Ride Out Sunday May 2nd

Somebody upstairs was looking down on me today. "He's obviously not been on the bike for a couple of weeks, why don't we just turn the wind up a bit, give him more of a workout." Thanks for that. Peeking out the curtains first thing this morning, weather looked gorgeous. Popped one layer on with arm warmers, shorts with leg warmers, thinking I'd strip it all off as the ride progressed, took my windcheater for safe measure. How wrong was I. The wind picked up, I'm really glad I was wrapped up, as it turned out to be quite cold and the battering headwind gave me a right good pasting.

I did a loop from home over to Wilmslow and back today. As it turned out, it was a nice run. Got a puncture about 25 miles in on my brand new Michelin Pro Race 3 tyres (that's six flats so far this year), got that changed and pressed on. After about 37 miles I stopped in Hale for a coffee and cake and met a trio of roadies and had a right good natter. They were asking me about my Garmin 205 and subsequently the conversation went into heart rate and cadence counters, which surprising none of them used. One guy had been riding ten years, the other one year (like me) and his Mrs about five months. It really made me reflect on how much I'd learned about the general science around unpacking my own performance and the relationship between effort/cadence/gearing etc.

Setting off for the last 18 miles or so home, I had a real dip about 8 miles from home. The constant headwind made my legs feel heavy and I had a real inner battle to keep the pedals turning, I'm glad I did. After about 3 miles, I got my mojo back and had a final push to home.

I caught a club rider who was on a loop on his own. We had a good natter and it was great to have a bit of company for the last couple of miles into home. He'd been riding for ten years or so and was a real knowledgeable guy, great to share some experience.

I was pleased to get home, felt today's distance was just about right for me with the wind. Jumped straight into a hot bath, took the dog for a walk and cooled down. Ride summary. Total distance 55.5miles, avg. speed 15.7mph, avg. cadence 84, ride time 3hrs 31mins, heart rate avg. 151, total calories (estimate) 3270.