Biking To Live » White Rock Lake http://bikingtolive.com Cycling for Weight Loss, Fitness, and a Healthy Heart Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:08:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Five Ways to Measure Cycling Success http://bikingtolive.com/five-ways-to-measure-cycling-success/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=five-ways-to-measure-cycling-success http://bikingtolive.com/five-ways-to-measure-cycling-success/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:20:55 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1735 As we ride our bicycles we need to know how we’re doing, if we’re getting better, and if we’re on track to meet goals we’ve set for ourselves. The way to do that is to take measurements to see if we’re on track to success.

Five Ways to Measure Cycling Success

  1. Keep a log. This can be as elaborate or simple as you want it. It can also be free or available for a price. I’ve used both Excel and online tools and it’s a matter of personal preference and requirements as to which method you choose.
  2. Use a cyclocomputer. You don’t need anything fancy but if you’re a numbers nut there’s high-tech computers available. Some of the nice cyclocomputers have options to download data into logs for convenience. Bike Noob recently wrote a good article on What’s the Best Cyclocomputer?
  3. Note how your clothes are fitting. I found out last year that one of my best indicators that I was making progress was how my clothes were fitting. Because I was riding so much, and building some muscle, I wasn’t losing a ton of weight but my clothes were fitting so much better. I was even able to get into clothes I previously couldn’t wear.
  4. Listen to people. Are co-workers asking if you’ve lost weight? Is your family asking if you’re still riding all those miles? If people are taking an interest then they’re more than likely noting change. It also means they care.
  5. Listen to your body. I think this is huge. Only you know your body and only you can tell how you’re feeling. I can notice significant changes in how I feel when I haven’t been riding.

    6. What I Noticed Last Year

    While training for my first century ride last year, I spent a lot of time riding a bike trail here in Dallas that loops around White Rock Lake. It’s right at nine miles per loop. When I first started training it took me around 45 minutes to make the loop. As I neared the end of my training program, and on days when the riding effort was required to be hard, I was able to cut ten full minutes off that time. That was a huge number to me and was a great measurement of the success I was seeing in my training.

    How Do You Measure Success?

    Now I want to hear from you. How do you measure your success on the bike? What worked and what didn’t?

    Image courtesy of orcmid

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    ]]> http://bikingtolive.com/five-ways-to-measure-cycling-success/feed/ 9 Century Training Series: Days 44, 45 and 46 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-44-45-and-46/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-days-44-45-and-46 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-44-45-and-46/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:08:50 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1453 Day 44 – 4×6 Intervals at RPE9

    All my interval sessions up to this point had been 4×8 (four intervals at 8 minute duration) so I was looking forward to something new and to see just how hard I could push for 6 minutes. It was hot when I started the ride with a stiff wind out of the Northeast which made the second and fourth intervals particularly difficult.

    After my warm up I waited until I had a slight downhill section to start the first interval. I shifted up a couple of gears and quickly got up to 21 mph. My speed varied between 18.5 to 21 mph during the six minutes and it actually felt pretty good. I wasn’t all out but probably couldn’t have given it much more. After the interval I had to slow it way down to recover. This was repeated for the other three intervals but the two into the wind were very tough and my speed did suffer some in areas where I had a direct head wind. The last interval was particularly hard because it was the last of the day and was into the wind. I think I gutted it out pretty good though and gave it a good effort.

    Even though these intervals were 2 minutes less than my normal intervals they were very hard due to the effort expended. I wasn’t all out but almost. Here are the days numbers:

    Time (h:m): 1:13
    Distance: 18.62 miles
    Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

    Day 45 – 1 Hour Endurance Pace Recovery

    I was really feeling the hard interval workout from the day before. My legs were heavy, I was tired, and not keen on riding but knew I needed the recovery ride to work out the kinks in my legs. Even though it was only an hour in length it felt much longer and tougher. The wind was absolutely brutal today blowing at a stiff 20 mph out of the South. Instead of resetting my computer at the end of my warm up I just rode for an hour. My average speed really suffered because of that but I still got in a decent ride.

