Somehow I managed to wake up this morning just long enough to turn off the alarm and roll over. So when I woke up at 7a, I couldn't ride in to work. I watched the yesterday's time trial from the Tour of California on tape and then drove in with my bike in the back of the car.

At lunch, I suited up and hit the trail heading West to Leesburg. The temperature was right at 50 degrees, so things were feeling good enough to ride in shorts. Rather than dealing with temperature, I soon found myself riding with a tough cross/headwind and into a slight drizzle. I soon rode through the dark clouds and the rain stopped, but the headwind did not.

Rather quickly I realized it wasn't going to be much fun trying to keep my HR in Zone 2. I would have been riding very slow. The roads to Leesburg are long, straight, slight uphills that are open to the wind. So, being flexible in my training regimen (haha) I decided to make today a tempo ride. I focused on keeping the speed up and the legs turning smoothly.

I could really tell a difference in having the Javelin. I rode almost exclusively in the drops which gave me far less drag than I normally have on the Sirrus. I was also thrilled with the stifness of the crank and frame. I didn't feel as though I were wasting energy the way I do when the Sirrus flexes wildly, dragging the chain against the front derailleur.

I took a brief stop at the turn where the trail meets Catocin Circle in Leesburg and then cranked it up a notch coming home. I didn't have the wind directly at my back as I'd hoped, but it was definitely better than it'd been going out. I rode effortlessly above 20 mph and frequently above 25 mph. It was a lot of fun. The only real hard part was the open road just before I finished--a long steady uphill leading to Route 28 and Orbital.

I did a brief tour of the parking lot to let my legs shake out a bit and then showered and had lunch at my desk. Not bad for a lunch hour! I think I may make it a habit of doing any hard workouts at lunch. The riding is far less interrupted West of Orbital and riding only once in the day will give me better focus on any speed work I need.

I should have changed the measuring Zone on my HRM becuase I spent most of my time between 170 and 180. The entire ride was effectively in Zones 3 and 4, with the average landing at 168, the tail end of Zone 3. To make the tempo more effective, I should probably make it a goal to average in Zone 4.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
20.1 / 59:23.0 / 20.3 / 29.9 / 168 / 187 / 698