Helping a friend

Saturday's Salem Lake ride was a bit of a recovery ride and a bit of a summer long quest to help Eric do the Salem Lake route in less than one hour. Last week it took us 1 hour 6 minutes. This week, 1 hour 5 minutes. It looks like we are on our way. 

 

Data Scarcity

Data is going to be a little sparse the next few weeks. Sent off the garmin for warranty repair and it's going to take 10-14 days to get her back. It's surprising to me how dependent I've become on my HR reading to gauge my effort. It should be an interesting problem and opportunity to transition back to riding without it and see how I do.

Saturday's ride was on the Kona 29er with Eric around Salem Lake. The ride itself was fun although the trail as soft from the the rain. We were not screaming around the trail but we did put in a good effort and finished the long trail in under an hour and 10 minutes. Eric said his goal if to complete this loops in under and hour by the end of the summer. That should be a crazy ride.

Distance: 19.29 km
Speed:  22.5 kmh
Cadence:  ?? rpm
AVG HR:  ?? bpm
Weight:  201.2 lbs

Recovery rides the way they were meant to be

Recovery Week.

The joys of getting on a bike and not really having a specific goal were experienced Saturday. The schedule called for easy 15 minutes in the 72-81% range day. So instead of following the letter of the law I followed the spirit and went for a quick easy spin around salem lake with Eric. Nothing strenuous, just relaxed. I hit the last hill with a medium effort just to feel like I accomplished something.

Distance: 21.02 km
Speed: 19.35 kmh
Cadence: 80 rpm
AVG HR:  129 bpm
Weight: 204.4lbs

Another Double Day

The weather was pleasant Saturday. Temperatures soaring to a balmy 56F. I was looking forward to, the currently 3 week old habit of, riding around the lake with Eric. Given the temperature, I was expecting trail conditions to be quite different compared to the last two "freezing my testicles off" rides and I was not disappointed. The soft ground made for some slick, mucky and wet sections. We had to really focus and pick our lines as the wheels slid side-to-side through mud puddles on downhills, corners and lake shore.

Our speed was slower than past rides but was enjoyable and the effort noticable. I don't know what it is about mud but the more chunks of mud that fly up and hit my back, into my glasses and spatter my jacket the more fun I have. As another bonus from the weather, Eric felt he could do the longer distance today so we were able to include the tennis courts leg and add a few more K's to the ride. Then, to top it off, the last hill seemed easier than last week. I don't know if I chose a better gear, if I was steadier on the effort, or my fitness has hit the sweet spot for that hill but it was slightly exhilarating going up and thinking, "Wow, this is good today!".

While the ride was good, it did not accomplish the training goals for the day of being in the LT zone for 20 steady minutes. So after lunch I hit the trainer and put in official training as well. Today called for the longest time @ LT yet, 20 minutes sustained 83-90% max HR. It was a more difficult that I expected. I was only able to hold a 53-23 gear for the workout part of the session and it was a good thing I was permitted to keep my cadence with a 10 rpm range since I had difficulty holding a steady rhythm. I was most stable @ ~87 rpm, keeping the HR @~87% max but I popped over 90% a few times and under 83% once or twice while the cadence variance was way way larger than normal. I'm thinking the ride earlier in the day might have had someting to do with that.

On the plus side, the longer lake ride and the longer LT workout meant I was over 30K today and probably staved off further weight gain as I start to put my eating habits back on track.

Kona Ride

Distance: 22.6 km

Speed:  16.6 kmh

Cadence:  81 rpm

AVG HR:  139 bpm

Weight:  207.6 lbs

Orbea training

Distance: 13.75 km

Speed:  21.7 kmh

Cadence:  87 rpm

AVG HR:  159bpm

Weight:  207.6 lbs

Jaunty Salem Lake Cruising

Another endurance workout planned for Saturday's ride. However, Eric wanted to go around Salem lake and invited Dustin and myself along. Since I was scheduled for a light hour long ride I agreed. Was a little skeptical I would be able to accomplish the 60 minute ride @ 77-85% max HR and  the 90-110 rpm given the trail was covered in ice, snow and muck. I also was a little concerned that I might push him and/or Dustin too hard or, given the light nature of the workout, go too slow. 

It was cool but after we got going, it was great biking. The snow was crunchy and allowed good grip for the tires and you could get along the trail nicely as long as you paid attention. The ice was sparse and easy to avoid while the muck laden sections on the north side of the lake were neither deep nor wide. I don't think there was enough time for the ground to thaw and as a result it was easy to ride and worth every last mud caked spattering moment.

Everything went well until the last climb which was still in the shade. Very little of the snow had melted, but one section (right after we took a hairpin turn) had thawed and refroze after some other cyclists had gone through. The tracks were very very slick and rutted.  I hit them a little off balance and had to reacte quickly to stay up and on the path. I bit of an adrenaline rush there. Dustin also made it, adjusting his gearing after seeing what I went through, but Eric was not as lucky. He had to put his foot down onto the ice and almost went down. Good on him for staying upright though! 

Finshed the trail in about 55 minute. The workout had 10 minutes warm up, 60 minute spinning and 5 minute cool down so after biding adieu to my cycling partners I went back out on the trail to finish it off. With only 2-3 brief exceptions (getting up some particularly short steep sections ) I was able to keep the HR and the cadence in the desired range. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the ride.

And so begins Week 2 of the first microcycle.

Distance: 16.86 km

Speed: 14.12 kmh

Cadence: 97 rpm

AVG HR: 154 bpm

Weight: 210 lbs