Back on White Lightning

With the exception of the sprint triathlon a few weeks ago, I haven't been on my bike since November. All of my riding has been indoors on the stationary bikes at the gym. The weather's been nice enough the last few weeks, but getting in a ride just hasn't worked out. So I planned early in the week to get in a ride this weekend. As it got later in the week, the weather looked to be warmer on Sunday, so I moved my Saturday workout to today.

It was still a bit chilly as I headed out at 7:15 this morning, but it felt great to get White Lightning back out on the road. My training called for a two hour ride, so I planned on heading out for an hour and then turning around and heading back.

This was my first ride since we've moved, so I was eager to see what my "normal" route was going to look like. Suffice to say, I'll have no problem getting in my hill work! The total elevation change for this 38.71 mile route was 2189 feet!! It was a little more uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.

Here's the elevation profile:

That gigantic uphill portion at the end was brutal!! Time out was 1:02:10, time back was 1:00:03. Lots of big hills at the beginning and end, but those "little" hills in the middle are actually pretty challenging! The route took me down Taylorsville Lake Road towards Taylorsville. I'm going to make it a point to try and do the bike route for my May 15th Triathlon that takes place at Taylorsville Lake at least once before the race. I thought I could ride down there from home and then do the route...but after seeing how challenging it is just to get there, I think I might drive the bike down to the start!

Workout Totals: 38.71 miles in 2:01:13 (19.16 miles per hour average)
Avg. HR was 141, which is right in the middle of Zone 3 (intensive endurance) - good Build Phase ride!