30.58 miles of cycling in 1:54 with 1,809 feet of elevation gain. Hamstring felt pretty tight again today so I decided to cross-train. Dusted off the road bike, pumped up the tires, put on my wind-breaker and headed out. My previous bike rides this year have been on my mountain bike since the roads had more ice/snow and I wanted more grippy tires, but after the 50 degree week the roads are clear enough for skinny tire biking. Today was slightly overcast but a warm 47 degrees. I was reminded today how much I really enjoy cycling on my road bike. I can go so far and fast. The workout provides sections of pushing it up hills and then cruising down hills as my heart rate rolls up and down. I love those short hill climbs when I see the crest of the hill approaching and push it hard and get there quickly. I climbed up a canyon for a few miles and kept my heart rate pretty steady for 20 minutes or so and then cruised down as fast as 41 mph at one point. Its definitely a rush going fast down a hill on a road bike. It took me a few minutes to get adjusted to the speed after not doing it since last summer but once I adjusted I really started enjoying it. Big grins. The road bike I currently ride was purchased with my prize money from winning the Ogden Marathon in 07'. Its very light and has great components. My very first road bike was not as light and had lower quality components. That one was purchased after 2 years of saving all my left-over per diem money at BYU. If I remember correctly, they used to give us us $40-$140 cash (depending on the length of the trip) to spend on meals every time we went out of town for a track/cross country meet. I was just a full-time student-athlete at the time and that left-over per diem was my only income. After two years I had saved $1,000 to buy myself a road bike. So I guess you could say my running has payed my way into becoming a cyclist too. :) In August, 2007 I rode my first Century (100 mile) road biking tour, the Desperado Dual in Southern Utah. It was really long and exhausting, but very fun. Maybe I'll look into doing another Century this summer. | 