I wasn’t sure what sort of ride to do today, as I have been concentrating mainly on increasing distances in the run-up to the Essex Countryside ride.
So I decided to go for a new personal best over 26 miles. The weather was good, with not too much wind and the roads fairly quiet, which all helped me beat my best time over 26 miles quite substantially. I beat my previous personal best of 1:45:23 (average 15.5 mph) by 1 minute 22 seconds and achieved a new personal best of 1:44:01 (15.7 mph). I also beat my virtual partner on Garmin by just over 1.5 miles. The virtual partner is a Garmin device that downloads a course I have already done and lets me race against it.
Today I went on a leisurely recovery ride along the sea-front – of just over 16 miles. And it really was an enjoyable ride. It was a sunny, refreshing Sunday morning with scores of people out cycling, jogging, walking or going for breakfast in one of the sea-front cafes. A really ‘good to be alive’ feeling.
All in all, I am feeling pretty good for next Sunday’s 60 mile Essex Countryside ride. So now all that is left is for me to start obsessing about the weather which, according to the forecast looks like it is going to be just about perfect – let’s hope it stays that way.
16 miles is leisure?
I love those “good to be alive” feelings!! Most often, though, excersising gives me a “wish I were dead” feeling. Congratulations on your new personal best! And did I read correctly…60 miles? How long does that take?
Last year it took me four and a half hours (http://sotyred.blogspot.com/2008/07/essex-countryside-ride.html) but I want to improve on that. A couple of weeks back I did 54 miles in 3 hours 47 minutes, so I would like to try and do this one in under 4 hours 15 minutes