I renamed Good Friday to God Rideday. I tried to gather a bunch of people together for a ride, but there was only a few. I had also planned to ride out to the dump, but every day last week I had woken up feeling sick. Friday was no different, and really did not feel well enough to ride for several hours.

I still met up with the guys to ride, and was greeted with sunshine and warm temperatures. It was such a beautiful day to ride that I had to stop a couple times to bask in the sunshine.

The ride itself was really good too. There was a fair amount of climbing, and thankfully this time I remembered my HRM. I pushed as hard as I could, but kept my heart rate under control. It was such a blast to be outside and be warm and dry. I really had a great time.

At the end of the ride I was feeling pretty wiped. The next day my legs were pretty tired. I can only imagine how I would have felt if I had ridden to and from the dump.

There were times during the ride where I was feeling pretty gross though. I was feeling weaker than I would have liked, and my cardio wasn’t what I want it to be. In the back of my mind I was contemplating whether this was because of my lack of conditioning or because of my cold. Either way I wasn’t feeling good and I wanted to.

Rode to work today. The way to work was pretty uneventful. It really isn’t that long of a ride and isn’t hard either.

I was planning on leaving work at 4 and taking the long way home. As it was I got pretty involved at work, and wanted to finish a few more things so I never left until just after 5. I had things to do this evening so that meant the short, straight route home.

To liven up the ride a little I pushed myself pretty hard. At one point I glanced at the HRM which was flashing 177. I backed off a little when I saw that, but kept up a pretty brisk pace. Still, I felt a little gross for a while after getting home.

I finally got a good ride in today.  I had a bunch of things to do today, I wanted to ride, and I needed to work.  I combined those two by riding to work, then taking the long route.  Well, I actually detoured form this route a bit, and went up Kind George Terrace, which is quite a steep climb.

I got to work in 20 minutes, and that was still the 7 km straight shot.  The ride home was about 45 minutes, but a much harder ride.  It was pretty breezy out today, so the gusts were blowing me around quite a bit.  Also, it was mainly a headwind, but off of my centre a little. 

It was tough, but rewarding

Training rides seem like they are hard to come by. Today I rode to work, and it took a lot less time than I was expecting, which is a great thing.

Starting off from home it was a little chilly, but just perfect for riding really. My HRM seems a little wonky, and wasn’t registering for the longest time. When it did start when I was downtown I was already up to 160. I slowed down a bit so I would be sweating quite so much at work. Light rain started when I was a few blocks away, so I didn’t even get wet.

I took the most direct route, which also has the most traffic and stop lights. I left home a little after 7:30, and was in the office at 8. Not bad I would say. The linked map says it is just a little over 7.5 km.

I think for my ride home I will take a longer route. Maybe along the water. According to the map that is approx 16.5 km.

Got out on the trails for a ride today.  Training for Canmore is hard!  Add in that I was pretty forgetful today, and you get a weird ride.

Two blocks from home I remembered that I forgot the HRM strap, which is the sensor.  I had move the receiver over to my mountain bike, but without the sensor things are just useless.  I decided not to return home for it.

Once at the trailhead, I noticed that I was the only vehicle in the parking lot.  Weird.  It was 8:30 or so, but still, I expected to see at least another car out there.

I geared up and headed out.  It was a little chilly, but I knew I would warm up soon enough.  about 2 minutes from the truck I remembered that I left my camera in the truck.  Damn.

I took a route that had lots of climbing which was what I had planned.  If I had a working HRM this would have been fine.  Instead I pushed too hard, and got my heart rate too high.  The forced me to stop more than once to recuperate before I threw up.  Not a good feeling to stop riding, and feel nauseous, and dizzy from lack of O2.

I quite enjoyed the fresh cool air, and had a fun ride.  It was just over an hour long too.

Rode the trainer again today. The past week Victoria has had some strange weather which included hail, rain, cold temps, and snow. I opted to do the trainer, and not the road for that reason. Today was looking better than the rest of the week, but not good enough.

I rode to a different DVD today. NSX 8 Cease and Desist. Nice change. I am going to try and cycle through a bunch of movies I have. It is pretty cool to see some of the older movies.

I did a 3 minute warm up, then a 38 minute ride with a 3 minute cool down at the end. I think that is a little less than last week, but that is OK.

I’m thinking more about getting a new bike computer for my road bike. I think I want to get one with a cadence meter. This will allow me to, in conjunction with the HRM, to ensure I keep up the effort. I quite often slowly slack off, little by little until I finally do notice it.

I was on the trainer again today. I was originally going to go for a mountain bike ride, but I really wasn’t feeling into it today. It is a little chilly outside, and the weather was looking a little spotty. Not sure why I am such a woos these days, but there I am.

I popped in the latest Kranked DVD, turned up the sound, and started pedalling. I bumped up my pedalling time a few minutes over last workout which meant I went the length of the DVD. Next time I might need to find a longer show.

I also replaced the battery in my HRM before starting, which meant I was better able to watch my heart rate, and was able to prevent myself from slacking too much. When I get into a rythm, it is very ease to slowly back off the effort without realizing it. When I notice my heart rate has dropped 10 bpm, then I know to pick up the pace a bit.

I worked up a great sweat today, and now I am replenishing my lost fluids.