I think I'm going to become quite a regular with these weekend long-distance training rides with Caius and the Montreal cyclists. Caius ended up being a bit late, so I rode with a few other people, namely Jeff and Rhonda. Yes, I'm just typing their names so I don't forget. I'm the worst with names, but when you're riding for two and a half hours with nothing to think about some things reverberate in your head. I usually get a couple bars of a bad song stuck in my head. Or maybe a couple lines of dialogue from a bad TV show. Same thing when I'm washing cars.
Today was 51 kms through my old riding areas in Scarborough and Pickering. It was a pretty nice ride, if a little chilly. I don't know what else to say other than I'm really enjoying this. Everyone I met was really cool, and it really helps riding with a group of people. The fact that there are so many of us makes it much easier to be spotted by drivers, and it's nice to be able to gauge your riding to other people's.
Much of my ride today was behind Jeff, who is a very light guy riding a hybrid. I swear the bike nearly weighed as much as him. The thing I noticed was going up hills he flew. I was riding in my granny gear standing up, and he would blow by me like I was barely moving. But when we had downhills I would see him pedalling like mad, and I would just come behind him without pedalling at all and pass him. It's amazing what kind of difference a few pounds makes to your momentum. Even on extremely slight hills, I would only be pedalling twice every eight strokes or so and I'd have no problem keeping up with anybody. But of course even slight hills in the opposite direction would send my heart rate soaring.
I averaged a heart rate of 143, which was within a few of Caius and close to my target. 50% of my time was spent in zone 3, and I assume most of the rest of the time I was below. However there were a few times I went over, where the max was in the 180 range. For the next trip I will have my computer hooked up.
I'm definitely going to be a regular. Next week are back to back rides on Saturday and Sunday. I don't know if I can do both, but I think it's a good possibility right now...
Today was 51 kms through my old riding areas in Scarborough and Pickering. It was a pretty nice ride, if a little chilly. I don't know what else to say other than I'm really enjoying this. Everyone I met was really cool, and it really helps riding with a group of people. The fact that there are so many of us makes it much easier to be spotted by drivers, and it's nice to be able to gauge your riding to other people's.
Much of my ride today was behind Jeff, who is a very light guy riding a hybrid. I swear the bike nearly weighed as much as him. The thing I noticed was going up hills he flew. I was riding in my granny gear standing up, and he would blow by me like I was barely moving. But when we had downhills I would see him pedalling like mad, and I would just come behind him without pedalling at all and pass him. It's amazing what kind of difference a few pounds makes to your momentum. Even on extremely slight hills, I would only be pedalling twice every eight strokes or so and I'd have no problem keeping up with anybody. But of course even slight hills in the opposite direction would send my heart rate soaring.
I averaged a heart rate of 143, which was within a few of Caius and close to my target. 50% of my time was spent in zone 3, and I assume most of the rest of the time I was below. However there were a few times I went over, where the max was in the 180 range. For the next trip I will have my computer hooked up.
I'm definitely going to be a regular. Next week are back to back rides on Saturday and Sunday. I don't know if I can do both, but I think it's a good possibility right now...
1 Responses to “a damn good ride”
Leave a Reply
about me
- i'm geo
- from t-dot
my other places
-
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called my favourites. Make your own badge here.
my weekly top tracks
Wow! I'm mentioned in someone's blog. That's awesome. I think it's the first time. Feels nice :)
The Sunday ride was great. I'm sorry I was late. Tried my best to catch up to you and I did manage to pass about 6 other cyclist but just couldn't make up the time difference between us. I think I need to be riding at that level all the time instead of the lighter level I was riding before. I definitely got more of a workout than on the other training rides.
Still, it was great to see you and hang out even if just for a bit at the end and on the subway ride home. I'm really glad you came out. Hopefully you'll join us on some of the other rides. I'll be there and this time I won't be late.