Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Saturday, December 10, 2005

So the plan today was to go out and ride a hundred miles in training for an endurance race I'd like to do in February. The idea was to try and stay below 150 on the ole heart rate while keeping the speed in the high 19's. Great plan. The weather called for cold conditions with little wind so I figured I'd wait until about 11 am and then ride during the warmest part of the day.

As I got out the temp had warmed into the low 40's and I was stoked for a good ride. I was going to do two 50 mile loops with a stop at the house to refill the bottles so I wouldn't have to carry more than two. As I left I realized that there was a bit of wind but it didn't seem to bad. At least not until I got about ten miles into the ride and then it was like someone decided to flog me. I fought into a 15 mph head wind for aobut 15 miles until I made a turn and got the wind at my back. After thet it wasn't oo bad for a while but I had used a lot of energy fighting my way into it. When I got home the first time I switched bottles and it seems that the wind switched as well. For the second loop I fought head or side winds for most of the ride.

I ended up averaging about 18.9 mph and burned about 10% more calories than I usually do. That was pretty much a bummer as I'm wiped out right now to some extent. Still, it was a good training ride and I expect to do more like it over the course of X-mas break. I just wish I could find a route that was a little less hilly. The endurance race (24 hours of Sebring) will be held in Florida and I'm guessing I did more climbing in the first loop of my ride today than I'll do in all of the event in Sebring.

Thanks fo Reading.

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