Even though I have limited time to ride I can’t go out there every day and hammer. Every once in a while I need to do a less intense ride. That’s when I “Take My Bike For A Walk”
For me, riding hard every time out just doesn’t do it for me. I have heard some people say that if you only have less than 10 hours a week to ride you should “make every minute count” by riding fairly hard every time. That may work for some people but I can’t do it. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old, but after a couple of weeks like that my legs start feeling it. Yesterday was one of those days. My legs weren’t sore but they were a little out of it. I listened to my body and just went out for a nice, easy 24 mile ride with a buddy. We just spun away, not worrying about our average speed or how fast we went up the hills. We were able to carry on a good conversation without gasping for breath. When I got home and looked at the PowerTap file I saw that the intensity factor of the ride (IF) was .65 meaning that I was working at a comfortable pace and not pushing the pace. I averaged 180 watts for the ride which is about 30% less than my FTP of 272.
I feel pretty good this morning and I am planning on doing a couple of good rides this weekend. I am at 525 miles for the month of August so far. If I work at it this weekend I will get over 600 miles for the month which would be a very good month mileage wise. In fact, it would be one of my top three mileage months ever.
So, If your legs are feeling a little bit tired and rubbery try taking your bike for a walk instead of not riding at all. You will probably find that an easy ride will do more for you than just sitting around in your underwear, watching American Idol re-runs, and eating cheese puffs.
Ride On!
