01.14.12 58 miles

Another long ride, (for January) yesterday.  I headed out for essentially the same course as I did last week, except I skipped the bonus miles so my wife could get a ride in also.  The day started out nice and sunny but a little chilly do I dressed for it, by the time I hit Gunter, I was more than a little hot.  Stripped out of my jacket and managed to stuff it into my Fastback Double Century pouch.

I am still exploring options for bags and gear carrying systems.  The Double Century bags are great but limited size wise.  Vicky is trying to scrounge me a used Rans Z bag or an Angletech Aeropod but it seems the folks who have them love them and won't turn loose of them.  Guess I just have to be patient, (or spend the money for new).

I was also trying out a new to us Garmin Edge 305 and so far I like it.  One of the main reasons we added it to the equipment list was the data logging feature.  At a glance I can see all of the ride's statistics.  From the reading and research I've done, I should be able to use this to further refine my training and riding to be able to ride farther and faster.

Here is the data from the ride, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/141609935.  Lots of room for improvement but still not to bad overall.

This ride involved more experiments in nutrition/calorie replacement on the while on the bike.  The morning breakfast was a slice of breakfast casserole and hot tea.  I went without my coffee in hopes of at least slowing down the need to water the local plant life.  The idea didn't work but it shows me I am really WELL HYDRATED.  The on bike nutrition experiment involved using Clif Shot Roks.  They are tasty!  I started eating them about 50 minutes into the ride.  Overall I like the way they taste, they are easy to eat while riding, and have a great balance of carbs and protiens for me.  I think these may be added in on a regular basis for my rides.  My total calorie intake on the ride ended up being 670 calories, one package of the Clif Shot Roks and four of the Clif bar minis.  This seemed to work well as I didn't bonk and actually felt reasonable after the ride.

I still have a headset issue plaguing me.  I may have fixed it last night after reviewing some online documentation on it.  I really don't want to have to locktight my headset nuts but will end up doing that if last nights fix doesn't work.

Another issue was three less than friendly dogs running together in a pack.  As I have two large dogs I am more than friendly with dog body language.  Their body language was more than aggressive and they were more than persistent in their chase, the followed me up the road for a good ways before they finally gave up, (a good thing to as I was almost redlining my heart rate).  As much as I hate it, I may have to carry some HALT or something similar with me for next time.

The other issue I need to deal with is developing a set routine for stops.  Several times I failed to get my Camelbak tube situated before riding and this is a pain to do while riding.  I guess I just need to develop a mental checklist:

• bushes watered
• empty wrappers moved to bags
• food moved to pockets
• Camelback tube in place
• And so on...

All for now, who knows what next week might bring.