So, this is how I had it envisioned in my mind:

A cool, gloomy day still makes for a decent ride.

My focus was going to be all about duration and I was to ignore my average speed. I would plan for a two hour ride and only have the stop-watch function on my bike computer visible. This would focus my efforts toward the feelings in my legs with intended pacing to make it a full two hours comfortably. That means, mostly soft-pedaling and easy times on the hills.

But, it actually turned into something like:

Faster, faster, faster. I’ve got to keep my cadence and pace high. Legs were feeling good, so I powered up most hills, out of the saddle. If I ran into a little wind, I would lower into the drop-position on the bars and hammer through the section until I would turn off and away from it.

Evidently – my body has no real clue how to properly pace itself. Even ignoring the speedometer on the bike computer, I still rode at my normal, fairly high-intensity pace. Since it is early season, my stats aren’t really all that great, but they do represent a fairly rigorous ride on the bike, especially at the duration of nearly two hours and in 50 degree springtime temperatures.

  • Sunday, March 27th, 2010
  • start time: 4:20pm
  • distance: 29.3 miles
  • speed: 17.2 mph
  • duration: 1:42
  • 2010 odometer: 113

Low lights means that all my photos exhibit some degree of motion blur. It makes me look FAST.

Although heavily overcast, it was a decent day for a ride. I didn’t get started until later in the afternoon, as I ran some errands earlier in the day. Part of those errands involved stopping by Freewheel Bike to look for a dedicated cycling jacket. I have a couple of jackets that I use for wind-breaking in these spring temperatures below 60 deg, but I didn’t have one that is designed specifically for cycling. The useful design features include:

  • extensions of the back to lay further down your butt while in a crouched position
  • tight-fitting geometry – especially along the arms
  • full-zip capability with comfortable closure around the neckline to keep out any wind
  • pockets in the rear of the coat, instead of along the front

My new cycling jacket - the Gore Bike Wear Phantom II

Since I only seem to purchase clothing on sale, I was lucky to find that Freewheel was having a sale and spotted a nice jacket from Gore Bike Wear. It is their Phantom II model and had all the characteristics that I was hoping to find. In addition to the basic stuff listed above, this jacket also include removable sleeves with simple zippers. This makes the jacket very versatile – as it can function as a vest or a full-on jacket. While riding, I can also open up some of the zippers for extra ventilation and easily control my body temperature to work well in a range of conditions. The fabric is water resistant, but also allows it to “breath” so I don’t get overheated and sweaty inside of it. The jacket was put to work on today’s ride, and met all of my expectations (and then some). It’s nice to use something that was designed specifically for the job.

The ride took me in a north-western route into Hamel, Medina, Loretto, and then south through Long Lake and Wayzata. I decided to head a little farther north than usual and crossed over Highway 55 twice in order to extend the trip. After heading back through Baker Park, I slipped off my normal route on County Road 6 and rode straight south along the north-western edge of Lake Minnetonka and well into Wayzata. This put me near the Minnetonka Center for the Arts, which is where my daughter has taken classes and I’ve written about riding out of during last summer’s posts.

The ice is only a few warm days away from leaving the local lakes

That was the southern-most portion of the route and I headed back north into Wayzata along the dedicated bike path. Normally, I avoid riding on bike paths, but this three mile stretch is a nice, straight section with few stops and even fewer people.

Heading north out of Wayzata, it was a few brief miles before I was back on my own doorstep. Once I hit that 1:10 mark, I could really start to tell that my legs are not in the condition they need to be for these longer rides. Hills got to be really tough to climb and I was using ALL of the gears on my bike to control the cadence and the effort. It sucks to lose power when you are still a half hour from home, as it is a little demoralizing and sets a tone that I would need to suffer the remaining miles of the ride.

And suffer, I did.

But, I was suffering due to my stupid inability to ride at a tempo other than “hard”. I had no real clue that I was riding at a 17+mph pace. My brother and I are planning to ride a 65 mile ride at the end of April, so I was thinking to do some training targeting a slower pace and longer distance for that ride. But, I have no self control and was a little surprised when I saw my average speed toward the end of the ride.

Even though I suffered during this ride, there are no bad days on a bike.

There is no way I will be able to ride a full 65 miles at that pace (at least, not in April) – so I will need to tone it down. Fortunately, that will likely come naturally as riding with other cyclists generally slows down the pace. I will still need to monitor my efforts along various hills, as I will need to hold-back on my power to ensure that I have enough left over during the likely 4+ hours of riding.

But, even though I rode harder than I had planned, it was still a great day for a ride. The weather was really overcast and it was dark and gloomy. This must have scared away most people, as the roads where fairly open and I had most of the route all to myself.

I chose to ride with music/headphones today, since I knew the duration would be fairly long. This means that I did not have a Song Of The Ride™, but listened to some variety. I’m still enamored by the Avett Brothers, so the ride started with their “I and Love and You” album. Once that ran its course, I switched over to a mix of songs that were made famous in 1980′s movies. Think Back To The Future and Karate Kid. It was a good mix to listen and pass the time, as I tried to envision both the movie and the specific scene that the song was played. I realized that I have a terrible movie-trivia memory, as most of the songs were familiar, but I couldn’t remember the specific movie that used them. I just couldn’t place songs like Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero” to a specific movie – even though the sound defines the era.