I've done 3 rides since getting her pieced back together on Sunday, with all three being surprisingly fast rides. The first two weren't supposed to be fast by any stretch, more of the "ease back into it" type of Zone 2 ride. Despite the easy effort (note: easy is a very relative term) I was putting out, my speeds were fast.
How fast?
Well as far as average speed goes, all three are in my top 5 average speeds for the last two summers. Its kind of apples to oranges considering these 3 said rides were only 1 - 1.5 hour rides, but considering I wasn't hammering and still had large average speeds I am excited. As far as a quantitative number, I've gone from 16.5 mph averages to 18.5ish. Thats a pretty significant jump in my opinion.
So what is causing it? I think its a combination of things, including:
1. I'm more fit, with better base endurance than ever before
2. Ruby's new shoes (Michelin Pro2 Race) are a lot faster than the porky, slow stock tires
3. The routes I've been doing are pretty flat, not any hard climbing
Last night's route was a 27ish mile loop out to Rabbit Mountain and back. I did wuss out and not do the big climb that lurks just around the corner (too much spaghetti for dinner!), but its a nice slowly ascending route with just 3-4 stop lights each direction. The elevation graph looks severe, but a quick glance at the scale shows it isn't really gaining that much elevation. There are plenty of hard climbing days to come, this is just a warm up.
With only 1.5 weeks of ski season left, Rbuy is going to continue to see a lot of miles. The road miles really seem to be the best, most efficient use of time as you can ride as hard or as easy as you want with a seemingly unlimited amount of nice roads with bike lanes or wide shoulders at your disposal.
Its going to be a good biking season...
No comments:
Post a Comment