I took today off work, and after finishing chores around the house. Among other things this included replacing a hard drive in the DNS-321 unit which was A) very easy and B) the failed hard drive didn't cause any lost data or interruption of service.
Finally, after all this stuff that really didn't need to take up time on a day off, I set off on a road ride. I originally wanted to put in 50-60 miles, but since I wasn't able to leave until 2:30 or so, I was running into a later hard stop deadline. So, I played around with google maps until I found a slightly shorter route. It turned out to be about 41 miles, average speed 16.3. It was a beautiful day- sunny, warm, and with a slight breeze.
It wasn't a bad route- basically head west on the St. Boni trail, loop around the SW side of Lake Minnetonka, then head back on the LRT trail, then hook back up with McGinty road and the 494 trail to head back up north. However, the google bike route generator has some missing data- just FYI the County Road 11 between St. Boni and Victoria has basically zero shoulder. The bonus surprise was jumping on some trails again at the Lowry Nature Preserve NW of Victoria- very nice and scenic park from what I could see from the trail.
Unfortunately, just after I turned around at the farther point out near St. Boni, poof, the rear tire blew out. Very fast deflation, and it took a small chunk out of the tire. It looked like a staple or nail hole, but the offending party didn't stick around for me to see. I rarely get road flats, so this was actually the first time I had tried my birthday present from several years ago out- a nice looking Serfas carbon tube mini-pump. Once I figured out that I had to remove the little plastic component inside of the pump head for it to fit right on the presta valve stem, it worked fine. I was probably able to get it up to 80 PSI or so for the ride home, no more problems.
My legs felt pretty decent until when I turned north on McGinty road and the bike trail north of it- there are some big hills, and my quads were pretty much done. I'm going to have to crank up the road mile volume fast.
Goals: 2000 miles road & 500 miles dirt before the Dakota Five-O. I'm currently at 465 / 118 so I have a ways to go. There is 12 weeks left before the big race, so I'll have to average 128 road miles and 32 dirt miles every week. I think the road miles might be do able, but the dirt will be tough or impossible. A good goal, though.... In past years I've averaged about 1700 miles per year, so these goals are a significant increase.
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Sounds like a nice ride. You picked a great day to take off! Just amazing outside (after noon anyway). Your goal miles are pretty optimistic, but that's good. Might as well aim high and hope to get close. I'd suggest finding a 20-25 mile route with as many hills as possible to pound out. That way it's only a little over an hour ride and you'll be able to beat up your legs a little. If you really hit it hard you'll be in good shape for the 5-0. You'll probably have to dial it back a fuzz for the 5-0 to pace yourself for the length, but you'll your legs will be able to recover fast during the race which is key. Then once a weekend go out on a long ride to get those miles under your belt. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea for a standard road ride route. I did a road ride last year with Doug that I need to try again- there are some nice hills west of me that I just need to put together a good route to tie together.
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