Halloween Ride

Who'd have thought such opportunities would present themselves? No jacket on Halloween with dry roads and dramatic skies. Wind speeds were around 15 mph up in Lansing. Intense tailwind on the climb all the way to Searles Rd. had me sailing up Triphammer and than POW! What a brutal headwind for the return trip.

As a data-obsessed cyclist just starting my heart rate monitoring adventure, I was quite amazed at how much a headwind adds to the heartrate, even when I was struggling to go faster than 14 mph on a relatively flat road. Having this data is most helpful, and lessens the frustration of pedaling hard and not going very far. At least I have concrete proof that I'm working hard.

Data for today's ride: 19.6 miles, 147 avg. BPM, 19.2 mph. Odometer for the year: 2670 mi.

Reality is sinking in that this is probably the last week of road riding for the year, but at this point I feel very fortunate that the season has lasted so long. Some lingering questions: When will next season begin? What kind of pedals will I buy? Ultegra/105s or Look Keo? I have all winter to figure that one out.

The picture is from the Library of Congress' American Memory Project:

Bike racer, Carl Stockholm Stockholm sitting on a bicycle in front of a light-colored backdrop in a room. 1929. Photograph. Chicago History Museum, Chicago. Http://memory.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Web. 31 Oct. 2009.