Endurance Training

Today was one of the nicest days we have had all year. It was up in the low 80's and sunny most of the day. I needed to get a long ride in to get in shape for the TOMRV ride I will be doing next week-end. TOMRV is a two day ride with the first day at 112 miles and the second day at 88 miles.

Today I parked at the south end of the bike trail that begins at Sunset Marina in Rock Island and headed to Albany. This round trip ride is normally around 72 or 73 miles, but I added some other miles on a side road and ended up with 80 miles.

This is one of my favorite rides and I like to do it 3 or 4 times each year. I was on my bike at 6am and arrived at Julie's Cafe in Albany around 8:30. This is a great restaurant that serves excellent food. Julie decided late last summer to sell the cafe. I was glad to see it was still open, but the for sale sign was still in the window. One of the young waitresses told me when I checked out that she was hoping to be able to buy the place and keep it running.

I normally get one pancake (12" diameter) and one or two eggs. Usually this is like $2.50. Can't beat these prices. Today I picked one of her huge whole made cinnamon rolls and an egg with coffee for $2.60.

The ride went well, but the wind had picked up to 20+ when I left Albany and it was oblique, but still in my face some of the time. This slowed me down a bit. My average when I turned around was 17.8, but by the time I arrived back at my truck my average had dropped to 16.9.