want an iced mocha with that?

I led a Training Series ride for my social bike group today. The plan was to ride 59 miles round trip from Scholls Heights to Hagg Lake and back. In the process we'd ride a lap around the lake in the opposite direction that the participants in the Banana Belt bike races were traveling.

There was ice on the windshield this morning but it warmed to a balmy 34 by our 9AM start. Most of us were not equipped for such a cold start but we rode anyway. Well, 8 of the 13 who said they were coming did! As we pedaled westward we saw snow in the low hills and that didn't help the mental state, or the numb fingers! The day eventually got to 60 so it eventually got better.

Today's group was a fast group by Training Series standards where we shoot for 16-17mph on the flat road and a 15mph clock time average.

We rode the first 14 miles to Forest Hills golf course with an 18 mph average. Their "leader" was securely ensconced in the back of the peloton! From there on the sprinters settled down and we got into more of an endurance pace. We did manage to hold a 16 mph average for the day that included 64 miles with a recorded 2990 ft of elevation gain. We modified the course a bit (partly unintentional and partly on purpose!) so we gained a few miles. It's all good when it's warm and dry in March.

It was a good ride and a good group of folks.


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.........TOTAL
Today.......64................0.................64
Jan........618...............0................618
Feb........692...............0................692
March......425...............0................425
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....1749...............0...............1749