My New Toy

Yesterday, I did the 30-mile hill climb again (See my April 19 blog), but this time I used my new toy -- a new (actually refurbished, but new to me) Garmin Edge 305 GPS cycling computer. It does just about everything but scratch my back (and I'm not so sure it won't do that too). I did the 29.4 mile ride in 1 hour and 53 minutes, the same time as I did it on April 19. I burned 1949 calories on the ride (which put a pretty good dent in the chicken fried steak smothered in gravy, hashbrowned potatoes, scrambled eggs, and biscuits I had for Sunday brunch a couple of hours before the ride). I spent 4 minutes in heart rate zone 2, 83 minutes in zone 3, and 27 minutes in zone 4, so I got a pretty good aerobic workout. My highest heart rate on the ride was 162 bpm. My average speed was 15.5 mph and the total climb was 2,371 feet.

Tour of the Unknown Coast

One week ago, I helped a friend put in laminate flooring. I learned that cycling muscles and floor-laying muscles are not quite the same. The day after my thirteen hours of floor laying, my legs were more sore than from any bike ride I've ever taken. I was concerned since I had a big century ride coming up the next weekend. Luckily, by Saturday, my legs were back to normal and I was able to do the century. It's called the Tour of the Unknown Coast and it is billed as "California's Toughest Century". I'll have to admit, it did have a few challenging sections like "the Wall", a one-mile stretch of road that averages 18% grade or "the Endless Hill", that goes up for eleven miles. I felt good on and after the ride and didn't feel like I over exerted at all. I even felt fine the next day (which is more than I can say for floor laying!) My wife, Nancy, came with me for the weekend as well as our dog, Kimmie. We camped for two nights. It was Kimmie's first camping experience and she passed with flying colors.