Weekend Ride

I ended my first week of training by doubling the distance this morning. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Might not seem so great once you realize that my normal routine this past week was riding a mere 13 km before going into work. Today's ride, at 27 km start to finish, is roughly the distance to the first DRINK STATION. There will be about four of those along the ride for each day.

One thing I noticed after this ride was that I felt I could easily have continued. I have been riding at a comfortable pace, averaging just under 20 kph. As time goes on, I hope to push that up to at least 25 kph for an average. Any slower and it will just take too long to complete this ride. This is a lesson I learned when I was biking years ago: slower may seem easier, but it takes a toll in how much longer it requires to get where you are going. If this is an endurance ride, the best strategy is to complete it as quickly as you can without pushing yourself beyond what you are comfortable doing. Emphasis on 'quickly'.

I have been peppering shots of Vancouver in this post - they are all taken while out riding. I admit it, the photo taking is a great little way to take a mini-break when needed and I do use it as such at times. But I also fully intend to take lots of photos during this ride to Seattle. So I figure it's in line with how I will be riding anyhow.

Oh yeah, there was a wind warning today. I was pretty lucky in that the weather was at least sunny and warmer in the morning as compared to later in the afternoon (when we actually saw flurries for a brief minute). But even then, the wind was pretty strong. It all balanced out though - it was hard against me at times, while at other periods it pushed me up to 47 kph. Not bad for a mountain bike.

This last picture was taken a block from our place as I was ending my ride. This is the first blooming of Vancouver's cherry trees that I have noticed and has always been my informal signal that spring is here.