    It was Wednesday which saw, again, lots of cyclists down at White Rock Lake. I think I’m going to have to start calling it ‘Bling Day’ because this is the day you see all the serious riders show up with full team kits, carbon wheels, TT bikes, Colnagos, Pinarellos, etc. I wonder what the total cost of hardware rolling around the lake on a day like this is?

    Here’s the day’s numbers:

    Time (h:m): 0:57
    Distance: 13.6 miles
    Avg Speed: 14.32 mph

    Day 46 – 4×8 Intervals

    Another interval day but back to the 8 minute variety with a little less exertion. It was a hot day but, amazingly, no wind. Wooohooo! Don’t get those very often. White Rock Lake was almost like glass. I did my warm up and rolled straight into my first interval.

    I think doing the 1 hour recovery ride yesterday really helped because my body actually felt quite good and I had no heaviness in my legs at all. I had actually noticed that when I got out of bed in the morning. I found myself rolling along at 19 mph for the first interval with no problem and maintained that for most of the interval. The same was repeated for the other intervals with me able to sprint over the small hills in intervals two and four at over 17 mph and quickly accelerating back up to 18.5 to 19 mph. On the fourth interval I pushed it pretty hard for the last 3 minutes or so and it felt great. Once done with the last interval I decided to go ahead and start my cool down and roll back to my car due to it starting to get a little dark. I need to remember to bring my lights next time.

    Here are the numbers for today’s ride:

    Time (h:m): 1:00
    Distance: 16.2 miles
    Avg Speed: 16.2 mph

    I have a rest day today followed by a four hour endurance ride on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will be nice.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-44-45-and-46/feed/ 4     Century Training Series: Days 33, 34, 35 & 36 (Week 5 Re-Cap) http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-33-34-35-36-week-5-re-cap/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-days-33-34-35-36-week-5-re-cap http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-33-34-35-36-week-5-re-cap/#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:24:59 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1309 Day 33 – Rest Day

    Not much to be said about that. I considered riding anyway because I had missed a day earlier in the week due to rain but decided against it so I didn’t compromise my Saturday morning ride.

    Day 34 – 3 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

    I woke up a little before 7 AM and headed on down to White Rock Lake to get this ride in. The morning was just beautiful and the temp was still in the lower 80s when I started. There were a lot of folks out this morning doing their riding, running, rollerblading and walking. There even looked to be some kind of running race going on but I missed most of it because it looked like it had started early.

    This ride was fairly simple – ride at endurance pace (15 mph) for 3 hours. I’d done this same length of ride just a couple of weeks earlier so I knew I could do it. After a 15 minute warm up I settled into a good rhythm and went to it. Everything went really good but after about an hour the wind started to pick up from the South and that made my Southbound leg around the lake a little difficult on some of the exposed points. I was really happy with the way I attacked the three or four hills that I see in each loop. I did notice that after several laps I couldn’t maintain the same speed I did initially but I can tell I’m getting better at riding them. I brought a cliff bar with me this time and had it at the 1.5 hour point. Immediately after that I rode pretty good (could have been psychological) but the 2 hour to 2.5 hour time frame was pretty hard.

    After I was done I felt really good about the ride and am happy with the numbers. While I didn’t ride 50 miles during my timed endurance portion, if I was to add on my warm up I would be over the half-century mark. Here are the numbers:

    Total Time (h:m): 3:10
    Total Distance: 48.4 miles
    Avg Speed: 15.28 mph

    Day 35 – 1.5 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

    This is the same ride as Day 34 but for only half the time. Instead of waiting until the evening to ride I decided to ride early and am glad I did because it got HOT later in the day. One bad thing about the ride though was that the wind was brutal. Straight out of the South but blowing hard. It made it quite difficult on portions of the loop but I just grinded it out. Saw lots of riders again this morning. Here are the numbers:

    Total Time (h:m): 1:30
    Total Distance: 23 miles
    Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

    Day 36 – Rest Day (Week 5 Re-Cap)

    Today is Monday and the standard rest day. The Century Training Plan I’m following also has tomorrow as a rest day so I should be well-rested for Wednesday’s ride. I know I need the rest but I don’t feel like I need two days off.

