No Trainer For Me Today

I'm happy, happy, happy to say that I didn't ride my trainer today.

I got up around 8:30 a.m. It was so nice to sleep in for a change. I don't do that very often...maybe once a week if I'm lucky. Anyway, I was hopeful last night when I went to bed and noticed that the skies had cleared somewhat. I even saw the moon.

This morning when I awoke, the skies were still only partly cloudy. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the weather would last for a little longer. I wanted to ride my bike outside, but knew I probably wouldn't be ready to get out there for another hour or so. I was still trying to wake up.

So, I ate my toast and drank my coffee. I entered some info in my on-line workout journal and downloaded my Polar data. I checked the skies again. Weather still holding. After several days of nothing but gray skies and rain, it was nice to see weak sunshine and a few patches of blue.

I tentatively changed out of my pajamas and got my warm tights on. I didn't even bother with the padded ones (in retrospect, I'm glad they weren't padded). I donned other essentials like socks, shirt, and jacket. Next, I had to get my bike off the trainer. Not hard, but harder to do when someone in the house is still sleeping and you don't want to wake them.

That accomplished, I put on my shoes, stuck a water bottle in a cage, stuffed my recently and fully-charged cell phone into my bento box, grabbed my helmet and cyclometer and wrote a brief note to my loved one on the whiteboard in the kitchen. To wit, "Riding on the trail towards Orting. Back around 11:30." And I was GONE!

The first few pedal strokes felt wonderful. My bike was moving. I was pedaling and my bike was moving. Oh, that was wonderful indeed. I wasn't going very fast, but I didn't care. I was instructed by my coach to keep my heart rate in zone 1, with 50%of my time in zone 2. That was it. That meant I was going to be going very slowly.

After about 8 minutes or so, I reached the trail. This is the same one I traveled a few weeks ago, just before Halloween. All the kids were out chasing pumpkins looking for a jack-o-latern. Today, a helicopter was flying overhead. I could tell he was near the tree farm and my first inclination was that he was spraying the trees. That notion disturbed me, but as I drew nearer, it became very clear what he was doing. He was moving batches of Christmas trees from where they were cut to where they could be loaded. It was an interesting process to watch as it only took him a minute or two to make a round trip. At first I thought someone had to be on the ground hooking him up until I realized that he was using a huge electronic magnet. The chopper would drop down on one side of the trail, pick up a load by turning the magnet on, fly over to the other side and drop his load by turning the magnet off. It was interesting to watch.

I saw lots of cyclists out that apparently had the same idea as me. They were going to take advantage of the weather as long as it would hold. My goal today was to ride for a total of 75 minutes. But I figured a few minutes one side or the other wouldn't hurt too much, so I rode out one way for 45 minutes. I reasoned that with the headwind I was facing and the fact that it would be "downhill" on the way back, I would return faster than I went out. I was right, too. When I looked at the data later, it took me 48 minutes to reach my turn around spot, but it only took 37 minutes to return to my start position. I average just under 13 mph (oh, that is sad) on my way out, but averaged just under 16 mph (with a 23 mph max) on the way back without an appreciable increase in my perceived exertion. Okay, so those times won't buy me a spot on the tour with Lance, but after not being on the road for most of the last two months, I was pretty proud of myself.

In total, I managed to ride for an hour and 27 minutes and it was the best hour and a half of my day. To complete my week, I only have to do a 70 minute run tomorrow. Piece of cake.