I went out for a solo morning bike ride today. The alarm beeped at 4, hit snooze until 4:30, then finally rolled out of bed. I was out the door and rolling down the street by 5:15, after eating a quick breakfast and checking the bike (tire pressure, lights, etc.). I followed the same route as usual. I went down Loveland-Madeira pretty well, hitting average speeds of 21 and 23 mph before I got to Camp Dennison. Once on the bike trail, I swallowed a few bugs and got one in an eye. I should ride with clear glasses, but I hate wearing them as they fog up or get covered in sweat. Wiping sweaty glasses with a sweaty shirt just makes it worse.
I saw a couple deer today, and the weather was amazing. Almost chilly when I started, and once I got warmed up it could not have been better. The weather forecast had a 50% chance of rain, but I didn't see anything.
I pulled off the bike trail in Milford, and turned onto Indian Hill road for some fun. My plan today was to ride up Indian Hill Road to the peak, then coast down and go up Old Indian Hill Road. Now that my 30 tooth "granny" gear is accessible with my derailleur, I made it up Indian Hill almost easily. But the higher cadence slowed my usual 9mph down to 8mph. This was fine, as I needed to save some energy for the next hill. The sun was creeping up and started to light everything up. I hit the top of the hill and turned. My ride down the hill was fun. I just coasted and rode around 25 mph. I remember thinking, "This is erasing all of my hard work." Hah ha.
For those not familiar with this road, it forks and Old I.H. goes straight and I.H. goes left, then after about 1.6 miles Old I.H. joins back to I.H. At the end, I turned left onto Old I.H. road and started to immediately see a difference between the two roads. I.H. has about a 4-5% grade, and Old I.H. immediately felt steeper. I was in my easiest gear (30 front x 25 rear) and after a couple minutes I was going side to side, trying to flatten this out. That didn't work, so I was standing and going up about 4mph. Later looking at the Strava detail, this first half mile or so is a 10% grade. Beast! But, after this initial climb, it's flatter than Indian Hill. I noticed the houses on Old I.H. are more visible. Beautiful area with giant homes.
I got going again pretty well at the top of Old I.H. and turned right onto I.H. and had my Clif Bar snack as I rode to Drake. Right on Drake, then left on Shawnee Run, then right on Miami until I was back in Kenwood. Great ride. Doing the second hill added about 10-12 minutes to my ride, and I wound up riding 27.4 miles in 1:43:22, with an overall average speed of 15.9 mph. Not bad considering the 2nd, steeper/slower hill. My first few miles were faster than usual though, so they helped lift my average. My Garmin with heart rate monitor says I burned about 900 calories, while Strava says 1200.
Oatmeal with blueberries and raspberries for breakfast, banana at 10am for a snack, turkey sandwich for lunch with some sushi from Kroger, and then a small 3-way and 1 chili cheese sandwich from Skyline with the family for dinner. My weight has been around 219-221 pounds, and my body fat is now in the upper 19's - down roughly 2-3% since January. I still have a lot of weight to lose, and I now think I can drop below 200 without looking like a skeleton. At this slow, sustainable rate, I'll be down to 200 by next spring.
It's funny how I get upset after my last two races, decide to chill out on the racing and return to enjoying this, and then my training seems to have slightly increased. How is that? It was a liberating feeling, letting go of all the pressure. We'll see how things go. On Strava, I joined the June bike competition. It's just who has the most miles by the end of the month. Last month's winner had 5,869 kilometers (3,646 miles) in 55 rides (avg of 66 miles per ride), so I'm no where near that. So far in June, my 2 rides (counting LMT) have me in 35,150th place overall and 2nd among other Cincy Express and BAM Racing guys. Strava is cool. I follow Lance Armstrong on there, however you feel about him. Even last months run challenge winner had over 300 miles run in the month. That's just nuts. But it's fun to see people from all over the world's training data.
Tomorrow is my wife's day to workout, so I'll be sleeping in. I'm scheduled to golf Saturday morning, and run 8 miles with a buddy before we play. Eight flat, slow and easy miles at Lunken Airport. It will be my longest non-race run in over a month.
Also, I received my new bike pedals and cleats today. They are LOOK Keo Classic in graphite gray color, with the gray 4-5 degrees of float cleats. Here are some photos. My old cleat (black) is very worn. My 10 year old right pedal is breaking, and it was just a matter of time before I couldn't use them anymore. I can use these pedals on my next bike, so I don't view the purchase as a waste. I mounted them up tonight, and rolled around the neighborhood adjusting them. They're all set, and I'm ready to go! They are a little lighter than my old pedals, and the Keo gets good reviews for this price point ($60 new off eBay is what I paid).
Here is the Strava data:
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