    The mileage numbers and measurements for this week are below. I’m about 23 miles short of what I should have been for the weekly mileage due to a rain day but I’m still happy with the numbers. My measurements seem to be fluctuating a bit and frustrate me. I really thought I’d start seeing change changes in my girth by this point but I haven’t seen anything significant. It seems like I’m holding within a half inch on all measurements with some up and some down. The next several weeks should tell me a lot though because my Saturday rides will see me really raising the bar on the mileage with this Saturday calling for a 4 hour ride. I’d like to find someplace other than White Rock Lake to do it so if any of you readers are in Dallas and can suggest a safe, low traffic route I’d like to hear about it.

    Here are this weeks mileage numbers:

    Total Time: (h:m): 5:59
    Total Distance: 91.3
    Avg Speed: 15.2 mph
    Total Training Mileage (since 4-Jul-09): 509.87

    Measurements changes since last week:

    Neck: +.5 in
    Chest: -.5 in
    Left Bicep: -.25 in
    Right Bicep: +.25 in
    Waist: +.5 in
    Left Thigh: -.5 in
    Right Thigh: -1 in
    Left Calf: -1 in
    Right Calf: 0

    New Gloves

    After finishing my ride on Sunday morning (Day 35) my gloves finally gave up the ghost with one of the seams giving way. The seam had actually given away a while ago but it finally came all the way loose today. I can’t argue with how they’ve performed because they were a cheap pair of Nashbar gloves that have probably seen well over 1000 miles of riding. They needed replacement a long time ago but I try to make stuff last as long as possible (maybe I’m just cheap). I ended up going to the local Performance Store and they had several gloves on sale. I opted for the Performance Century Gel Glove which cost me $12.99. I know they aren’t a name-brand glove but compared to some of the name-brands that were on sale the Century Gel seemed to fit better and had better padding. We’ll see how they go and I’ll probably do a long-term review to let you know how they work out.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-33-34-35-36-week-5-re-cap/feed/ 9     Century Training Series: Day 18 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-18/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-day-18 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-18/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:03:24 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1119 For some reason I was thinking all day that today was just a one hour endurance ride but upon checking the century training plan in the June 2009 issue of Bicycling, I found out it was 1.5 hours. No big deal.

    The weather was near perfect again with cloudy skies, temps in the low 90s and just a touch of sprinkles a few times. It didn’t even sprinkle enough to get the roads wet. I think the threat of rain kept most of the other cyclists at home because there weren’t many down at White Rock Lake today.

    As always I started with my 15 minute warm up and reset my computer when I was done with it so I could keep track of my 1.5 hours. My legs felt tired today so I didn’t try to push it and stayed close to my endurance pace of 15 mph. I stayed in the small chain ring the entire time in order to concentrate on my cadence as well. During my warm up I did a quick calculation of my cadence by counting the number of revolutions in 15 seconds and multiplying by four. It turned out to be 92 which is right in the window you want to be in so I was happy with that.

    The ride itself was pretty uneventful. I was worried about the rain at one point because I could see some major rain off to the west but it never made it to White Rock Lake. I noticed again today an inordinate number of riders with clip-on aero bars. Not sure what I’m missing with that.

    Here are the numbers for today:

    Total Time (h:m): 1:30
    Total Distance: 23.05 miles
    Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-18/feed/ 6     Century Training Series: Day 17 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-17/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-day-17 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-17/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:25:41 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1114 Day 17 brings me to Tuesday’s ride of Week 1 of the Bicycling Century Training Plan which is a 1.5 hour overall endurance ride with 4×8 intervals. The weather was near perfect today with a temperature of 90F, partly cloudy and only a slight wind.

