Every Monday Should Start Like This
This Ride: 25.8 miles
Month: 300.2 miles
2011: 5,417.7 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 11,537.4 miles
The rain stopped sometime over night, and so there were a few damp roads and some puddles this morning at 5:30, but no rain! It was a very pleasant 63° F with the promise of a gorgeous sunrise. We adapted some for our meet-up because part of the trail is closed due to a washout, but soon there were at least 6 riders out. I was on my fixie since it was “Mosey Monday” and I’m committed to riding it regularly for its benefits. I noted them today.
One benefit is that with one gear to ride, I tend to move to my regular cadence of 90 rpm, which places me just over 18 mph. That’s a little fast for Mosey Monday but will serve to strengthen my legs for other rides. Another benefit is that I have to anticipate the hills a bit more, which is simply good riding technique for the hills. This was also the first morning I’ve ridden the fixie up Askewton hill. I was a little nervous about that hill on a fixie, but was also determined not to walk it. I was able to power up the hill pretty quickly and spiked my heart rate to 171. The present gearing on the bike makes this hill reasonable. I also powered up the hill on B&A Blvd and held the speed above 20 mph on the fixie. Not bad! I had hoped for a speed record down the hill on B&A blvd, but the Garmin says I was 0.2 mph slower than my fastest even though I had 2 rpm faster than last Friday.
We did have one incident. As we descended into Round Bay, we crossed a few steel plates in the road, and Dave went down hard on one. As he fell, he tucked his shoulder and rolled. There was no visible damage to Dave or his bike.
Near the end of the ride we were blessed with those gorgeous skies as the sun rose. We met Mike on the trail as he commuted to work and rode with him for a couple of miles. I cut the ride a little shorter than I wanted this morning. I’m back to work now. The Sabbatical is over.
All in all, it was a nice start to the day.
Rev Rider 