Two-Thirds Fast Deer

The title says it all, even if it is confusing.  This morning marked three separate events.  I’ll take them out of order.

We had 8 or 9 people out this morning for a cloudy and reasonably comfortable (temperature wise) ride.  I put in a faster than usual first 4+ miles on my way to the Ranger Station, so I had a good base upon which to build for a fast day.  We had a good steady pace, right out of the gate, not particularly fast … or so I thought.  I couldn’t believe how winded I was by the time we got to Old County Road.  I was the only rider to avoid Round Bay.  I worked for a personal record time on Old County Road, but my results don’t really show that.  My heart rate spiked at 174 and recovering from that effort pulled the speed down.

When I got back onto the trail,  I had a real treat.  I had a deer run along side me for about 25 yards.  She was about 4-5 feet from me, just off the trail.  I talked to her and asked her kindly not to turn into me, but to go left when she decided to stop running with me.  She did, and I breathed a sigh (or quick exhalation) of relief.  By that point, I could see the headlights of the peloton in my rear view mirror, and knew I was going to be caught around Joyce Lane.  I was able to keep my lead just a bit longer because a car was approaching and while it didn’t slow me, it did slow the others.  As they passed, I sped up and stayed with them to the end of the trail, floating along at about 26-27 mph at times.

At the end of the trail, I was spent.  I noted an average speed for the morning thus far at 19.1 mph, announced my intention to allow myself to be dropped, and proceeded alone for the second half of the ride.  I kept the speed up as best I could, but my legs really were in no shape to push it very hard, especially solo.  By the time I got back to McKinsey Road, my average was still showing 19.1 mph, so I pressed on a little faster than normal once I got back on the trail.  I had to cut out the loop back around Jennings Road because of an early morning meeting, so simply worked my way back home and climbed the last hill.  At the end, 19.0 mph average on the day, and Strava confirmed my fastest time yet on the route from the Rusty Bridge to home.

So, you have the “Fast” and you have the “Deer”.  What about the “2/3”?  I’ve now cycled two-thirds of the distance around the earth since January 1, 2010!  I crossed that threshold in this morning’s ride.

This Ride: 20.2 miles
Month: 275.2 miles
2012: 2750.2 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 16,603.9 miles