Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Riding into the wind doesn't scare me

Last night the focus was getting back into the pool.

Tonight it was putting some decent miles on the bike.

Unlike the pool, I haven't totally been neglecting my bike the last few months. I just haven't been showing it quite as much love as I should be. As in, my longest (outdoor) ride to date this year? 11 miles. Not bad. A decent post-work ride. But not quite up to the 21 miles that I'll be riding when the High Cliff Sprint Triathlon rolls around next weekend.

So today after work I hopped on the bike, intending to get a fairly decent ride in. I wasn't completely sure how far I wanted to go, I just knew I wanted to ride until I started to feel it. So I headed south out of town along the lake. I was flying. Feeling good. Got to my turn around point and soon discovered why the first 6 miles felt so good.

I was riding with the wind. And not just a gentle breeze. Nope. More like steady 20 mph winds with fairly frequent gusts around 30mph. And all of a sudden, one little turn and I was now riding into the wind.

Not as easy.

But I kept pedaling. Avoided being blown over. While my speed did drop, it never fell into single digits. And although it was hard, I didn't seem to be getting too tired. So I kept riding. Added on some extra loops around some neighborhoods. Kept turning away from my house. Because remember, I didn't have an exact route mapped out. Just wanted to see how far I could go and still feel good.

I ended up pulling into my driveway after 17.15 miles. Probably could have managed to tack on the extra 3 miles to make it an even 20, but it was starting to get late and my tummy was starting to growl. I was hungry.

So 17.15 miles in 1 hour, 13 minutes. And remember, there was wind to battle. Not bad. I'll take it. And after tonight's ride, I'm not so worried about the bike leg of the triathlon. I always knew I could do the distance, I just needed to get one longer ride under my belt before race day to reassure myself.

Tomorrow? I run.

5 comments:

MCM Mama said...

Nice job!

Amytrigirl (aka Amybee) said...

can I just tell you how much I hate riding my bike when it is windy? Can I?

I'm sure you'd relate.

GREAT job giving the conditions. Sometimes is it all about "just getting back on the bike".

Marlene said...

Great job getting on the bike!

teacherwoman said...

Nice job with the ride! I haven't been out on my bike YET and I really really need to! Hope the run goes well today!

Nat said...

Way to go! I hate the wind too but have started to see it as a challenge in a good way believe it or not. Trying to change my mental outlook on it! So far, so good! Nice work!