Not Frozen (the movie)

[ornoth_cycling]

After over nine feet of snow and months of record-setting cold temperatures, Friday night we finally broke out of the 30s, providing a perfectly-timed weekend of 50s and even 60s.

I took this long-overdue first opportunity to hit the pavement on my R2-Di2, starting with a 65-mile ride up through Winchester and then along my usual Quad route, returning via Dinosaur/MCC/Page/Grove. When I got to Lexington green, I had to surrender my bench, which was commandeered by a marauding band of redcoats. Shit that happens when you live in the colonies…

Despite our cold weather, the snow had ample time to melt, so there were thankfully few places where I had to plow through runoff.

I also tested out my new Bontrager (read: not-Garmin) HRM, which worked very well. I’d been struggling to get my two Garmin straps to work throughout the past two months of indoor trainer workouts.

While the miles were fine, there was a brutal wind (25 gusting to 40 mph), and I clearly overestimated how much climbing I could handle. As I phrased it in my Strava update: Spring is pain; pain is strength; strength is life; life is dumb.

After a night’s rest and a morning spent streaming Paris-Roubaix, I followed up on Sunday with a 45-mile ride down through Dover.

And now that they support photo uploads, you’ll probably see more ride photos like the ones above. Even more if you pay attention to activities that show up on my Strava profile.

The fortuitousness of the nice weather’s arrival wasn’t just because it fell on a weekend; it also happened to be the first weekend in my new employer’s most recent “fitness challenge”, which started last Monday. Despite logging my walk to work each day, on Saturday morning I found myself in 32nd place out of 39 participants. But thanks to my 111-mile weekend, by Sunday evening I had passed all my younger colleagues and shot straight up to Numero Uno. As I asked in F*c*book: exactly what part of this is the “challenge?”

Welcome to 2015. All passengers please secure you belongings; we’re under way!

Comments

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

TYTY.

I couldn't pick a fave this year: Terps, Degenkolb, Boom, Sep, G, Van Avermaet, Greipel, Stybar... many worthy riders. And Wigs did well to get back in and animate the race when he attacked.

While I'm mostly down on the pro sport, I tend to watch the spring classics while I'm still stuck indoors, in order to build enthusiasm for the coming season. P-R is definitely the peak, and rightly named the Queen.