Been an intense day of training. Got out for my longest ride in a while this morning. Given I haven't done those sort of miles for a good few months it went exceedingly well. I was shattered by the end, but only just, if push had come to shove I could have kept going. It is nice to finish a ride without having finished yourself 10km earlier.
The good ride was certainly helped by the weather conditions this morning. It was almost perfect in terms of temperature and the lack of rain, but slightly marred by the fact that it was windy. Since I had a few more miles to cover today I decided it was time to start spending time on the Freeway South cycleway. I haven't mentioned this path for a while, since I haven't been riding it consistently since ages ago (it tends to get boring fast and then you need a break), but basically it is a triathlete highway. It is 80km of uninterrupted cycleway from Perth heading down to a town called Mandurah. It is painfully boring, but a great way of getting in 160km of cycling if you have to. In Ironman season it is typically littered with triathletes and TT bikes.
Other than the boredom, a big downside to the Freeway cycleway is the wind. The path runs straight North-South, no real corners. This means that with Perth's prevailing wind directions you nearly always get a headwind for exactly half the ride. No breaks, just headwind. If you are lucky it is the first half. Whichever half you get, it makes for a long unrelenting grind into the wind.
Riding into the wind on the way out of town is how it went this morning. It meant the first half was not all that much fun, but then I got to turn around. The trip home was awesome. Riding with the wind made all the work into the wind worth it. I think having the tail wind for the second half is why I ended the ride comparatively fresh, I didn't have to battle just to make it home. Made for an enjoyable session.
The other thing that happened today was a bit of a swim down at Swim Smooth. Solid session. I was tired heading in, but despite that I think the quality ended up being okay. It is typically that sort of session. Once you get there and get swimming with everyone you find some spirit.
Back to the ride for a minute. Today was my first ride wearing this.
This is a RoadID. I ordered it out of the US a while ago and it finally arrived this week. Basically it is a silicone band with a metal tag on it. There are a whole bunch of different styles available, but they all follow this general idea. The tag has my name on it, my blood type, my age and my next of kin phone numbers. All laser cut in small but very legible writing. The idea being that if I am ever in an accident and am unconscious, somebody has at least a little bit of information about me and the means of finding out more. It is a simple idea, but an effective one. A little bit of peace of mind, and hopefully something that I never need.
Now it is 7:30pm and my wife and I have some serious decisions to make about whether we head to bed or not.
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