53 miles and one blown spoke.
My bike training continued well this week…
I got in 53 miles on Thursday when I rode both to and from work. According to the pocket GPS training thingy – I burned somewhere around 4300 calories in the process. Not bad.
The ride in was a little rough – I got a late start and had to race in to a headwind. By the time I made the halfway point, I was pretty smoked. I think I waterlogged myself before taking off – and didn’t have enough breakfast or something.
According to the GPS, I had a time of 1:32:04 on the way in with an average speed of 15.9mph.
The ride home was supposed to be a slower cruise, and I sort of got forced in to it. At about mile 4, I heard a loud “TOINNNNGGGGGG!!!” over the top of my iPod – which was cranking Dio at that exact moment. “TOINNNNGGGGGG!!!” is never a good sound. It’s even worse when you feel a severe shimmy that accompanies it. I looked down and my back wheel had taken on a slight Pringle shape that rubbed on the brake.
I rode nice ‘n slow to the Erik’s Bike Shop in St. Louis Park to get it fixed – while wondering the entire way if I was going to have the broken spoke puncture the tire or if it was going to Pringle worse. 30 minutes and $24.99 later – I was back in business and riding home. This detour was what caused the extra 3 miles on my route.
The ride home was slower, but longer. I did it in 2:02:38 at an average speed of 13.8. My true speed was faster – I forgot to shut the GPS off inside of Erik’s. My bike computer said 14.9 – which is much closer to the truth.
I’m going to try for 100 miles in the next 10 days.. wish me luck!