A New Bike!

6:00-7:45 or so. (AM)

LSD BIKE level I-II
Dyn w/u. ; core work.
Avg HR: 118 (63% mhr)
Max: 143 (76% mhr).
Over 1:23:40

Easy ride on new bike! Kind of a comedy of errors: lost my water bottle in the first couple of miles; “crashed” standing totally still (getting the hang of toe clips); fell totally over and scraped the back of my leg on the blade. Ow. Anyway, put in probably 16 miles, maybe? Don’t really know…lots of starting and stopping; went around the neighborhood a couple of times (3 miles); up to Beverly on Rossmore, West on Beverly-south on La Brea, West on 3rd (shooting for 6th, but screwed up) over to the Santa Monica intersection (total 4-5 miles); then spun around and back again (another 4 miles); then circled around the neighborhood 4X (6 miles). So that’s about 18-20 miles or so…so bloody trafficky! So many lights. Freaked out a little learning that bike in LA rush hour traffic (!), but there was a definite learning curve. By the end—the 6 miles or so in our neighborhood—I was feeling good, the bike felt more natural. Traffic biking is basically a bad idea, though it’s good for awareness and handling…trial by fire learning those clips! Good thing I practiced clipping in and out…the bike’s great—a rocket compared to the Rockadile. Surprised, actually, that my avg. HR was 63 percent of max, actually not a bad training pace (fell out of it repeatedly during the first 9-10 miles because of the damn traffic). But got lots better on the neighborhood ride, which might be, frankly, the (boring, but effective) best way to get in a quick ride without much hubbub. Otherwise it will probably have to be a trip to Griffith. Tomorrow, long SWIM!