Two Wheel Blogs

Sun 7.04: New Belk Park Loop

I miss the old Belk Park Loop. Have I posted that already? Probably. There was something perfect about having a route that took approximately one hour to ride. Each time I rode it, I always had a goal of breaking the one-hour mark, with the added incentive of seeing how far below it I could go. With the new Loop, breaking the one-hour mark isn't possible -- unless I miraculously get a whole lot stronger and faster overnight -- so now I shoot for a sub-1:06. It's a good goal, but it doesn't have quite the same appeal as a :59 finish.

I had run six miles this morning. To be honest, I "ran" maybe four miles, then "jogged" the last two. Slowly. I'd planned on running the first thing this morning, but didn't, so I had to run mid-morning. Even though it was just a few hours later, the delay was enough time for the temperature to go from wam to hot. So by the time I hit the turnaround at three miles, I was tired.

I was still tired when I got on the bike six hours later. But that was all right. My goal was not to ride hard or fast, but just to ride. I followed the route: Watershed east to Moreland, north to Buchta, west to the park,then south through the park back to Moreland, the Watershed Trail, the Union Street Hill, and finally, home. I rode as hard as I felt like. When the wind was with me, I caught a break and went with it. When it was against, however, my pace slowed to "the best I could manage."

It was a good ride, if not a hard one. I'm glad I did it.

Mon 7.05: Marine Loop

I gave myself two hours to ride this morning. I still felt tired from yesterday's run and ride, but I didn't care. It's a holiday: I'm riding. After settling on riding the Marine Loop, I decided to ride the nothern leg (Quercus Grove Trail out to Fruit Road) instead of the souther route. A good wind was coming out of the south/southeast. I knew it would get me. I just decided let it get me early, so it my help me on the way back in. It turned out to be a good choice.

The wind was not too bad as I rode Fruit Road toward Marine Road. But as soon as I turned south onto Marine, I knew, it was going to hit me square in the chest. And that's exaclty what happened. When I made the turn, my average was was 16.5 mph. After I fought the wind down to the turn onto Lower Marine, it has fallen to 15.8.

I felt immediate relief once I turned onto Lower Marine. Finally, I was a able to restore my pace to where it had been before. I pushed myself to keep the pace up as I now had the wind at my side, if not my back. I finished the Loop in two hours flat, a distance of 33.5 miles at a pace of 16.6. That's a far cry from my PR (1:45), which I set just two weeks ago, but it was the best I could do today.