Accidentally I think I’ve found the purpose of short routes: much standing while pedaling to simulate a tough climb. So far I’m bad at it.

5 miles in 15 minutes

I added a Pedal Pull Up only section to Aurora & breaking things into 3s (4s with recovery pedaling) made things more focused. I still need to figure out a long medium & short.

I can’t explain the differing data or its interpretation

It’s the same app —one on phone one on wrist.

Although the app said 48° today with the wind & whatever speed I managed to generate today’s ride was cold enough that I needed the electric gloves & socks. That having been said, I was one kid out there in Summer-weight gear, not appearing to suffer at all. Perhaps I’m just old.

Since the Park Improvers saw fit to work on a new River Overlook I had to take an annoying & bumpy detour — ironically enough I wore my Paris-Roubaix Sunday In Hell Jersey today, yet I complained.

One of those days when it seemed all winds were headwinds.

I’ve pedaled better.

I went with a flatter route I’ll say because I had some wearifying Zyrtec in me against the dying leaf mold but in reality I was just tired. I did better math this time & eked out 32 miles and chose Electric Ave (which has 2 steep hills) as my exit.

I got passed & got to chase down a fine old man with demonstrably stronger legs & better pedaling technique than I have & learned much from him over 2 miles.

Nearly 800 feet of Up now defines Flatter Route

Early-Season successes are small but important.

Another windy day with gusts near 30 mph. My electric gloves and socks cut the cold very well but nothing cuts the wind but fortitude. On Aurora I’ve been working of up-stroke pedaling but so far it still does not come naturally; this is what the off-season is for.

I went & bought a Remarkable writing pad and I suspect there’s a way to scribble on it & transfer to here. Expect many failures first.

600 feet of up is 100 feet more than my self-imposed 500 feet minimum. So whew!

One can clearly see where I had a 30 mph tail wind.

With gusts just below 30 mph I took the heavy bike out for a ride. I was nearly alone out there, so nobody got blown into me & I didn’t get blown into anyone else. I’ll call it a win. The road just up against the freeway (it can’t possibly be called First) still has the tire-flattening divot in it at exactly the wrong place, so I float way to the left to protect my tires — so naturally now they put up a barricade so the oncoming traffic has to merge into that same middle lane too. It’s a frustrating process getting miles near Me Sad Field.

For only the second time in 10 years I got passed going up Frisbee Golf Hill. He was a very young polite dude tho & cranking his smallest gear; this means war.

Nearly 1000 feet Up. I added a tough back loop to the standard route, made tougher by the wind.

Hoping for improvement all the way around.

I had a very late start to my day this morning & had to push everything back by hours. I finally got my indoor ride started at 3:30. It’s quite a different feel that late in the day. Pushed just a little harder tho.

Looking forward to some occasional 20 milers

I’m certain I’m not the first to fall for the relentless resistance of the AirBike. I had someone question my lack of a Peloton since they are all the rage under lockdown. I denigrated their online dependency & lack of actual suffering (despite never having tried one; I’m a stinker) & recounted how I want my indoor rides to resemble as closely as possible an outdoor uphill ride — which means constant resistance.

I won’t make a direct rock-climbing analogy but climbing something slightly over-hanging has much the same pleasure as riding uphill.

At any rate I set myself up for an early season pattern of 2 outside rides and one Aurora per week to get my legs to strength.

I’m looking for 3 variations on Aurora: HIIT – perhaps 7 miles. Sprint-Intervals – 10-12 miles; Steady maintained pedaling – hoping for 15-18 miles.

This will be a Decrescendo; events make other events insignificant.

43° when I started so I wore the electric socks & gloves. They work surprisingly well. After about an hour the wind came up but I committed pretty heavily to 31 miles so I used it as incentive. The best part about late-Winter riding is the leaflessness —you can see danger or its absence around every formerly blind-corner. There was a comforting lack of People out there today.

I’m particularly happy about the 740 feet of climbing; that wasn’t in the plan.

From such beginnings might come better things

Children draw an awful lot of attention — for good reason for parents enjoy regarding their own living legacies occasionally tho it’s wise to cast a protective eye at the things in motion around the precious bundles of joy. Children meandering on mixed-use paths present as many pleasures for parents as they do endangered impediments to even attentive cyclists.

I’m good at dodging kids both still & in various degrees of motion, but I don’t always enjoy having to prove it.

At any rate, I dodged all successfully & had a good ride with some wind. Working out the leg-fatigue & relearning the required pedaling styles. Early Season has pleasures & horrors.

The grounds-crew was working the far loop so I had to come up with a truncated substitute.

Still working on my Activity v Rest