I ordinarily eat very well the day before a ride even of moderate distance but Saturday I did not behave ordinarily. Saturday was supposed to be a riding day but the rain we needs so much finally arrived so I moved Riding Day to Sunday. Alas I ate poorly & had a difficult ride.

Still, all rides are good rides.

I could not make myself find those 3 final miles I usually put into a Gastrique, but was pleasantly surprised by the Elevation Gained number for such a flat ride.

Still in the Sprinting Gear but I avoided the Airport due to the wind.

They are setting-up the bleachers again for our non-Formula One race. Always good to see us getting some good exposure plus they sweep the streets more often for the Professionals.

I’ll fault more the pollen than the heat for keeping me inside but in the end it’s the heat as well. Both legs stayed strong today.

With cool-down I put in 46 minutes.

I figured all day it was going to rain, so I put-off any outside riding. Naturally it did not rain so I took Aurora for 15 miles. Just over 46 minutes but I included no sprints.

The leg feels good.

In several weeks I’ll be overjoyed about the newly paved roads on my usual routes, but While The Hay Grows The Horse Starves and While You’re Beating Your Swords Into Plowshares You Can’t Plow And You Can’t Fight. Three of my regular hilly exits are closed & I didn’t realize it until I had committed to those routes. So, a few miles of Airport Weary-Leg Sprinting ended my ride.

The Sprinting was not intense but it was sincere.

I got to reenact one of my favorite film rides too.

I won’t mention the guy who tried to run me over in order to buy gas

I’ve cut my walks down to 4 miles or fewer with the early heat. I hope to get an early ride on Saturday but today I used Aurora

I went with 50-55 rpm as my Base Rate and sprinted 3 times at 60-63 rpm and once at 70-73 rpm plus a minute of standing-pedaling. A good 10 miles in 31 minutes

70s rpm turns out to be roughly 25 mph yet the article I read on HIIT wants me to hit 100 rpm during some sprints. Egad

At least the humidity broke though. Had I not eaten stupidly today would have been 46 miles. About mile 28 I knew it would not happen. Still it was a good day even for a short ride.

I avoided most hills and took on,y the Shelby Exit; I’m more than a little surprised at 1271 feet of Up.

Still in the Sprinting Gear.

Avoiding the heat in my old-age. I read an interesting HIIT article focusing on heart-rate ranges over one minute intervals governed by RPMs instead of Time. Since Aurora has an RPM window I gave it a try.

The article was clearly not written for old folks since it talked about 100 RPMs & I have topped out in the 70s at my best — which I believe is how AirBikes are designed. I aimed at stead rates of 50-54 and accelerated rates of 60-65. Before I have seen my rate after a sprint drop into the mid 40s so I kept an I on that. “Resting” above 50 RPM is tougher than I thought.

I’ll see if the heat will let me outside or not. Perhaps only Aurora thus week.

I’m still reluctant to switch out of the sprinting gear so I climbed a few hills and then Weary Leg sprinted at the Airport. Very low humidity today; a fine day for cycling.

I stacked-up the hills early since the loop around Titans Stadium has been hijacked by Fan Fair.

I’m not yet in-shape enough to push a late sprint into the 180s.

On the whole a good day out there.

So I used an exercise band because some Instagram post told me to & tweaked my knee. Two days of semi-rest and today I tested it out on Aurora. About 7 miles in a little over 20 minutes. I really ought to ride Aurora more anyway. Knee feels fine.

She’s a good AirBike. Gives wonderful resistance like you’re riding only uphill into the wind.

Straight pedaling with no sprinting. I’ll ease back into it.

I figured I’d get an early enough start around Titans Stadium to suffer no traffic issues but alas someone in a Jeep took offense at how I take corners (I’m riding a Fixie) and did her best to pin me to the curb. I’m too nimble to be pinned tho.

After 16 miles circling the stadium I lit out for the Airport and actually rode well. The leg-wobble is still there but I notice it less I guess. Somehow on lap 5 I noticed the traveling Eastern Box Tortoise heading from the asphalt into the grass. How I missed that before I have no idea.

I knew at mile 18 I was going for the full 46; putting the weirdly sweat-tasting Liquid IV super-hydration powder into my lone bidón turns out to have been a smart idea. I started off riding in the low 80s & finished in the low 90s.

Not many of us out there

That tortoise is my Spirit Animal