FINALLY! I finally got outdoors for a ride. Yay me, I feel smugly superior to all of you who are sitting on your couches thinking that maybe you ought to drag your bikes out for a ride. Don't worry, it won't last, as most of you are in much greater physical condition than I am and no matter how early I get out, I'll never , ever, beat you. But I'll enjoy it for a while. There is still snow on the ground in places, and the roads are wet, but the sun was shining and I was able to find all my colder weather cycling gear because we finally got to unpacking most of our boxes from the storage facility we rented. I was a vision in black, with a racy red bike, going very, very slowly, especially up hills. I had a nice hour long spin this morning, touring neighborhoods, waving gleefully to anyone looking my way. "Hi, how are ya! Yep, I'm one of those dedicated cyclists, out in all sorts of weather, yep, that's me!" I WISH.
I also managed a 30 min swim today, as specified in my training plan. On my way back home I passed lots of other cyclists, but I still felt pretty smug, as "I" got up early and did my ride, while these slackers obviously slept in, or puttered around drinking coffee and reading the New York Times until the mood struck them to suit up in loud lycra colors and head out for a spin. Each one of them could drop me in a NY minute, even on the flats, but you are as slow and fat as I am, you have to take your feelings of superiority when you can get them! As a matter of fact, I will probably continue to ride early on Saturday and Sunday, JUST so I won't ever encounter these people, and therefore never be embarassed by them!
Actually, starting in June, I'll be riding a hilly loop every Sunday with the SWC, and I want to be able to ride it with ease ( okay, "ease" is a misnomer for me, I want to be able to ride it without throwing up..) and I'd like to be quite a bit lighter by then, as dragging my butt up the hills is getting old.
All of this should translate into a better skating season next year. I'm lifting 2x a week, and in June, I'll start some dryland work, building in intensity in July and August, so that (theoretically) by Septeember I'll be in much better shape and be more powerful than I am now. I'd settle for 30 lbs lighter!
