TWO BIKE RIDES IN ONE

This morning’s 40-mile bike ride was another one of those rides that had fast moments and slow moments. Quite honestly, I could categorize this ride as two rides in one.

Nine miles of this morning’s ride I rode solo on sidewalks and neighborhood streets. While riding on the sidewalks, I found myself dodging dogs, dog walkers, ducks, geese, moms and their baby buggies, low-hanging branches, pedestrians, and cars parked across the sidewalks (supposedly illegal in this town). I also had to slow down to a crawl on some of the sidewalks because of uneven surfaces. The city and county really need to fix those bloody things.

On the way back from the coffee shop, four of us (Sandy S, Tom, Ron and myself) took a detour through Weston, opening up our bike throttles to 20+ mph for quite a while. There was very little wind this morning, so direction of travel had little to no impact on our speed.

We also veered off of Boy Scout Road into Vista View Park where Mt. Trashmore is located. After climbing the one road that leads to the top of the mountain of trash (It used to be a landfill), we watched the model airplane enthusiasts fly their electric model planes. They were flying regular prop airplanes, jet airplanes and helicopters. My favorite was the jet.

I thoroughly enjoyed this ride as well as the companionship of my cycling mates. The riding pace with my mates was 14.2 mph with a top speed of 24.9 mph. Overall, however, including the slow sidewalk riding, my pace was only 12.6 mph.

I’m beginning to notice an improvement in my heart rate when going fast. In truth, I have my cycling mates to thank for that. They are the ones that urge me to pedal faster and faster and faster until I’m breathless.

Breathless!? 

Wait, why am I thanking them? LOL

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/269676861