    I did a 15 minute warm up and decided I would do this entire ride in the small chain ring to see how it felt vice doing it in the big ring. At the end of the warm up I reset my computer and started on the first eight minute interval.

    This first interval was setup so it was on a relatively flat section of the White Rock Lake loop. I was moving along really good at a speed of 18-20 mph with no problems. After eight minutes I backed off the speed and took it easy for eight minutes to recover. The second interval contained some hills and was into a slight headwind that made it a little more difficult but was still able to maintain 17+ mph. The remaining two intervals were done in almost the same spots as the first two which was nice for consistency.

    After finishing the second interval I still had almost half an hour to ride at endurance pace so I started another loop of the lake and turned around after 15 minutes and then continued onto my car for a cool down.

    Overall I felt pretty good during the entire ride and was able to push it pretty hard during the intervals. I think riding in the smaller chain ring was easier on me and I may need to make that standard right now. There were quite a few riders out today with lots, lots and lots of people riding their time trial and aero setups. There must have been some kind of sale on time trial bikes, aero wheels and profile bars I wasn’t aware of.

    Here are the numbers:

    Total Time (h:m): 1:30
    Distance: 24.17 miles
    Avg Speed: 16 mph (interval speed was 17-20 mph with recovery at 13-15 mph)

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-17/feed/ 3     Century Training Series: Day 16 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-16/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-day-16 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-16/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:45:07 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1110 Ok, now that I’ve gotten the first two weeks under my belt I’m re-starting at week 1 of the 10 week Century Training Plan. Yesterday was a rest day and today called for a one hour endurance pace ride. The pace I’ve set for myself for my century is 15 mph.

    I arrived at the tennis center off of Fair Oaks Avenue at about 6:15 and put my bike together. The weather was actually very nice. Not too hot, a few clouds and a little breeze. A great day to ride. After getting everything ready I headed on out to do my 15 minute warm up.

    Once the warm up was complete I was cruising along at 15 mph in the big ring and rest my computer so I could get a good, accurate, reading on my one hour endurance ride. After about 10 minutes I noticed that I was cruising along at 16.5 mph with no problem. I backed off some but noticed again a few minutes later that I was back up over 16 mph. At that point I decided not to fight it and just fell into a comfortable rhythm.

    There are four hills around the White Rock Lake loop that I ride that vary from long and steady to short and steep. I attacked each one riding as hard as I could and keeping my pace above 15, sometimes 17 mph. The short steep hill I was unable to maintain the high pace but pushed up it as hard as I could. I would continue this pace for just about two full laps of White Rock Lake. Once the hour was up I backed way down on the pace and did some easy spinning on the way back to my car. I pulled my computer off the bike and put in my jersey pocket so as to preserve my one hour data. Here are the numbers:

    Total Time (h:m): 1:00
    Total Distance: 16.83 miles
    Avg Speed: 16.7 mph (yeah!)

    When I first started riding the loop down at White Rock Lake several months ago it would take me anywhere from 40-45 minutes to complete a loop. Today I completed my first loop in 33 minutes. Amazing.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-16/feed/ 7     Century Training Series: Day 11 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-11/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-day-11 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-11/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:32:38 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1082 Yesterday was Day 11 of my Century Training Plan and consisted of the same workout as Day 10 which was 1.5 hours overall endurance with 4×8 intervals stuck in there. I was looking forward to trying the intervals again since Day 10s intervals were interrupted with road side assistance. I was thrilled to find no flat when I opened my trunk. I did patch the tube I took from Fernando after I helped him so I would have a spare. I still need to pick up some more CO2 when I get a chance.

    Since I wasn’t starting until 6:30 PM I shortened my warm up to 15 minutes and then rolled right into the first eight minute interval. I started it on what I consider one of the toughest portions of the White Rock Lake loop which probably wasn’t a smart idea and probably should have waited a few minutes until I was passed it. Why this one section is tough on me I’m not sure. It is slightly uphill but I think it may be steeper/longer than it looks. I pushed through it and finished the first interval but a little slower than I wanted.

