Training Rides - May 10 & 11

Time to follow suit with my recent trend of blogging once for two different rides. This trend started with a lack of pictures when the camera was dead and continued when the scenery didn't change enough to warrant pictures. Don't worry, this won't happen over the summer as I hope to blog daily! On that note, it is now time to summarize my rides from yesterday and today.

Yesterday I set out on a morning commute to Blacksburg and the theme of the ride was "holy #%@&*$ it is cold!" Little did I consider the frost on the ground when walking the dogs at 5:45 AM...looking back at the temperature on Weather.com it was most likely somewhere around 35-38 degrees F when I left the house. I did take some precautions by wearing a long sleeve top and full-fingered biking gloves, but needless to say I was extremely cold.

I also did not have the foresight to leave my computer or clothes at work so I had to carry them on the bike. This may have helped since I used a backpack to carry the computer and it most likely kept my back warm over the two hour ride. All in all, I made it to Blacksburg, ate a Soyjoy energy bar along the way (surprisingly good but lower in calories), and had tingling/numb feet when showering at work! All was cured with amazing Indian cuisine for dinner at Taaza in Roanoke - supposedly the most authentic Indian food in the area.

Phew - today's ride was much better and a lot of fun! Fulfilling a plan hatched long ago, Matt Swenty (who is riding our Bike the Burg event) and I rode up to the Mountain Lake Hotel. Ring a bell - Dirty Dancing? It was an extremely gorgeous ride with lush green plants lining the road, beautiful views of Giles County, and a little bit of fog to add to the mystique.

For those of you unfamiliar with the road to Mountain Lake, it is only about 7 miles long, but you gain about 2000 feet of elevation over the coarse of the ride. Needless to say my average speed on the way up was about 7.7 mph, but my maximum speed on the way down was 40 mph and this was being conservative because of the rain this morning. Check out our elevation profile courtesy of Matt's Garmin Forerunner watch:



The ride up was not quite as bad as I expected and I was able to get through the entire thing without shifting into my smallest chainring - the easiest gear near the pedals. It is always interesting to get to the top of Mountain Lake at any time of year. The weather is typically 100% different than the weather in Blacksburg. For example, over the winter when it was 40 degrees in Blacksburg it was often below freezing and snowing on top of Mountain Lake. Today was no different as the fog set in and the air became heavy with moisture.

(Matt riding his Lemond road bike - thanks for the pictures Anna!)

(Me wearing my sweet safety yellow coat converted to a vest)

I was happy to return to Mountain Lake this week after enjoying a great Saturday last weekend at the 3rd annual BrewRidge Music Festival followed by dinner at the Palisades Restaurant with some friends!