First Ride of 2010

I can't believe I had an opportunity to ride outside on March 4th in Northern Alberta, that is almost unheard of in this part of the country. It was so nice to feel the sun and brisk wind on my face, I was loving every minute of it. I was on my way out of our little community and I saw a lady in a car obviously in a fight with her daughter because she was screaming and waiving her arms around and I was thinking, "man I am sooooo lucky that's not me." I love my quiet, serene life where I decide where I want the excitement to come from. Today it's from riding my bike HARD and off I went, 25kms to Bezanson and back.

I started off very well just like most years my power on the bike was great, averaging 37-39km/hr all the way out. I was thinking of turning around after 20kms but I wasn't sure if I'd get a chance like this again so I kept going a little longer. I should have turned around because I was seriously struggling on the way back, all of the sudden my heart rate dropped and I had no energy. I felt a little bonky out there but I wasn't in a race and didn't care about time I just wanted to have that feeling of actually moving, it was awesome! I remembered why I love riding my bike, it's such a feeling of freedom and joy that you just can't get from a lot of other things. I enjoy trail running, swimming, mountain biking but riding on the road is that perfect balance of getting the most speed you can out of your body and the adrenalin rush of being the engine moving through the air at 40kms/hr. I was getting a little cold on the way back and my water stayed cold the whole ride, which is very strange, but I didn't mind 90 minutes out on my bike in March is definitely worth it.

I've been trying to make more of an effort to get in the water as well. So far, so good 4 swims this week with over 10kms in total and a 1500m TT effort at 26 minutes, not my best time but it gives me something to improve on. I'm hoping to get down to 21-22 minutes in three months, just need to keep the workouts consistent. Now that I have a few swims under my belt I'm enjoying it a lot more too. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't need to make every swim a super-hard effort. I took it easy today and just worked on technique and strength building, I'll save the intervals for another day.