    Eight minutes of spinning at a lower speed followed with another eight minute interval on its heals. I repeated this cycle until I had completed four eight minute (4×8) intervals. For the third and fourth intervals I actually picked my speed up quite a bit because I felt like I could. I didn’t have any problems maintaining 18-19.5 mph on those intervals. It wasn’t easy though. By the fourth interval I was really feeling it in my legs and felt it all over this morning. I’m guessing that means I’ve pushed myself a little further than normal which is a good thing.

    Here are the numbers (these are very close estimates since I dropped my computer and dislodged the battery thus wiping out all my data…bummer):

    Total Distance: 27 miles
    Total Time: 1h:50m (15 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down)
    Avg MPH: 14.7 Total (13.7 for 15 minute warm up and 15.7 for 1.5 hour intervals/endurance/cool down)

    Overall I’d say that’s a good ride for me.

    I won’t be able to ride the 30 minute recovery ride scheduled for today due to traveling out of town but I do have a 3 hour endurance ride scheduled for Saturday and a 1.5 hour ride on Sunday. My next post will probably be on Sunday since I’ll be without Internet access.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-11/feed/ 4     Century Training Series: Day 7 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-7/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-day-7 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-7/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:03:51 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1036 Today marks the end of my first week of training for my first century and I’m glad tomorrow is a rest day. I’ve ridden more miles this week than I have in over 15 years (I’ll post my week 1 mileage tomorrow).

    Today was a 1.5 hour endurance pace ride and I waited until this evening to do it because tomorrow is a rest day. I arrived at White Rock Lake at about 6 PM but ended up having to fix a flat on my front wheel before I could even start. Very frustrating. The tube was one that I had patched before so I should have expected it. I put in my last new tube which means I need to hit the bike shop tomorrow to pick up a couple. Another good reason it’s a rest day tomorrow.

    By the time I got rolling, after having problems with my pump, I wasn’t in the best of moods and in the interest of time shortened my warm up to 15 minutes vice the normal 30. After the warm up I picked it up to 15 mph and did my best to hold it steady. After 30 minutes I didn’t feel too good and thought it could be contributed to either not hydrating enough, the bad start or the shortened warm up.

    I eventually settled down and kept the pace up for the next 30 minutes until I stopped to refill my water bottle. It was a short stop but I think I may have drank too much water too fast because for the next 10 minutes or so I felt like throwing up. I never did and I eventually felt better.

    One hour into the endurace part of the ride I completed my second loop of White Rock Lake and had planned on just riding another 15 minutes and then turning around to ride back to my car to complete the 1.5 hours at endurance pace. The only problem was that I wouldn’t get a cool down in. After 15 minutes I was actually feeling good and decided to go ahead and continue on around the lake to make it three loops.

    The final 15 minutes of the endurance part of the ride saw me picking up the pace. I was probably cruising along at 17 mph or so and I hear that familiar hum of aero wheels approaching from behind. A guy literally blows by me like I’m standing still. I’m not kidding. It was like he had a rocket tied to his back. I’d seen him riding before, on the same bike, but never at that speed. I was totally envious.

    With the 1.5 endurance ride complete I took a nice slow pace back to my car to cool down. After the rough start it ended up being a great final ride to my first week of training. Here are the numbers:

    Total Ride Time: 1:51:13 (including 15 min warm up and 6 min cool down)
    Total Distance: 27.5 miles
    Avg MPH: 14.8

    I’m sure you’ve all seen the Rock Racing kits and the out of this world prices they want for them. I actually think the designs are pretty cool even though I don’t necessarily care for the team or their prices. I’ve seen one person actually wearing one of their jerseys but today there was a guy wearing a full Rock Racing team kit. My guess is that he paid more for that kit than I paid for my bike 15 years ago.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-day-7/feed/ 0     Century Training Series: Days 5 & 6 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-5-6/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-days-5-6 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-5-6/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:00:13 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1021 Day 45

    Nothing special on Day 4. Was supposed to be a 30 minute recovery ride but I wound up having to skip it.

