Long Bike Ride

"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride." John F. Kennedy

The quote above couldn't have been more true today. I met the Team in Training cycle team this morning at 8:00. I knew there would be a group of alumni heading out at a faster pace that the team, so I planned to head out with them. Since I'll be doing more triathlons this year, I was on my tri bike. And I had my new Infinit nutrition ready to go. Temps were in the high 40s to start, with the sun nicely shinning, and they continued to climb as the day went on.

For those of you familiar with this area, we met at Cool River and headed north on Parmer. Parmer is a great ride because there are a decent number of hills and there is a wide shoulder the whole way. The only problem is that there is usually a strong headwind either as you head out or head back. Today the wind wasn't that strong.

There were 6 of us in the front group. A husband and wife on the team were out on their tandem, so we tried to stay with them as long as we could, but they can really build some speed on the tandem and we lost them after a little bit. But I wasn't overly concerned with speed today. I just wanted to get the miles in. I don't have many free weekends this spring to get out and get a long bike ride in. Today's goal was at least 50 miles. The end result: 51.85. And, an average of just over 16 mph. I've only gotten in 2 or 3 other rides outside so far this year, so I was very happy with that average. As I get in more rides outside and more longer rides, that average should go up.

As for the Infinit. It seemed to work really well. I have been known in the past to do a long ride and hardly drink anything, so today I set my garmin to beep at me every 15 minutes to remind myself to drink. The Infinit formula suggests you drink 20 oz every hour. That's basically a water bottle full each hour. I didn't quite meet that goal, but I did finish 2 full bottles and some water during the 3 hours on the bike.

The only other issue I need to figure out is how to not have to stop at mile 20 to pee. It's almost like clockwork with me. Something about mile 20. I can run a full marathon and never stop, but get me on the bike and I gotta stop at mile 20.

After I got home, we gathered the family and dogs along with one of Madison's friends and headed to the lake here in town (small lake and no motorized boats). The intent for me was to try out my new wetsuit. I spent some time getting it on and getting syched up to get in the water when it was in the 60s outside. Another one of my TNT buddies had come to try out his new wetsuit as well. He started into the water first and said it was cold. I don't like cold. And when my feet hit the water, I knew the swim probably wouldn't happen. If I had booties to keep my feet warm, maybe. But my feet went numb right away and they hurt. The water was that cold. I guess the snow this last week really made the water cold. I did manage to get in past my waste, but the thought of my face in that cold water - well, it just wasn't going to happen. Guess we'll have to wait another month or so. The dogs enjoyed their walk, however, and Madison and her friend enjoyed riding bikes around the lake (it's a 3 mile loop). I'm really ready for the spring now.