Sometimes I amaze myself

OK, I have been riding my bike every day for the past 118 days.  Sure the majority of the rides have been short, in the 1 to 2 mile range.  I figured I haven't been doing much to help my cycling fitness by doing such short rides.  To test myself, yesterday I decided to go all out on my one mile training loop just to see what I could do.  My previous best was completing it in 3:46.  Last week I had done it in 4:02 and that seemed like the best I could muster.

Well, I was flying last night.  Looking at my results after the fact I hit 25.6 mph according to my Garmin before I had to make one turn.  Overall, according to Strava, I completed the 1 mile loop in 3:37.  That's a full 9 seconds faster than my previous best.  My average speed was an astonishing 17.2 mph. Here's the Strava report:

It seems that even the little bit I've been doing every day has been helping to build a little bit of cycling muscle in my legs.  Of course I was cooked after that short distance with my lungs burning as I tried to suck in oxygen, but it was a good effort.  I was very happy!

Now to work on quickly increasing my distances so I will be ready for the extended climb for the ride on the 27th.  Sure the climbs are only about 6 miles long, but they are a constant climb over that distance.

Get on your bikes and ride!