Got up at 3:35 this morning to get in a nice longer ride. In fact this was my longest ride so far this year. That's not saying a lot, except that I am starting to increase my mileage. I needed a longer ride to make sure I will be ready for Saturday's 20 mile Tour De Cure (Hey, if you haven't donated, how about slipping them $10 or more HERE?). Its too bad I couldn't start when I want to, which would be about 5:00 am to try and stay out of the heat.
OK, anyone familiar with the schedule for Saturday will say I could, in fact start early. As early as 5:30 am, but only if I'm doing one of the longer distances. I'm not, so my start time will be 8:30. That's still significantly earlier than last year.
This morning I knew i had to go at least 10 miles which represented half the stated distance for Saturday's ride. So I set the alarm to get up at 3:55 so I would have to ride, cool down and post the ride to my various websites (Daily Mile, Strava, Plus3, Map My Ride) and then get showered an to work at a reasonable time. Now, astute readers will note the difference between my alarm and the time I actually got up. I knew that if I tried to get that last 20 minutes of sleep, I was putting the morning's ride in jeopardy. So, when I woke up 20 minutes early, I just got up and started getting ready.
For some reason knowing that I was up early had me taking my time to get ready and out the door. I ended up on the bike about the same time as it would have been if I had gotten up at 3:55. Funny how that works. Anyway, by 4:08 according to my Garmin, I started pedaling. The temperature was in the low 60's with a NNE wind of 10 gusting to 18 mph. Not too bad, except the direction.
I felt good as I got into my rhythm and completed the first lap around my usual morning training loop. On the second lap I decided I needed to change things up a little and did my longer loop. I was still feeling good and looking at my Strava report of the ride I see I actually did my third fastest time on the long loop. Not too bad. I continued mixing it up between the 2 loops trying to take my mind off the fact that my arms and shoulders were feeling it this morning for some reason. By the 8 mile mark I was also starting to feel it in my saddle area. I know its from a lack of saddle time. I wanted to stop at this point, but knew I needed to keep going to put in the distance.
I did push through 3 more laps and ended with a total of 11.67 miles this morning and an average speed of 12.9 mph. Not too bad at all. Have I ridden faster and farther? Sure I have, but this tells me I can manage to get through the ride on Saturday.
Have any big rides planned for your weekend?
Get on your bikes and ride!!!!
Showing posts with label Plus 3 Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plus 3 Network. Show all posts
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Riding weather is here
Saturday was a sunny day, with highs around 82 degrees and almost no wind. Not a bad day at all to get out on the bike. So as I was sitting in the house thinking about riding, I got up, changed and headed out on my bike. I thoroughly enjoyed my ride. It wasn't far, only 8.3 miles, nor was it fast, but I got out there and I enjoyed it!
This morning I got out again before work. The weather was again wonderful - temperature around 70 degrees, almost no wind. I had my alarm set for 4:00 am as usual when I get out before work. It went off and I didn't even hesitate, I got right up and started getting ready. Shorts, jersey, socks and headed downstairs and grabbed my Garmin. I have a Forerunner 305 which I've had for 3 1/2 years now. I love it, but the last couple of times I've used it, I had to wait almost 5 minutes for it to acquire the satellites and be ready to go. I'm wondering if it might be time to start looking at a new device.
After getting a stick of gum, I headed out to the garage and put on my shoes. I then topped off my tires. It amazes me how the low volume of air, losses pressure so fast. They were up to 84 psi on Saturday. This morning I had to pump them up from about 72 psi. Once I had them up to pressure, I grabbed my helmet and gloves, hit the opener and headed out to get ready to ride. I started my Garmin, put on my gear, turned on my lights and waited for the Garmin to be ready.
And waited. And waited. It was almost 6 minutes before the Garmin finally showed that it was ready to go. I had debated just using my phone and Strava, DailyMile or MapMyRide to record the details of this morning's efforts, but decided to wait it out since i wanted to update all 3 sites with the data.
Yes, I am on all 3 sites, plus a fourth called Plus 3 where logging my rides earns money for charities.
Fortunately once it found the satellites, it performed flawlessly and recorded my ride.
