Some days you go out for a ride or a run or even into the gym and everything clicks. You find your flow and and even the effort feels good. Then there are days like today. This was just not a pleasant ride. Had planned to do a 15km out and back on the M7 cycleway but there is currently maintenance work going on and we had to take a bit of a detour. No big problem. We decided to travel back in the opposite direction as far as we could go. It has a nice gentle climb which having looked on the elevation profile lasts about 5km. Also a bit of a disgusting headwind meant that for about 10km this was really quite hard work and not at all like the usual hot laps around Penrith Lakes. In any case we pushed on and of course in exchange for our effort on the out trip we blitzed home on the same gentle slope this time with a tailwind. In hindsight it was definitely a different sort of training stimulus from what I have been doing. The pedal cadence was generally much slower with more resistance than riding on the flat and there were many more twists and turns to negotiate. If anything I guess it was a good skill session with a bit of hill work thrown in.
On a seperate note this cycling caper has me confused. While I do love getting out on the bike very occasionally and especially for a bit of variety in the offseason I could not envisage being "a cyclist". Being hunched over the handlebars, lumbar and thoracic spine contorted over the frame of the bike while I allow my hamstrings and hip flexors to get short is not my idea of fun. Add to this lycra and a bike seat that does not get any more comfortable with practice and I just can not imagine how those guys on Le Tour do this hour after hour day after day. In the mean time I will stick with my short <40km rides.
| Time: | 01:18:56 |
| Distance: | 34.20 km |
| Elevation Gain: | 201 m |
| Calories: | 1,244 C |
Timing
| Time: | 01:18:56 |
| Moving Time: | 01:17:57 |
| Elapsed Time: | 01:23:21 |
| Avg Speed: | 26.0 km/h |
| Avg Moving Speed: | 26.3 km/h |
| Max Speed: | 44.6 km/h |
| Avg Pace: | 02:18 min/km |
| Avg Moving Pace: | 02:16 min/km |
| Best Pace: | 01:20 min/km |
Elevation
| Elevation Gain: | 201 m |
| Elevation Loss: | 196 m |
| Min Elevation: | 23 m |
| Max Elevation: | 90 m |
Heart Rate
| Avg HR: | 143 bpm(77%) |
| Max HR: | 168 bpm(91%) |
Do you wear bike pants? I had a look at some with awesome padding for the ass region.
ReplyDeleteYeh I wear them and they do help but I just couldn't see myself logging big km's it just gets too uncomfortable and it doesn't seem like a desirable thing for me to get used to it. Deadening the feeling in the crotch area is not the adaptation I am after. lol.
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