On the Road Again

Thank you Sun.  Your appearance saved me from yet another day on the trainer.  As soon as I saw the neighborhood streets free of ice and the current temp climbing faster than anticipated I set my sights on bundling up for a (gasp!) outdoor ride!  I took off as soon as it was 45 degrees and it felt great to be on the road again.  

Well, not great exactly.  My body's still adjusting to that new activity (aka running) and the legs didn't want to move early on.  I did get warmed up however and took off northbound for the 205 Bypass, by far the most popular stretch of road for cyclists in Rockwall.  I also figured it would be one of the safest on this particular day as it's a main road likely to be free of ice at this point.  That turned out to be reality though there were some less friendly stretches on the connecting roads to get me there.  Not because of ice, mind you, but because of the truckloads of sand that had been dropped at the intersections and bridges.

The real surprise was how long it was before I saw another cyclist.  As I said, this is a popular route yet I had 24 miles under my belt before spotting anyone else on 2 wheels.  C'mon people!  Once I did spot another outdoor adventurer it was only another 5 miles before encountering a trifecta of triathletes doing hill repeats.  That's more like it.

By this point my pace was starting to slip as my right quad was getting tighter.  I finished up my last loop on the bypass then headed home coming in a hair over 40 miles (a hair being .07mi).  My plan had me going a bit further but my body was saying I was done.  The good news is this was the first 40+ mile ride I had completed since mid-November ..... wow, has it been that long?  Coincidentally that was right before putting on a few extra holiday pounds which as of yesterday have all been taken back off.  Feels good starting off this season at my best weight from last season.

Stay tuned to the blog .... there's a lot on the plate the next two weeks leading up to Angelia's first duathlon!