Sunday's ride...

I was gonna do one of two things this morning, either the Derby or a ride Dan K. posted. A few days prior I had been harassing Mary about waking up early and riding to the Velodrome from SMC. I figured if Mary showed up I would ride to the Derby, otherwise I was riding with Frank Armetta and Dan K.

Bill Strickland, Christina, Mary, Tauss and myself left SMC at around 9:15am - it was about 28* It was a nice ride out with a few patches of ice along the way. We got to the Velodrome with plenty of time to make a quick bathroom stop and then spin around the parking lot.

Approximately 30 of us headed out on the Derby, that number quickly increased as we picked up a bunch of people along the ride. Total there were probably 40-45 riders. There were a few idiot drivers playing chicken with oncoming traffic then ducking quickly in front of the group. I guess they probably didn't expect to see a large group of cyclists in 30* weather.

We made the turn onto Fleetwood/Lyons Rd and I thought I was done for at that point. It seemed the pace didn't crank as fast as last week - although others said it was about the same. I was suprised to hang on to the group up the next couple hills. This was the first time I hung on this far, although I popped about 3/4 of the way up the last big climb.

We regrouped back at the Velodrome for the ride back to SMC. We took Pearson's route back which had us dodging some traffic on 222 and rt 100 before getting on some less traveled roads. Back at SMC everyone chilled for a bit, then we all went our own ways.

It was a great day to ride as it warmed up nicely in the late morning. Apparently there were quite a few people riding South Mountain Emmaus, and also a trail work day was scheduled.

Geeky "motivational" details.

Ride Time: 2:53.09
Mileage: 52.49 miles
Totl Ascent: 2135 feet
Avg Speed: 18.2 mph
Avg HR: 155 bpm (down from 161 last week on the same avg. mph)
Max HR: 193 bpm (same as last week)

One thing I've been working on is increasing my cadence, the average for this ride was 85.5 and 84.7 for last week. Not a big difference, however I'm sure there was an improvement from past road rides. I have noticed the backs of my knees hurting lately - and was told I should drop my seat a MM or 2. I'll give that a try and report back.

-matt