Geeky Bob

There's really not much to say about today's ride: I went for my usual 17-mile ride from my house through Saguaro National Park and back home again. I was perhaps two minutes behind my fastest time for the ride, which wasn't too bad.

The training technique that I have been focusing on recently is keeping my cadence rpm between 80 and 90 and letting the mph take care of itself. At first glance that might seem to be be the cause of riding slightly slower than my fastest time, but to be honest – my final time was about average for my short rides, so I don't think that my cadence really played any part.

There were a few cars in the park today, but they all played nicely with cyclists and moved over when I needed to pass. (And thankfully no one had parked in the middle of the loop for a change.) There were also a few cyclists around the park, but they were mostly sightseeing so I didn't find anyone to ride with.

I was trying out a new seat-post-based dual water bottle mount today, (since my old seat-post-based mount failed miserably). This one seemed to be great, until I had ridden within a few miles of my house and I noticed that my water bottles were nearly horizontal. I quickly moved the water bottles into my jersey pockets and resolved to examine the mount when I got home, but it completely fell apart less than a mile from my house. Apparently the bolt which secured the water bottle cages to the main part of the mount had loosened during the ride, and it fell out completely as I neared home. (I pulled over to find all the pieces, which probably hurt my ride time.)

Ride Stats:

• Primary Statistics:
  • Start Time: 2:41pm
  • Distance: 16.9 miles
  • Duration: 1:02:21
  • Calories Burned: 638 kcal
  • Altitude Gain: 823 feet
• Speed:
  • Average Speed: 16.2 mph
  • Peak Speed: 30.3 mph
  • Average Cadence: 73.0 rpm
• Temperature:
  • Average: 66.4 F
  • Minimum: 64.4 F
  • Maximum: 69.8 F
• Heart Rate:
  • Average: 154 bpm
  • Maximum: 173 bpm