It is Sunday afternoon, with pretty consistent sunshine and reasonable temperatures – about a week after the blizzard to end all blizzards. I just got back from a bike ride! It was nice enough that I just had to go and ride my normal 11 mile course to see how my indoor training is preparing me for the spring.

I rode my hybrid bike – the road bike is setup for the trainer and has the trainer tire on the back. The trainer tire has thicker rubber and no tread. It’s built to take the heat that riding on the trainer generates as the roller and the tire meet. I started off using the trainer with a regular tire – against the advice of the local bike shop – and ruined it. In my defense, it didn’t feel that hot…. The other reason I rode the hybrid is the sidewalks are still a mess and there is sand everywhere. Better to have the wider tires that would help with the sand. Compared to the road bike and despite my experiment earlier in the year, I still feel like I’m pushing a brick when I ride that thing.

So, I pushed that brick 11 miles in 42 minutes! That isn’t half bad. My best time at the end of the fall was 35 minutes on the road bike. It does seem like the trainer is producing decent results. However, one thing I did notice that I had some trouble handling climbs or other high-output scenarios. I guess that does make some sense: the trainer that I have does not provide peak challenges that would drive my heart rate over 165 or so. I can adjust the resistance and gears so I can get a good workout but it doesn’t peak well. I can live with it.

I think I’ll be in pretty good shape for my first ride which is the 50 mile Hampton Roads Diabetes ride April 17th.