April 3rd - Training Day

Still adding some more gadgets to my bike - this time included: the front headlight and my helmet mirror. I also remembered to throw my patch kit and multi-tool into the seat bag. Still waiting on the Ortlieb Bag (and map case), but those have been ordered from the Bike Barn.

The training ride today was from my house near Snowville, VA to my parents house in Preston Forest near Blacksburg, VA (traveled about 35 miles, averaged right around 15 mph, and hit 40 mph max speed). I started the ride with a few sore muscles from a hot Friday night Blacksburg adult league soccer game, which are full sided games of 11 vs. 11 and 45 minute halves, but I worked those kinks about after about 5-6 miles. Today the conditions were a bit more windy, but the sun was hidden behind the clouds for the entire ride. I considered the route to have a tiring section (climbing hills near my house), followed by an easier section (the Huckleberry Trail and through Blacksburg), followed by a final hill climb (into the Preston Forest neighborhood).



During the ride, I tried a Power Bar Recovery bar along with the remnants of a Jelly Belly Sport Bean pack from the last ride for fuel. They seemed to do the trick, but the Power Bar was a bit melty as it was coated in chocolate. After the ride, I had a few glasses of Gatorade and a campfire meal at my parents with good company!