First 6 Rides of 2012

We have started riding earlier in the 2012 cycling season than we did in any of the prior three seasons. The weather has been cold, but it has also dry enough to ride. In fact today was the only non-wet day on several of the multi-day forecasts I have been checking, so I made sure to get out and ride.

First 6 Rides Total Ride Distance: 237 miles   Average Ride Distance: 39.46 miles   Total Elevation Gain: 13,587 feet   Average Elevation Gain: 2,265 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.21 mph

We've pretty much either headed down to Frenchman's Bar on the Columbia River where it is very flat, or headed north to ride all the hills between here and Ridgefield. A little over a week ago (on Monday the 6th) we started a ride toward Woodland to change it up, but it was so windy by the time we got to La Center that we cut the ride short. On our way back another blue heeler decided to come visit us. It was a little uphill section and we were riding into a headwind, so he was able to catch us easy. Somehow Amy and I didn't work our usual "picket fence" maneuver, so he very quickly got right next to Amy. After a second or two she finally moved ahead and to the left, so the dog decided to give me some up close barks.

I stopped pedaling and unclicked my right shoe. He was right there. SMACK! Right on the top of his head, with the resulting "Yelp!". I think the yelp was more from surprise than from pain, as I didn't really connect all that hard. But I hoped he might reconsider his ways.

Well, on today's solo ride I went past the same place. There's no way to know for sure, but I'm guessing he hasn't learned his lesson. Never got a chance to get near me though as I was going considerably faster this time without the headwind. He did bark and chase from a distance though.

OOPS. Didn't really mean to publish this post right then, I actually intended to save it and finish it later. Oh well.

So I mentioned in a prior post how I don't push it hard enough on my one "speed ride" each week. Here is my evidence:


You can see in 2010 I was improving my speed for the first few rides and then plateaued for most of the season. Last year was a mess due to all the early rain. Both years I did some hard rides at the end of the season, and based on the spikes it is clear that I was leaving some effort on the table on numerous earlier rides.

This year I am on the right track. It will be interesting to see how things progress in 2012. I have included the above graph on the Ride Stats page and will be updating it after each time I ride the Throbbing Thigh Thriller route.

Today's ride was a metric century, and I was surprised how tough it was on my legs for the last 10 miles. I guess it makes sense though, as my longest ride of the season prior to today was 40 miles. A 50% increase is certainly doable, but doesn't mean you won't feel it.

Oh, and about that marathon... I suppose it is still technically possible to salvage it, but I have my doubts. I have skipped several scheduled training runs in favor of riding my bike. And when I did get back to a couple of those training runs it was noticeably more difficult than anticipated. Then again, there is a lot of rain in the forecast. I foresee much indoor running...