Spring Has Sprung

It has been quite a while since I last posted anything personally cycling related. I enjoyed taking all the statistics from my bike rides last year, so I could track improvement and take baselines. This year, it's all about enjoying the bike, and having a template to consult to get a rough idea on how I'm doing.

For the first time this year, the morning weather was glorious. No need for arm warmers, base layers, knee warmers, toe covers, hats, full-fingered gloves, vests, capes, or jackets. Just a jersey, shorts, and the wind on my skin. So, I took that excuse to put on a heart rate monitor, since I was feeling a little more naked than usual. Also, just to check in on my zones to see if anything has changed.

As far as I could tell, after 2 months of base building, I'm back to my usual fitness. Sitting around: 68 - 72 bpm. Standing: 80 bpm. Walking around: 90 -100 bpm. Casually rolling on the bike: 145 - 155. Warming up: 165. Cruising: 172 - 177. Zone 4 sweet spot: 180 - 183. Zone 4 hurt locker: 189 - 192. Red Zone: 192+. I pegged 194 - 195 for 3 minutes on one of my laps, and that was enough for the day. I threw out the sprint test, and just stayed in my recovery zone of 177 for about 7 minutes. Woof.

Compared to last year's stats, I'm about 2 months further ahead in my performance, and that's even adding a bigger cruising gear, starting training a month later, and a month longer break. I attribute the gain in performance to the fitness level I left off of last year being much higher than the year before, and the addition cycling-specific yoga positions at the beginning of this year as opposed to only half-way through last year. Just a half hour, 4 times a week, targeting balance, flexibility, and the little helper muscles in the core really helps.