The ride itself was uneventful. I was feeling it a bit after 5 laps and had to push through to make the 8 I completed. The interesting part was that it wasn't my legs so much that felt it, but my arms and hands. I guess I'm just not used to riding as much as I should be. That will change as I am riding the next 3 mornings as well as at least one day over the weekend. I plan to repeat the morning rides next week in preparation for the Tour De Cure on May 3rd.
I hope the weather is improving in your area and that you were able to get out and ride as well.
Remember, eat better and get on your bike and ride!
This morning I got out again before work. The weather was again wonderful - temperature around 70 degrees, almost no wind. I had my alarm set for 4:00 am as usual when I get out before work. It went off and I didn't even hesitate, I got right up and started getting ready. Shorts, jersey, socks and headed downstairs and grabbed my Garmin. I have a Forerunner 305 which I've had for 3 1/2 years now. I love it, but the last couple of times I've used it, I had to wait almost 5 minutes for it to acquire the satellites and be ready to go. I'm wondering if it might be time to start looking at a new device.
After getting a stick of gum, I headed out to the garage and put on my shoes. I then topped off my tires. It amazes me how the low volume of air, losses pressure so fast. They were up to 84 psi on Saturday. This morning I had to pump them up from about 72 psi. Once I had them up to pressure, I grabbed my helmet and gloves, hit the opener and headed out to get ready to ride. I started my Garmin, put on my gear, turned on my lights and waited for the Garmin to be ready.
And waited. And waited. It was almost 6 minutes before the Garmin finally showed that it was ready to go. I had debated just using my phone and Strava, DailyMile or MapMyRide to record the details of this morning's efforts, but decided to wait it out since i wanted to update all 3 sites with the data.
Yes, I am on all 3 sites, plus a fourth called Plus 3 where logging my rides earns money for charities.
Fortunately once it found the satellites, it performed flawlessly and recorded my ride.
The ride itself was uneventful. I was feeling it a bit after 5 laps and had to push through to make the 8 I completed. The interesting part was that it wasn't my legs so much that felt it, but my arms and hands. I guess I'm just not used to riding as much as I should be. That will change as I am riding the next 3 mornings as well as at least one day over the weekend. I plan to repeat the morning rides next week in preparation for the Tour De Cure on May 3rd.
I hope the weather is improving in your area and that you were able to get out and ride as well.
Remember, eat better and get on your bike and ride!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Technology is wonderful
Support a worthy cause for free!
As I've written before I love technology. While it’s not essential for working out, it makes the tracking and record keeping much easier. It can also help raise money for a worthy cause - World Bicycle Relief. Technically it’s not the technology itself that is supporting this great cause, but the record of our training that helps.
I could go through a long explanation in my own way, but it would be redundant since Fat Cyclist, Elden Nelson, has done such a great job of explaining how this works here. Essentially, you sign up with this awesome site, +3 Network, Join Team Fatty and then upload your training data from your device like an iPhone or Garmin. Plus 3 Network then does the math and SRAM makes a contribution for your efforts.
It really is that simple. Even with my sporadic efforts so far this year, I've helped raise over $10 for this cause. Fatty has set a goal of raising over $120,000 this year and I know we can certainly do this. This may just be the extra motivation I needed to get back to a more consistent training routine.
As I've written before I love technology. While it’s not essential for working out, it makes the tracking and record keeping much easier. It can also help raise money for a worthy cause - World Bicycle Relief. Technically it’s not the technology itself that is supporting this great cause, but the record of our training that helps.
I could go through a long explanation in my own way, but it would be redundant since Fat Cyclist, Elden Nelson, has done such a great job of explaining how this works here. Essentially, you sign up with this awesome site, +3 Network, Join Team Fatty and then upload your training data from your device like an iPhone or Garmin. Plus 3 Network then does the math and SRAM makes a contribution for your efforts.
It really is that simple. Even with my sporadic efforts so far this year, I've helped raise over $10 for this cause. Fatty has set a goal of raising over $120,000 this year and I know we can certainly do this. This may just be the extra motivation I needed to get back to a more consistent training routine.
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