Triditarod

Cold? Check.
Wind? Check.
Following dogs? Check.

Saturday's ride was debated from the start. Meredith thought I was crazy to ride outdoors, but I really wanted to get out there, since in Ohio, you never know how even remotely reasonable weather will last in this time of the year. So, I bundled up in booties, gloves, mitten covers for the gloves, a coat, a hat, a helmet on top of that...and I went out for my 90 minute ride.

I was supposed to start getting used to nutrition on the bike with this ride. My first nutrition turned out to be a vanilla Clif Shot gel sample from some past race that had gone bad. At least I hope it had gone bad. If that's what they actually taste like... *shudder* I had to spit it out and dump the rest in a trash can.

Once done with that, things were well, and only got better. I hit my first of two low-cadence portions on a nice flat road, and I let my legs loose on it. Quickly, I was up over 20 mph, and feeling good. Also feeling good? The dog on a farm I passed. It decided to run along the road with me (who was hoping there was an invisible fence installed). And the race was on.

At first, Mr. Dog held the advantage. He got about a 10 foot lead on me, and at 22 mph, was holding me off. So, I pedaled a little harder...23...24. The gap narrowed, and he appeared to get tired. Finally, as I passed him and put a few feet in between us, he gave it up. Score one for humanity.

Again, I underestimated the effect of the wind out in the flat farmland. When I turned to come back home, it hit me, and the second low-cadence section was a grind. I wish I had video of one farm's windmill, which was spinning like crazy, and pointing exactly the same direction I was riding. That may have been the same farm with miniature ponies out front. I couldn't figure out a way to have them pull me, but given more time, I think I could come up with something.



Eventually, my 90 minutes came to a close, as evidenced by the joyous little song on my Garmin. The only problem? I was still 20 minutes from home. So, my 90 minutes turned into a 1:51 ride. When I finally got home, I was beat.

On Sunday, I was not looking forward to my 70 minute run. Funny enough, it ended up being a very good, comfortable run in zones 1-2. I wound up covering a little over 7 miles, which isn't bad for me in those zones. Chalk up one good workout for the weekend to bring some positive energy for the week ahead!