Longest ride this off season.

Well, since the noon time group decided to do a recovery ride today and I had some extra time on my hands, I decided to skip the ride and go do a Hains Point ride.  This would eventually be a 50 mile ride for me. Yea! It was my longest ride this off season.  I know, you're supposed to put the miles on during the off season, but who has the time? The longest ride typically is on a Saturday or Sunday when I do the Bicycle Place or DC Velo ride plus the extra 10 miles back down the park and back, however this off season, I have yet to have the time to do that.   I have only done one 7am DCVelo ride this year.   So all in all, my rides have been 25 miles or less. (If lucky I wiill do maybe an extra 5-8 miles after the noon ride.)  

I rode down to Hains Point at a brisk pace as I was running late out of the door.  Luckily the wind was with me and I made it down there with about 5 minutes to spare.  We started off slowly for a lap or two, then we picked up the pace a bit.  I took several longer pulls at the front making sure I was getting a good work out.  After the 2nd lap, I started to work on my sprint.  Boy, since I don't really train on my sprints, I don't seem to have the intense power anymore on my sprint.   I think my endurance on the sprint has gotten better, but the speed isn't quite there anymore.  I guess it won't matter much as I can work on my sprints and quickly regain that form.  Anyway, I had a few good sprints and was fairly tapped out for the last one.  The wind was blowing hard enough so that I couldn't catch Alex and I let off knowing that I still had to ride back.   

My ride back was pretty uneventful, though the wind was in my face most of the time.  I was almost home and saw that I was about a few miles below 50 miles so I decided to turn back down to the park to do a little bit of the rolling hills.  It was a good work out and on the last hill coming back, my left thigh decided to cramp,  good enough.  I made it back while rubbing out my cramp.  I'm a bit sore and tired now, but I'll try to make it out tomorrow, unless the weather prevents me from doing so. 

Total time: 2hrs and 38 minutes

Average HR: 158

Average Speed: 19 mph

Average Cadence: 77 rpm

Calories: 1778 calories burned. 

Since, I'll be taking on a new job next week in Arlington, VA, my riding schedule will totally change.  If you have any input on training rides in Arlington, let me know.