I'd been wondering how long it would take to finally get that first road ride of the season under my belt since we've had so much snow and so little opportunity, but I finally did it over the weekend when we visited Jim and Marilyn in Yankton. Now, Yankton isn't exactly the spot I would pick for my first ride out because of the hills and I expected to hurt a lot on this ride, but temps and precip finally called a truce to allow a few days of decent riding conditions. The wind decided to kick it up to make for less than ideal conditions, but beggars can't be choosers in this part of the country.
I did about 30 miles and left at 10:00 in order to finish up by noon so I could have lunch with the family and be somewhat social for the afternoon. The 25 mph wind off the still ice-laden lake was a bit brisk as I rode through the park, but I got my legs warmed up and readied myself for the first hill section climbing out of the river valley. I was surprised when I hit the first hill section and didn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought I would. I certainly didn't show midseason, aggressive climbing form, but I wasn't gasping and weezing. I even hit 40 mph on one downhill section.
I did a sort of figure eight route that took me out of the valley, into town, all the way through the valley to where highways 52 and 50 meet up again and then back to my first hill section in the opposite direction. I really did have some good climbing sections and returned home really feeling good about the ride.
I got to test out some new gear while I was at it. After borrowing saddles from Bryan all of last season, I got my first ride out on my new Selle Italia Gel Flite saddle. I hated everything that I borrowed from Bryan and really didn't think about my new saddle much (which is a good thing). I still need to break it in a bit, but expect that it will be one that I'll be thrilled with once Tour de Kota hits in June.
I also got to test my new Polar CS200 computer. I was at a training for the store in October and was given a Polar heart rate monitor and was amazed to see what I could learn about the way that I work based on my heart rate. When the bracket on my old computer mount broke, I decided this might be a good season to step up into a heart rate compatible computer. It worked like a charm and I was able to use hrm information to gauge effort and recovery in a way that I never have before. I also got to take the Serfas carbon water bottle cages that I bought from Bryan on Friday for a ride. They are super lightweight and much easier in and out than my old cages, one of which broke, the other of which is now on my Rig.
In a very surprising move, I did my first half hour run since high school this morning. It's still too cold and dark out to ride early and I've about had it with kettle bells which I've been doing since October but really trailed off in January when I had some muscle pain in my left arm, so I checked the forecast and decided to run instead. I actually did better than I thought I would. I did about three miles on the bike trail and was able to settle into a rhythm pretty well. I was not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I managed to keep it rolling. I'm not sure that this will become a regular part of my life, but it may be something to pick up when it gets cold again in the fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment