ok. I gave the weather a check by walking out of the garage and I started to have second thoughts. The temp was great but there were some dark clouds being blown from West to East by a STIFF wind. On the surface, though, I couldn’t detect any wind at all. I said, “So what” and proceeded to grab my bike. After only getting two days of riding in last week I wasn’t about to forfeit another ride unless the weather was abysmal.

Once I started everything seemed to go pretty good. The air had a slight chill to it but it wasn’t bad. Traffic seemed a little light, which was nice, and I saw several runners this morning. It’s always good to see other folks out. I didn’t see any cyclists though. I must have been the only with the guts to get up on a Monday morning at 5:00 am to ride.

After feeling not-so-good yesterday I made a conscious decision to not push it too hard this morning. I cruised most of the circuit right around 13 mph. I encountered a little wind on the second half that was coming out of the South but it wasn’t bad. Certainly not bad enough to affect my riding.

Once I turned onto the last straightaway towards home I shifted to the big gear and pushed it the rest of the way in. I didn’t hammer it but I did work up a sweat.

I’m waiting on my youngest daughter to finish up ballet practice so I’m sitting at Panera Bread (sipping a wonderful Hazelnut coffee) typing this post so I don’t have my numbers with me. I’ll post them later when I get home.

The numbers for today’s ride are: 11.52 miles, 52:26, 16.1 mph max, and 13.1 mph avg

jaxgtr

Well, I was with you this morning. I decided to ride in the morning versus at night to see if I am more consistent due to work and family this year. I know now why I don’t ride in dark early morning……., you have to get out of bed and go exercise. . I did 17 miles into that wind, and I must have been a little jittery with not knowing what the traffic would be like in the business parks during the week day mornings cause my avg speed even with the wind was 16.8. I left at 5:30, but think I will feel more comfy leaving my 5 am, so will see how that goes in the morning. My legs were still a little sore from Saturdays windy ride as well. So it might just be a trainer day.
Bryan

@Jaxgtr: Congrats on getting up and trying the morning. I think you’ll find that 5:00 am is a little better on the traffic. 16.8 into the wind? Nice job!
http://www.cyclepig.com thePig

Have been feeling a little depleted myself of late. It is sometimes a difficult call, do you keep pushing or do you take it easy.

What I do know is that every ride I miss is more pain I am going to suffer in the moutains on my upcoming tour
Bryan

@thePig: It is a difficult call. If I don’t ride I’ll feel guilty though.