Early morning ride

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!!!!

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!

Best laid plans...

As I posted last week, I had been planning on riding in the 3 Feet for Pete ride.  The date of this ride was 9/14/13 which also happens to be my daughter's birthday.  It is also the date when my nephew and niece needed to get to the airport early.  To make a long story short, I was babysitting the grandkids instead of riding on Saturday morning.

I didn't mind not riding.  Its always fun spending time with the grandkids. We had breakfast together and watched some TV and they played.  When my wife and daughter got home, we then got the kids ready and went out for a combined birthday lunch for my daughter and myself.

Now, I didn't ride Friday morning, thinking I was going to ride on Saturday.  On Sunday morning I was plan lazy and didn't get out to ride before the temperature shot up into the 90's so I didn't ride then either.

So the weekend was a bust in terms of getting miles in.  I did get out this morning and put in 10.4 miles so I'm getting back into the swing of things.  I'm planning on riding at least 10 miles per day the next 3 days and then a bit less on Friday as my parents will be here and my dad and I will do a last ride before the Viva Bike Vegas ride on Saturday. This will be a shake down to make sure the bikes are ready for Saturday morning.

So, this morning's ride takes me over the 100 mile mark for the month of September.  In fact I'm at 102/2 miles for the month.  Not bad, but I have to make up some miles to hit my goal of at least 240.

I hope the rain isn't too bad across the country and you are able to...

GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!!!!!

September Challenge update #1

OK, so we are now 5 days into the month of September and I've ridden 3 of those 5 days for a total of 31 miles.  Not bad, but I have a long ways to go to get to my monthly goal of 240 miles.  Looks like its time for a longer ride or two this weekend.

I am happy with my rides so far.  Both yesterday and today I got in a nice 12.5 mile ride.  Yesterday it took 53:29.  This morning I pushed it a bit more and did it in 52:06 with a 14.4 mph pace.  I feel really good about that.

One other notable item from this morning is that I've passed the 700 mile mark for 2013.  That is a pretty good total, but not nearly what I'm hoping for in 2013.

August Challenge Day 22 Ride 22

This morning as I got on my bike I decided that I was getting just a bit bored doing the same loops morning after morning.  I had found and ridden a couple of other Strava segments in the neighborhood as I wrote about here, so I decided to see if I could do better on 2 of them.  I wanted to add a bit of variety to keep it interesting.

So I headed out and rode.  I refused to look at my Garmin the whole time I rode this morning.  I really didn't know how far I had gone, nor how fast, nor how long I'd been on the bike.  I wanted it to be a surprise.

I rode those different roads and threw in a couple of laps around my usual loop just to get in the miles.  One interesting note was that the 2 women were out walking again this morning.

When I decided I'd had enough for the morning, I stopped, turned off the Garmin and put my bike away.

I then headed inside to see exactly what I had done.  I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged the Garmin into my laptop and Training Center showed that I had ridden 9.66 miles in 41:59 this morning.  I really had thought I had only done about 7 miles.

I then uploaded the data to Strava and learned that I had set a PR (personal record) on both of the segments this morning.  I am very happy with that.

So for the month I am now at:

22/22 Rides
166.6 Miles
13:09:52 Elapsed Time

Oh, one more thing.  I officially registered my dad and I for the Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello 17 mile rides on September 21.  Anyone else want to join us???

As the very wise Freddie Mercury said:

Get On Your Bikes And RIDE!

August Challenge Day 15 Ride 15

It was a little warmer this morning in the mid 70's and the humidity was up a bit as well to close to 30%.  I can hear everyone from other parts of the country say "you call that humidity?"  Just remember this IS the desert. My legs were feeling a bit tired and heavy as well.

I did see a rabbit twice this morning.  Not sure if they were 2 different rabbits or the same rabbit both times as the sightings were about 20 minutes and a quarter mile apart.  Traffic was also the lightest its been all week during my early morning, but there were a couple of drivers who slammed on their brakes at the last minute, obviously used to sailing through the stop signs.

I also saw a teenager on a mountain bike with a back pack.  Not sure where he was going to or from, but he was headed south on El Capitan Way at just the wrong speed where I had to slow way down to keep from impacting him as I made my turn onto Mackanos while he continued south.  He never knew I was there.

Stats:

10.4 miles
46:02 elapsed time

Month to date:

118.9 miles
9:20:52 elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge ride 13

Before I talk about this morning's ride I want to wish my eldest grandson Jacob a Happy Birthday!!!  Today he turns 11.

