The last time I rode outside was December 4, so it was GREAT to get back outside for a real ride yesterday. It was the third time this week I rode outside; we rode two days at work this week as well.
The biggest shock for me was the increase in speed and power that I've seen over the winter. For the first time in my life, I broke 1200 watts. In two separate sprints on Wednesday, I hit 1222 and 1220 watts. My previous best was an irritatingly close 1199 watts. I was routinely powering up hills 50 watts higher than I was in the fall. I guess all that work on the CompuTrainer paid off :-)
Yesterday was kind of rough. It was not too cold at 44 degrees, but the wind was pretty nasty. Some of the gusts almost blew me off the trail. There was a constant wind of some kind, which sometimes slowed me to a standstill and other time had me rocketing along. It's days like this that the power meter really helps to maintain a consistent effort. Otherwise I'd probably be fighting way too hard into the wind and taking it easy when the wind was pushing me along.
Just for fun, I sprinted for any trail-side signs that I saw and I sprinted for each of the huge power line towers along one segment of the trail. I'm really focusing on my criterium skills this year and being able to surge repeatedly is a big one!
I did a total of 38 miles in just a hair over two hours, not bad for a gray windy day!
My weight is down to 183 (from 190) and my body fat down to 20.7% (down from 23% I think). I'm aiming to be in the upper 160's by the end of the summer.
