Beautiful Biking Day

Well I got up this morning and tackled the house along with my sweetie Jim. The busy week was reflected in the state of the house and last night we hit our collective limit. When this happens, we seem to agree, without ever actually having said it out loud, that workouts come second.

So I didn't head out until after 1PM. The weather today has been perfect. 80s with winds around 5 MPH and scattered clouds. I sprayed on my Nuetrogena Sunblock (SPF 45) figuring this was the perfect "test run" for it. My only real critisism was that the directions say to wait 10-15 minutes for the sunblock to dry before you go in the sun. Who has that much time? I want to put on my sunscreen and go!

So I rode out the driveway and settled in for a loop of 30 miles that took me down through Old Town Alexandria toward the Airport where I took a left and headed up towards Nancy'shouse in Arlington and on towards my old neighborhood. I stopped at mile 15 for some more water and to eat a PowerBar (Oatmeal Raisin - my favorite!) and stretch my lower back which was just barely beginning to "speak" to me.

The next 15 miles took me down through Roslyn by way of the hilly Custis Trail and then down to the Mt. Vernon Trail which follows along the Potomac River passed the National Airport and back to through Old Town Alexandria and home. Around mile 25, my back began to complain .. looks like I need some more rides to recondition it. For what it is worth, my legs felt great! They were up for the 30+ mile ride.

Overall it was a great ride! I average 11.8 MPH which is woefully slow to most folks on a road bike but was just fine for me. 30 extra pounds and a year of sporadic riding takes it's toll and it will take time to get myself back into shape. It's all good! So 32 miles took me about 2:40 in ride time - 3 hours total if you include my rest stops and traffic (the trails were packed!)...

A pretty good way to spend a Saturday afternoon!! And I am happy to report the sunscreen worked well except that it left me feeling a little extra dirty .. it seems oil-based and collected pollen well.

Now about that "BRICK" with Keri tomorrow....That workout should be very interesting ....