Just a quick note to remind me to come here more often.

Posting this fr0m my Ulysses app — I had no idea I could do that.

I say heavy but she’s only 32 pounds. In comparison my other bike is about 22 pounds. So there’s that. The construction detour is done so I took a less chicaned route — save for the Fireworks Cleanup. I’d wanted to leave at 10 but today’s Tour Stage locked me to my seat.

The heat kept most people inside so about a dozen of us had the paths to ourselves.

It’s a good route. I’ll keep it in rotation.

I took out the heavy bike and rode some hills I used to ride in prep for rides to the Dam. There was some wind but the leg — the legs actually — did fine. I’ll work on a better more difficult exit from Shelby to take advantage of these hills.

It felt like more than 1255 feet of Up.

Trying to apply some uphill sprinting

I didn’t get the early start I wanted because my magnetic locking gate was acting up. It takes 2 degrees in electrical engineering to understand the guts of a magnetic locking gate control box. But at any rate eventually I got on the road & despite 2 enforced detours I got in a good ride on a hot windy day.

Mostly flat but I managed 1323 feet of climbing along with about 4 miles of intermittent sprinting.

The leg never complained at all.

Nearly sprinting levels.

There was much more wind than I expected. I can usually use Me Sad Field to block wind for a few miles, collectively, but they had the blockade up so I had to use the detour route. Oddly enough the detour route has fewer pieces of glass on the road.

I got passed twice at the Airport but not by anyone doing multiple laps. The wind there was unabated so the full straightaway was very tough one direction & completely easy in the other direction. A fun ride.

I’ll get into a better Airport pattern as my leg strengthens.

I took advantage of low humidity to hit the Airport. There was just the right amount of wind. I can still feel the power-gap in my right leg but I’m learning to ride around it.

I’ve been riding exclusively on 16 teeth in the rear — my traditional climbing gear — and I’m looking forward to sprinting on 14 teeth again like the old days.

A good day

I avoided 30 mph gusts today by pedaling inside. Just straight pedaling for 13 miles total in 40 minutes. I noticed that my leg feels more integrated after Aurora — perhaps simply due to Blood-Flow.

No actual Sprinting but the pedaling felt good.

I’m looking for the right pattern now to get 2000 feet of up across 31 miles. Actually I think I’ve found the pattern but me legs won’t yet allow me to follow it, so I came home with about 1200 feet climbed. The hills right up next to The Otter Pond are beautifully steep with almost no traffic of any kind.

Leg is starting to get stronger.

I took advantage of the low humidity to try the Airport and some sprinting. About 6 laps or 8 miles. I’m by no means ready for the old training rides but my October I ought to be able to make regular visits.

There were only a few of us there which is surprising

A good day

Right at about 41 miles I knew my leg wd not be able to get me home so I cut the ride down to 42 & change. I made it up the final 3 hills just fine but a longer ride wd’ve been disastrous. There was a time this wd’ve irked & depressed me but this season is entirely prep for next season.

It was hot — 92 without factoring in humidity. When your legs are weary all winds feel strong but nevertheless there was some wind out there too. It felt good tho to get in a more lengthy ride.

2 trips to the Airport with just one lap each. Wednesday I’ll try for a few actual sprint-intervals