18 miles and went nowhere

All winter my training has been indoor, on static bike machines, treadmills, weights or in the swimming pool. It's been a mind numbing ordeal and it's been a struggle to get myself to go along. I had planned to go almost every day but that I have went as often as I have has even surprised me. For the most part it has been short but hard interval bursts aimed at shedding weight rather than building stamina, but last night I moved it up a level by continuing to ride intervals, but throwing in a decent spin either side of it.



Don't get me wrong, it was in no way the kind of distance I hope to be riding once the sun begins to shine, but given my threshold for being in a gym is limited to about sixty minutes I was pleased that I could ride for 50, cool down for a couple, clean up for a few more and be out within the hour.

I started out with a twenty minute incremental warmup. Spinning, grinding, whatever to elevate my heart rate and being a sweat. What I didn't count on was that the gym -- no more than about 15 meters by 5 meters in size -- was that the six other people that had wedged themselves inside were generating more than enough heat to start a sweat. The place was like a sauna by the time I was through those first twenty minutes and diving into the ten thirty second sprint intervals that would last ten minutes.

I rode steady for the final twenty and was pleased enough to see that in those fifty minutes I had put in 18 miles (29kms), good enough for an average speed of 21.6mph (34.8km/h). All having moved not even an inch with the same view -- through the window at the swimming pool -- before me. A decent pace, but without the wind on my face, or worse, without it on my back. I definitely look forward to getting out onto the road again and experiencing the changing scenery, the idea of going somewhere and the wind around me. You find the hours and miles go in much easier then.

Post-ride weigh-in: 203 lbs