Only 3 things to mention about this morning's ride - some wind,a rabbit and some creaking.

This morning there was a southwest wind blowing 12 to 15 mph which meant I was cycling into the wind on the slower parts of my route.  It was definitely a bit more work.

On my 4th lap as I was heading north on Quarterhorse, a rabbit almost committed suicide by running across in front of me.  He timed it poorly, though and successfully made it across with a couple of feet to spare.  I guess he misjudged how fast I was in fact riding.

At about the 9 mile mark this morning, I started to notice a creaking coming from the left pedal and/or bottom bracket area.  It seemed to only do it when I was pushing the left pedal so I need to look at it this evening.  To avoid possibly damaging anything I took it really easy on the last mile this morning.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
47:09 elapsed time

Month to date

98.1 miles
7:50:29 elapsed time

A side note, as of yesterday both my mom and dad were still in the challenge having walked and ridden everyday so far in August respectively. I believe my dad was even slightly ahead mileage-wise for the month.  I am so proud of them!!!!

Keep those pedals turning.

August Challenge Rdies 11 and 12

So far so good on the August Challenge.  12 days - 12 rides.  Not a bad streak but I'm not even halfway there yet.

These 2 rides happened almost exactly 9 hours apart.  Ride eleven was a fun little ramble around the neighborhood with the grand kids.  We had fun and I'm amazed at how quickly they are progressing.  Where a few weeks ago they would complain and want to take a break before we completed one lap, yesterday they were raring to go for multiple laps.  The 3 boys actually did 4 or 5 laps and were doing great!

Stats for ride 11:

3.0 miles
0:21:45 elapsed time

This morning it was back at it - up at 4:00 and out riding by 4:07.  There were a few remarkable things about this morning's ride.  The traffic was awfully busy for that time of the morning.  I must have been passed by 20+ cars. I know that's not a lot for most people, but that is one of the reasons that I like the early morning rides - virtually no traffic.  Among the cars were an NHP cruiser and about 10 minutes later an LVMPD cruiser.  What was remarkable was they both headed in the same direction - south on Pebble towards Durango.

I also saw a group of 4 riders headed north on Pebble towards fort Apache all decked out in their matching kits.  I couldn't read what they said but they were all while and green.

One other item to note was I saw a young boy - probably 11 or 12 riding a much too big bike with no lights.  He slowed and was waiting to turn onto El Capitan Way, but I slowed to wait for him to see if he was all right, but he disappeared.  Not sure if he changed his mind about turning or rode into the new sub on the corner, but I couldn't find him.  He just seemed out of place at that time of the morning.

Ride 12 stats:

10.4 miles
0:46:31 Elapsed time

Month to date:

87.7 miles
7:03:20 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge day 10

Today is the 10th day of August and I did my 10th ride for my August Challenge.  I'm glad I made this challenge as it has gotten me on my bike a couple of times when it would have been easy to just say I'll ride tomorrow there's no time today.

I decided it was a good day to head out towards the Gypsum mine by Blue Diamond.  Its just over a 12 mile round trip.  I felt pretty good on the ride and decided to spin along at an easier pace in my middle ring on the uphill away from home.  It seemed to work pretty well in terms of tiring out, but it did knock my pace down slightly.

There were a good number of cyclists out this morning taking advantage of the light winds and cooler morning temps.  It did warm up quickly, though and was 88 by the time I got home.

So the stats for this morning:

12.4 miles
1:05:14 Elapsed time

Month to date:

74.3 miles
5:55:04 elapsed time

How are you doing this month???

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge Day 7

Its 4:00 am on a work day in August so I'm getting up and heading out on a ride.  I normally have a routine I follow which involves a trip to the restroom, but I changed it up slightly this morning and that impacted my ride.

The temperature was a reasonable 80 degrees with a light Southwest breeze.  A good morning for a ride.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention yesterday, I passed the 500 mile mark for the year with yesterday's ride.  It took me until September 22 (the Viva Bike Vegas ride last year) to pass that mark.

I was feeling pretty good out there especially considering this is my seventh consecutive day of ride.  That is until about 4.5 miles into the ride I started to feel some rumblings in my intestinal tract.  Things weren't too bad and I convinced myself to carry on, which I managed to do until about 2 miles later when the rumblings became quite insistent and the call of nature was quite urgent.

I made it back to the house, having completed only 7.2 miles, but it was enough for this morning.

Stats:

7.2 Miles
32:22 Elapsed time

Month to date:

56.8 miles
4:21:36 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!