    Day 56

    This is the first Saturday of the Century Training Plan. Saturday’s will traditionally be the long endurance rides and with this being the first Saturday it was 2 hours in length but will increase over the next 12 weeks peaking at 5 hours.

    I arrived at the White Rock Trail in enough time to start by 8:30 with plans to be finished by 11 but a phone call delayed me from starting until 9. That would translate to some hurting in the heat near the end of the ride.

    Starting out slowly I did my warm up for 30 minutes or six miles. I began in the small chain ring and slowly increased my speed and shifted into the big chain ring over the next 30 minutes. After the warm up was complete I was riding along at 15 mph which is my planned endurance pace for my century. Now I would try to hold that for 2 hours.

    After 30 minutes I didn’t feel too good and felt like I was struggling. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with having nothing for breakfast (besides six fig newtons) which was a big tactical error. At this point I was wondering how I was going to ride another 1.5 hours. I just tried to settle down and keep going. Before long I had reached the one hour point but it was starting to get hot. Real hot.

    Between the 1:40 and 1:50 ride time points I struggled very hard to maintain 15 mph and couldn’t. It was getting very, very hot and the wind had picked up some from the South and had really wiped me out over the past half hour. After 1:50 total ride time I started to feel a little better after taking it easy and picked my speed back up which I maintained back to my car. I actually made it back to my car a little early and was only at endurance pace for one hour and 45 minutes. I’ll take it though because it was scorching at this point.

    Here are the numbers:

    Total Ride Time: 2:13:07 (including 30 minute warm up)
    Total Distance: 32.62
    Avg Speed: 14.7 mph

    Overall this was a tough ride for me because I didn’t eat beforehand, which was stupid, and the heat. I can’t make that mistake again. Lots of cyclists out at White Rock Lake this morning too.

    Later this evening I’ve got a 1.5 hour endurance ride before a rest day tomorrow. The mileage for the week is piling up.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-5-6/feed/ 0     Century Training Series: Days 3 and 4 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-3-and-4/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=century-training-series-days-3-and-4 http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-3-and-4/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:16:53 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=1007 Day 3

    I was all set to ride my first interval day of the century training plan but mother nature decided not to cooperate. As I was getting off the train from work it was just starting to sprinkle and by the time I got home (a 5 minute drive) it was a downpour of biblical proportions. Tons of rain and it was headed straight for White Rock Lake. I decided then that riding was going to be a washout.

    Day 4

    Today saw better weather but it was hotter. The temp at 6:30 PM was in the high 90s and the heat index was probably over 100F. It was windy too with it blowing 10-20 mph out of the South which gave me a headwind for half of the 25 miles I rode.

    Today’s scheduled ride was a 1.5 hour endurance pace ride which, for me, means 1.5 hours while maintaining 15 mph. Because of the 1.5 hour ride I opted to only do a 15 minute warm up which put me in the saddle for 1 hour 45 minutes. I felt OK but the wind was brutal in spots and made it hard to maintain 15 mph with the headwind. There was one uphill spot where I couldn’t maintain 15 mph but made it up on the backside. I ended up in the small chain ring for the most of the ride which didn’t bother me in the least.

    Overall I think it was a good ride but not easy. When riding these endurance rides I’ve switched my computer from a speed/distance display to a speed/time display. This lets me keep an eye on my speed so I can maintain the required endurance pace but not be worried about the distance I’ve ridden and instead watch the time.

    Here are today’s numbers:
    Distance: 25.73 miles
    Avg Speed: 14.8 mph (including warm up)
    Total Time: 1:44:00
    Piles of Dog Crap Run Over: 1 (lovely)

    A few people have asked about the Century Training Plan I’m following. Here’s the link to the Century Cycling Training Plan on Bicycling.com. It’s basically what was in the June 2009 issue but it doesn’t show what days you do intervals.

    ]]>     http://bikingtolive.com/century-training-series-days-3-and-4/feed/ 5