Nice ride

Went out on a nice ride yesterday, on Vanha Lahdentie. The weather was nearly perfect: warm, but not too hot, and not too much wind. The route is a really nice one, excellent cycle paths and wide enough shoulders on the road when the cycle path ends. The scenery gets quite country-sideish at only about 15 km from my home (which is located about 10 km from the Helsinki centre).

On the trip away from home the wind was behind my back, so riding felt really light. I didn't fall for the old "it seems calm now, so there must be no wind at all, even though I'm doing about 40 km/h without much effort" trap, though. When I turned and headed back home, I noticed that there was some wind. I was glad that I didn't wear myself out by speeding too much in the tailwind. Instead, I took it easy and tried to work on my spinning technique. Which is probably nearly non-existent, but at least I'm aware that there ought to be a spinning technique.

I cycled for about 30 km, then ate a muesli bar and turned around. I guess I should have eaten more, because when I got home I was really hungry, even though I'd eaten well before I left. I really don't know much about sports nutrition yet. But I know that after 60 km, on the last hors categorie cols (or slight rises, if you will), my legs felt like they had been replaced by bunches of well-cooked spaghetti. Mmm... spaghetti. And I must say, I couldn't have done 80 km more, like I will have to in TdH. I guess there's a lot of work to do before I can go 140 km at one sitting.

Anyway, I was glad to notice that although the average speed on the first half, which felt much easier than the second, was about 27 km/h, the total average was nearly the same, 26 km/h, which means that I managed to maintain a decent speed on the way back. Even though my legs had been replaced by bunches of delicious spaghetti.

Oh, by the way, I noticed that a spoke has snapped from my rear rim. It will have to be fixed, soon, and it's going to cost money. Sigh...

Distance: 63.5 km
Time: 2:26
Avg: 26.0 km/h