First Outside Ride

I had my first ride outside for the first time this season, 54 miles to be exact!  The weather was finally nice (Sunny and 71 when I finished).  There is nothing like the feeling of putting good solid miles outside. It's a feeling of freedom!

I did notice a few thing.  I've been on the compu trainer since last September.  The compu trainer is fun, there is a computer screen with all sorts of numbers to look at and focus on. Outside, I have horses, beautiful yards, etc to look at.  One thing I noticed about riding outside versus is indoors is that I have to be really focused outside, in fact a lot MORE focused outside.   It's to easy to let my legs rest after climbing a hill by coasting downhill and letting gravity to the work.  It's also easy to get stuck in a big gear and five minutes later I realize my cadence is only at 75 (my ideal is 85-95).  It's also easy to forget to fuel.  In fact, I forgot to fuel for the first 50 minutes of my ride.  It's not a good habit to form.

On another note, I got a flat.  Last season I had two flats the entire time, my first was at Wellfit while riding on a computrainer, my second was during Ironman when I was using race wheels!   I have practiced in my living room though plenty of times.  I know how to change a tire.   Maybe it was my blond hair, maybe it was me telling them that I hate changing tires, who knows but my two other friends enjoyed giving me a lesson on changing a tire.  Narrating each step for me  Since they had so nicely stopped and waited for me and are also just good people, I wasn't going to snap at them and say "you think I don't know how to change a tire?"  So instead, I put my best dumb blond act on and let them instruct me. Oh the fun!

The training ended with a 30 minute run.  The first fifteen minutes were the worst.  My legs felt like jello, and I felt like I was going slower than a man with a walker.  I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my garmin at the end and my average pace for the run was a 9:43 mile.  That's a nice pace for me! It was also nice because I had more energy during the last 15 minutes of the run, meaning I didn't go out to strong.