Sunday, March 8, 2009

Our first ride together

Today was the first day I've taken Carnage for a ride off the trainer.
The first 10 minutes of riding we went through introductions and became familiar with one another. I explained her given name what I expected from her. I made it very clear that I would do all the hard work and all she had to do was come along for the ride :) This is my first TT bike and shifting on the aerobars took a little getting used to. I found that I enjoyed shifting uphill but was not as comfortable dropping into a harder gear as I was descending, although I picked it up after a short while. As I was waiting in the parking lot for my fellow riders I decided to curve around some crazy eights. Woah! I can corner! I have never been able to corner with my old bike, I never felt stable. Carnage was much different, I leaned and she cut right in....it was beautiful, it was much more the beauty it was absolute bliss. I found cornering so much fun I ended up looping a roundabout 5x! Hehe, I was giddy. I think my fear of descending has one foot out the door. I maxed out at 35 mph and had no fear, I felt in complete control and actually enjoyed the descent. I ended up departing from the group around mile 20. They were doing a 60 mile ride with a massive hill to climb and I can't risk that kind of wattage with me leg....so I ventured off to finish my ride alone, which is A-ok with me since my bike and I could have some quality alone time. Around mile 30 my leg started to annoy me. It wasn't a bad sharp pain, just a mild annoyance. I had planned to extend out onto some curvy rollers by my house but decided it best to cut the ride at 35 miles. I know I shouldn't push my leg and after all I was just happy to be out riding again.

Riding time 2:11:00 - there was a lot of stop and go waiting for a few riders
Distance - 35.9 miles
Max wattage 381/ avg wattage 130
Max HR 174 / avg HR 148
Max speed 35.2 mph / Avg speed 16.3 mph

1 comment:

Rainmaker said...

I remember my first outside ride last spring with my TT bike. Indeed, shifting was quite a bit at first getting used to it. Eventually though it will feel silky smooth. :)