Yesterday morning I had slept like shit again thanks to the ick. I was able to catch the race and watch the PDC while I got my post written. I am seeing why there is such a hard-on for roundabouts now in the US seeing all of them in Europe. If only Americans could understand how to use them properly...

Nagged the boys ot get their room cleaning going as the morning warmed up quickly. I eventually decided to get ready and head out for my ride. My Garmin coaching plan for my 50 miler had me set for a 4 hour zone 2 ride...

I found The Cycling Coach Podcast and my first one to listen to was PERFECT for my ride. It was about how to figure out workout levels from base to VO2 max and I learned a lot from it.

It works nicely that I have my heart rate on my Edge so I can see where I am at in real time.

I rode west and across the 395 then up Dalton and into Deer Park. I have not been on Dalton since the redesign some years ago when they cut off access to the 395 and forced it to the south roundabout. I rode through Deer Park and was trying to decide where to go as I headed towards J's school.

It is SOOOO hard for me to keep myself in zone 2 and ended up zone 3 most of the ride. Zone 2 is about 10mph for me and that just doesn't work well. I find that the 14-15mph range is where I feel good at.

As I headed east I decided to ride down Perry to Westmoreland, then back west to Cedar and north back to Deer Park Milan road. I had not ridden the section of Cedar before. Back into Deer Park and it was interesting riding into the roundabouts as I became a vehicle since the shoulder disappears but nicely the speed limit in town is 25 mph and that was not hard to keep.

I reconnected into Dalton again and traced my path back home. As I was coming down Staley towards the 395 and looking at the straight run back towards home I went around a pot hole and then a bang happened that I thought was the rear tire clipping the pothole. In reality it was the front tire that had popped. I dismounted and walked my bike down the hill to a shaded area next to the road where I pulled the wheel off and got the tube swapped out. It was my first flat tire during a ride in decades and my first on the road bike.

HOLY SHIT is it simple to change the tube. Thankfully I had a spare in my under seat pouch. The longest part was pumping the thing back up. After about 8 minutes I had the repair done and was back on the bike headed for home.

I knew I was headed for a 30 mile ride but was happy to see I got my first 50k done. This portends well for me and the 50 mile ride next month where I will go sub 4 hours and hopefully closer to the 3 hour mark.

bike 4-6 - 31 mile.JPG

My collection of e-cigs is growing as I found 4 more on this ride. I have a dozen that I will go through and take apart at some point to save the batteries.

My new set of tires and tubes arrived not too long after I got home. I got Finnci 700x25 tires and tubes. The tires have a layer of Kevlar in them and brand spanking new tread. I popped the wheels off my bike and swapped the old for the new. I now have 2 spare tubes in my seat pack but likely am not SUPER needing them with the new setup but will have them with just in case.

I got some stuff done around the farm like filling waters for the sheep. The soreness hit gradually over the evening and by sun down I was pretty torched. Headed out to soak before bed which helped heat my body up to try and kick the ick out better.

In my afterglow of the ride I looked at the rides this year around Spokane and am now setting my sights on the 100 mile Rim Ride in the beginning of September. I plan that to be my first 100 mile ride which gives me 5 months to train. That will be after J and I do our 100 mile overnight ride to 49N.

I am nearing the halfway point of my year goal of 1000 miles ridden... I had no idea what my riding would look like when I set that goal so will be setting myself another of 2500 miles for the year.

I'm needing to setup a trip to the cycle shop for my road bike to have them go through and adjust the shifting so it is smoother and tune it for my many miles to come.

I slept for shit last night thanks to the continued ick draining from my head.

Today is a cycling rest day for me. I have my weekly session this morning then will go to Horizon to setup an account and see about the pump for my client. If I get the pump I will have to build the new plumbing and get it installed mid day. Then this evening I will be going to the MASA paragliding club meeting in Chewelah where I will get food. The first meeting I have been to in months.