Another beautiful day in Colorado Springs, but first happy fathers day to all you dad’s.

Especially to my dad. He taught me a lot about commitment, doing what you say your going to do. My dad always does more than is expected. He’s a great craftsman and a very hard worker. I will call him later this evening and tell him how much I appreciate him.

On to the ride. My fathers day gift from my family was 3 hours on my bike it was great.

I loaded up two 16oz water bottles and my camel back with two cliff bars and headed out with the goal of 50 miles without going into the red zone. The wind was perfect and the temp was good. Warm but not too hot. I only went into the red zone 3 times. the first time a black ant flew into the vents in my helmet on the first big climb after Palmer Lake. I didn’t want to stop on the climb so I hammered to the top, took off my helmet and shook him loose. He only bit me a half dozen times so I’m good.

The second time was the top of Larkspur pass, it’s a steep one, and the final climb after Larkspur. It’s long and I was tired so I spun it up to the top. The rest of the ride was good. I had good legs all the way home. Here are the numbers:
3:15:39, 50.09 miles, 15.3mph avg, 42.4max, burned 3485 calories, bring on the shortcake, and avg hrt of 153, weighing in at 162 & something, about 20% body fat, who can tell with my goofy scale.
Looking forward to a good week. I’ll check in Monday if I ride. It’s my 18th anniversary and I’m trying to get my wife to go out with me.

I wimped out. I gave in to the wind. I love Colorado Springs but it’s June 15th and we have only had about 4 days of summer. The last few days have been nice so I’ve had some nice rides.

the first follows:
Friday was almost a perfect day. The only wind was a slight tail wind on the way home.

I haven’t had a single ride this year that I averaged 16mph so that was my goal. Here are the numbers:
1:15:40, 21.44 miles, 17 mph avg :-), 44.1 mph max, burned 1426 calories with an avg hrt of 165. Weighing in at 164.8 and somewhere around 20% body fat.

I’ll post todays ride next.

My second lunchtime ride. I was so excited the first one was great.

So as I’m thinking through what needs to happen so I can get the ride in, get a shower, and have a little lunch in two hours. I remembered I forgot my socks, my good shorts, and my lunch.

So I ran home to retrieve those minor details and headed back to the office. All that to say I had to cut the ride short. So instead of going over Larkspur pass I cut off at Fox Run rd. it saves about 12 minutes and only cuts off 2 miles. Ya big climb.

The wind was brutal coming home again. I keep thinking someday it will stop but I’m an eternal optimist. Here are the numbers:
1:08:05, 17.96 miles, 15.8mph avg, 47.1mph max, burned 1184 calories, with an avg hrt of 152bpm.

We’ll see if I dropped any weight today.

I didn’t take the bike to work today so I had to rush home and get ready. By the time I got going the wind had kicked up a bit but not bad at all.

Nothing exciting just a quick out and back.

Here are the numbers:
57:09, 15.41 miles, 16.2mph avg, 40.1mph max, burned 1068 calories, with an avg hrt of 155bpm.

I’m at 164lbs, 20% body fat. not sure how I can lose a pound an a half and have my body fat % go up. Anyway I feel great. Wish I could ride the Burwell ride but it’s the same weekend as my 25 year high school reunion.

Stay tuned I’m riding the Larkspur loop over lunch tomorrow.

We had company this weekend. I did get a good ride in but haven’t had a chance to write about it. So here goes.

Saturday mid morning it looked pretty good not a lot of wind so I quickly jumped on the bike without eating much of anything. I didn’t take any food but had a 16oz bottle with plain water and a 12oz bottle with Electro-Mix which works well for me. It doesn’t taste sweet and doesn’t give me cotton mouth. But I digress.

My goal was to get in 40 miles so off I went without a route in mind just heading up hill and into the wind as much as possible. The first 17 miles was great then I turned around and the crosswind was so bad it nearly knocked me off the bike in unprotected places along the road. I remember three places where a gust hit me so hard I thought it was over. I did however hang on and get back to hwy 83.

It was the longest ride of the year for me and it took all I had. I got home used up but not destroyed. Pressed but not crushed, persecuted not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. Sorry side bar 🙂

Here are the numbers:
2:43:24, 41 miles, 15mph avg, 37.4mph avg, burned 2883 calories and an avg hrt of 157bpm.

