Due to a quick trip out of town, my cycling efforts are being limited this week. Thanks to bad weather, I rode my trainer for an hour on Monday. After a day off on Tuesday, I rode outside on Wednesday. 32 miles (out and back course) in a tad over 1:45, for an average of 18.2 mph. That's my fastest pace of the year so far, and it felt good (although I think I strained my upper left hamstring pushing hard uphill). The speed is slowly coming around, although I'm not out there racing. What was encouraging was that my legs felt kind of flat during the ride, not fresh like they did during last Friday's 40 miler, and yet the pace was still quick.
There are obviously some similarities between cycling and running, but I feel like a novice cyclist. I'm still discovering what I can do on the bike, and how things should feel at a given pace, or under different conditions (i.e. wind). I may never have the deep love for cycling that I've had for running, but it's growing on me every time I ride.
I have a new (modest) bike mileage goal this year: 2015 miles (See what I did there? Clever, right?) I know some of you run that much in a year, but I'm keeping it conservative as I ease into the sport. I've ridden just 249 miles this year, but with the nice, warmer weather on the way, I'll likely be putting in a lot more mileage. I hope to ride regularly into late fall, and even a bit during the winter, if conditions allow.
I'm also tentatively planning on doing a long ride in late September with a friend. It's a big, organized ride, with many distance options. I'm leaning toward the 84 mile ride. I'll be training myself to ride longer distances leading up to that. With a relatively easy 40-miler under my belt already, I don't see any problems with building up to that by September.
Ride on!
(maybe I should change the name of my blog? Or will I be resurrected as a runner again someday...?)
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