So today was a three hour ride in zones one and two. Amazingly it was a dry sunny day with the roads only wet in the shade, of course Mother Nature always has something held in reserve. A force four to five wind blowing across the Wirral led to some difficult moments both staying on the bike and in the zones.
Not for the first time my Garmin 800 let me down. I set up the program again -15 minutes zone one, two and a half hours zone two, finishing up with 15 minutes cool down in zone one. As soon as I left the house my Garmin stopped recording speed and distance. Not good on an expensive bit of kit four months old. I tried to fix it with a soft reset but no use. It still worked through the program though using time and heart rate so I pushed on.
I went out through Neston, willaston, into Chester and Wales before cutting across to the Wirral again. The early part was difficult with a force five tail wind I found it difficult to get out of zone one, It was a glorious day and one to enjoy on the bike. Once I started heading back in to the Wirral the reverse happened and into the headwind it was spinning gears and very low speeds to stay within the prescribed heart rate.
I stopped at eureka for coffee and found it packed, the atmosphere was great with a lot of laughter and conversation as people enjoyed the unexpected good weather.
Once again, using small loops and dropping down through Parkgate I managed to get the time exactly at three hours.
Final thought, although it feels strange riding slowly, it feels great, I see a lot more and feel as though I am really enjoying the bike, I'm out when normally I may of stayed in and the miles are coming along. Still early days but good so far......
No comments:
Post a Comment