Took Sunday off. I’ll give you todays numbers next.

I’m almost out of bike blog titles. Hoping I have an East wind next time.

Today was the first day I got to ride over lunch. I’m hoping that works out more and more. It’s great to get out during the day.

As near as I can tell I had about a 22 mph cross wind. Since the Larkspur loop is more of a teardrop it’s almost like an out and back so I got it the bulk of the ride. I refer you to a previous post here. This one has a false downhill near the end, and I had a pretty good headwind the last 5 miles.

Funny thing, as I turned onto 105 I saw in the ditch a really nice water bottle. So I stopped, looked around for other cyclist, there were none so I picked it up, poured out the water, put it into my jersey pocket, and proceeded to the first climb. As I got about 2/3 of the way up I saw a bike behind me and I immediately thought, “Oh no, I have this guys water bottle” and since I always think everyone is stronger than me I figured when he caught up to me I would give it back. After I refilled it with water from my second bottle which I had not touched yet of course. Then I had thoughts of him coming up next to me really angry, then I started thinking “why did I pick that thing up?” It was full and surely someone noticed they lost it and would be back to get it.

Then I topped the hill and he was gone. So I forgot about it and rode on. When I got on the other side of Larkspur a car came up behind me and didn’t pass. There was no reason not to. He had plenty of room. Then I started thinking “Oh no, it’s the guy and he wants his water bottle back”. So I slowed and turned my head to tell him he could have it back when he passed me. Why so paranoid over a silly water bottle. If you hear of someone who lost it let me know and I will gladly return it. It’s very nice.

Anyway here are the numbers:
1:23:45, 21.5 miles, 15.4 mph avg, 41.9 mph max, burned 1558 calories, and an avg hrt of 162.

Family in town this weekend so I’ll try to get out early in the morning and later on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Tags: Bike, Bicycle, Riding, Cycling, Training

Top three things that make a horrible ride:
3. False downhill
2. greater than 15mph headwind on the homestretch
1. Bonking
again, all subject to change without notice.

I was correct in my prediction regarding weekend rides. I did not get out. Although I felt like I rode on century. Last year I started helping a sweet lady keep her acreage trimmed up. I started that again on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon was spent putting in a patio with 16in square paving stones. I hurt in places I forgot I had.

So tonight I wasn’t going to ride I was just going to rest. When I got home there was no wind and I had to go. I thought, “this will be a great night for a recovery ride”.

So off I went no set route just south and then up Gleneagle drive to Sunhills drive. I found a road I hadn’t been on and ended up on Old Northgate by Flying Horse. Since there was no wind I decided to go down hwy 83 to New Life Church and then back home.

We never have a north wind in the evening. When a bunch of us were riding to work we had a head wind, North, on the way to work and a headwind, South, on the way home every day. Tonight when I hit hwy 83 I didn’t think much about it at the time but a nice north wind was beginning to blow. So my recovery ride fell apart on the way home. However I feel great.

Here are the numbers:
14.86 miles, 14mph avg., 39mph max, 1:03:22, burned 1053 calories with and avg hrt of 141, weighing in at 164 with 19.8% body fat.
B.T.W. my goal is 160 and 15% body fat. I don’t know if those numbers correlate or not but that’s the goal.

Top three things that make a great ride:
3. Newly paved roads.
2. False uphills.
1. Tail wind on the way home.
These are subject to change without notice.

As I walked out of the office at 5:05 to retrieve my biking clothes I realized there was a northwest wind and knowing how quickly the wind can change I dove into my clothes, onto the bike, and onto the Larkspur loop.

Nothing real earth shattering just a nice ride. I went up Larkspur pass, I know it’s just a hill but pass sounds so much more impressive, 2mph faster than two days ago.

The ride home was so much fun. I settled into a nice rhythm and flew home.

Here are the numbers:
21.42 miles, 15.2 mph avg, 38.5 max, 1:24:15 total time, burned 1573 total calories with an avg hrt of 163.

This weekend is packed so I don’t think I’ll get a ride in. We’ll see.