First ride outside

Today was the day I finally got outside for a bike ride, unfortunately it is much later than I had hoped. Between TrainerRoad, Zwift & my KICKR I don’t feel the need to get out and brave the cold in the middle of winter, I’m more than happy doing my structured workouts. However once the weather starts to warm up a little and time springs ahead so there is more light in the evenings I like to get outside and breath in the fresh air. That didn’t happen this year for a variety of reasons but I would still find time to do my workouts 3-4 times a week.

Then came a mini vacation to Walt Disney World. No bike down there so I did a little running a couple of those days. Nothing crazy just 5K distances and some intervals thrown in. The weather down there was perfect, coming home was very depressing. It was hard for me to get motivated and I rode the KICKER once the day after getting back and took the next two days off vowing to get outside on the weekend. Unfortunately those weekend plans didn’t come to fruition as my fiancee was involved in an serious automobile accident that Friday evening coming home from work which would derail any training plans I had made. Thankfully, she basically walked away with some minor cuts and bruisings along with a mild concussion but there were numerous appointments and follow up doctors visits that needed to be attended. Between going back and forth to those and back and forth to work I was mentally and physically spent I couldn’t event think about peddling a bike.

Things finally quieted down a bit this past week and I felt well rested and needed to get outside today. To be honest I was a bit apprehensive as I had only spun my legs once over the past 3 weeks and I knew I had lost some fitness along the way. I took an easy warm up for about 10 minutes and then started with a mild climb. The legs felt strong but my aerobic capacity is down for sure. With that mild climb behind me I took on something a little steeper. This one climb I can do in about 2 minutes full gas, so I hit it today and gave it my best effort. I ended up being 22 seconds off my PR but pretty much matched my times from around this time last year, not terrible but not what I was hoping for either. My legs felt great, didn’t need the whole cassette even though I’m riding a bigger mid-compact on my C’dale, but I did have to focus more than usual on my breathing to keep it under control and my HR was 1 beat below my max, but I made it.

All in all it was an OK ride. Nothing significant after that and I sort of took in the scenery a bit. Total mileage was only about 17 miles with 1,100 ft. of elevation. So short by my standards but it was just what I needed. Now I just need to work on getting my aerobic capacity back up to where it should be after a winters worth of training.

On a side note, this was the first time I got to wear my Gabba2 jersey. That thing is fantastic! With a set of arm warmers it kept the cool wind off me and allowed it to breath so I didn’t sweat to death wearing it. It was just perfect for the conditions, what a great piece of kit.