Saturday June 27th, 2009

Today was a mileage ride as opposed to a climbing ride like the past two weekends. Nanci was out of town this weekend so I hit the paths on my own. I did a big loop around the southeast-ish part of the city and suburban areas. The ride was quite eventful: I ran over a snake, saw deer munching on grass 20 feet off the path, and had a lady totally wipe out on her bike right in front of me which led to a really really nasty gash on her elbow... ow! The ride felt good, although by the time I was on the return part of the loop, it was pretty toasty outside and I was almost dripping from sweat... definitely summertime in Denver!

I found myself struggling with transitioning between cruising pace and climbing pace. The C/E-470 trail has some nice rolling hills. I would get going on a pretty good pace on the downhills and flats, but then found myself trying to keep that pace when the next hill came along to climb. Needless to say, I would die halfway up the hill. Something new to think about!

Ride Stats:

Distance: 56 miles

Time: 4.5 hours including a bathroom break and stop at a bike shop for tire air and some energy supplements.

Challenge: Transitioning between cruising pace and climbing pace.

Goal: As said before... get on the bike at least 3 times a week and/or do some sort of training to keep active.

Map: