This week marked a major return to outdoor cycling for me. While I've been regularly riding the trainer all winter long, both at home and in the RPM classes, I have not been outside in quite a while. I had to look it up: my last ride outdoors was in November, when I did a 45 mile team ride. It had been almost a month before that since I had ridden outside then.
So I'm a little out of practice. I really wanted to get some mileage before the race next weekend.
This week, on Wednesday and Thursday, I went on a bike ride at lunch with a few guys from my new job. There are some decent roads for cycling and we did about 15 to 20 miles on both days. It also means I have to eat fast, so I'm not going for super-high-calorie meals at a sit down restaurant either. It's nice getting out at lunch. It definitely makes it easier to work on a nice day!
Friday, I rode about 45 miles out to Valley Forge. It was really great to be out for a long ride, but I was hurting. My hands, shoulders, back, and crotch were not used to the vibrations from the road. They were somewhere between numb and sore after about 20 miles.
Saturday, I was a bit of a space cadet. For some reason I thought the West River Time Trials started this week, so I was up and on the drive at 6:30 to warm up. Only after I was there did I realize that it's not for two more weeks. Oops....
I warmed up and did a time trial anyway. It was less than idea conditions, being about 47 degrees, windy (about 18 mph winds), and foggy. Still, my average power was the best it's ever been (250 watts) and my time was not that bad (21:53, about 22.6 mph). If I can do that same power on a nicer day, it should be a really good time (I'd guess right around 20:00, 24.8 mph). By comparison, my all time best out there is 19:42. I just might be getting close!
Today I was running late and missed the VV ride. I decided instead to just do laps around the West River Drive. I did 6 of them, keeping each lap around 220 watts . The wind was pretty harsh, really making me work. I totaled about 50 miles for the day in 2:32:00.
So, in classic "Tom style", I barely ride for 6 months and then do 155 miles in 5 days and seemed to just get stronger each day.
