The ride from yesterday...

So since yesterday was my day off and since it was perfect riding weather (I love overcast, cool, sunless days) I headed out from the apartment at around 2:30 pm. Went north to douglas then west as far as I could. Which happened to be a little further than 'Western Douglas Park' ? I think that was name. There was road construction a few blocks west of there so I turned around in front of a gas station there and headed back. I took two breaks to rest. I should know better than to head out for a ride without eating. Also I still can't seem to do more than 20 miles without my hind side really starting to hurt. I was feeling the pain in the saddle on the last few miles home. Exaggerated no doubt by the idiocy of not eating before going on a ride. I could literally feel I was out of energy the last few miles. I had to pep talk my way home the last few miles. Anyway it was a good 20.69 miles. 

My cateye stats were (average/max): 12.5 / 26.1 mph, 153 / 195 bpm, 66 / 199 cadence. Cadence was *awful*, just absolutely disgusting. I can't blame that all on not eating before the ride. Although I think the few stops I made played a part in messing up the stats a little bit. I hit 195 bpm running through the road construction in front of Il Vicino. I never have hit higher than 181-182. I looked down and saw 195 and panicked a little. I thought my heart was about to explode or something. I felt ok. For some reason I associate heart rates approaching 200 as danger! danger! I should read up on heart rates in cycling tonight at work and see if that is normal or if I should be going to get a checkup.

So that was the ride from sunday. I like taking douglas west and then back east because of the hills on the way back starting at the Crown Uptown. I like being pushed towards the end of the ride with those hills. It really makes me push myself. I don't know if it's doing any good health wise but it cannot be an worse than sitting at home typing on a keyboard. So hopefully it's doing something positive. I found a fellow cyclists blog for wichita and was glad to know there are others here enjoying and posting about cycling. Still not a big fan of the Oz club. Hopefully I will meet some other folks here soon to ride with.