160327 Longer Ride

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Part of my "training" is exploring the little country roads and lanes in my immediate vicinity, learning different routes I can take to extend my ride, where the hills are, etc.

Today I took yet another slightly different route.

The distance ended up being 14.3 miles:

This route had some hills, and it felt like I had a head wind all the way! My average speed only ended up at 10.6 MPH. Still, I managed to keep it above 10.


I did have to go to 1:1 for two very long, steep hills, but I tried to make up some time on the downhills and more level areas.

Of course, for every uphill there is a downhill; they never feel very long but my maximum speed on this ride was 42 MPH - which could be why the downhills feel so short. My strokes max out at about 35 MPH on my crossover bike, so the last 7 MPH is coasting with momentum LOL.

My total time was 1:20:43. I'm OK with that.









My current goals are:

  • Increase average speed to 15 MPH (that might take a while.. )
  • Increase ride time to 2 hours average; as I improve my speed I will be able to improve my distance without adding time (at least that's my theory)
  • One Long ride per month. My hope through the spring, summer, and fall is to be able to find at least one day a month that I can take an "all day" ride - 75-100 miles - in preparation for the trail ride next year.
We'll see how that goes...

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