First "long" ride! WooHoo!!

BIKE: ~3:20 and 56.3 miles on the MCTs

Finally. Finally finally finally! I got in a real bike ride! YES!!!!

And it almost didn't happen this way. I was supposed to go to NT for a bike-swim-run type of thing, or at least some combination of the three (or maybe just two) but when I went to bed last night I realized I didn't want to go to NT. I hated NT. OK, that's strong. I really dislike NT.

Even though I needed the swim practice, something about paying $$ to swim in a cold pond 35-40 miles away from here just didn't appeal. Gee, what could that be? The temps? The money? The time lost driving? All peeves I have.

So I gave myself overnight to incubate on it, then when I woke up and still didn't like the idea I email-opted out and made my own plans on the MCTs, my security blanket-like trail system. I have other good reasons for doing this.

I wasn't sure of my bike skills yet, for some reason I had it in my head that I'd have to "learn" to ride again, so I was apprehensive about being in a group about to race TTT. I like to think that races are 'protected' in these situations. I sure as hell wouldn't want so f-up joining my group ride right before my big race! Also it was the first test of the bike outdoors, if there were any mechanicals I wouldn't want them slowing down the group. Wow, had a lot of reasons to skip NT didn't I?

Well, enough with the explain-aways. On to the ride!

The day was sunny and cool with the promise of warmer temps and pollen. My first eye-opener was how low Frea's bars are. Wow, I got used to the Bird's lax position. As soon as I started out on the trail, I remembered my previous experiences here in the spring. Sandy, itchy eyes and burning throat from the pollen! I also remember this ride (I thought it was last March but I can't find it in the history...) as one in which I mashed the pedals too much and ended with killer sore feets.

I got rolling and had some mental issues at the start. Somewhere around 10 miles I wanted to turn around and head home. Yeah, came all this way for 20 miles. Suck it up, buttercup.  Hit 15 miles and realized doing 30 would be easy enough. Hit 20 and knew that I was good for 50. The ride got better as I settled in.

Anything noted I need to work on? Well this was a flat ride, so I'll say hills need focus. And I say that because I had no "upper HR" stamina on this ride. I could hit a hard interval but I was only good for 30s or so. Hahaha, it's only the first ride! Everything felt great.